Original subtitles

- The following announcement has been paid for

by the New World Order.

New-New World Order.

- Here's

the nWo.

- The New World Order-

one of Sports Entertainment's most controversial

and influential factions.

- Don't call us.

We'll call you.

- Yeah, it's invitation only there chicos.

- In the 1990s, this rogue group of anarchists designed to

destroy WCW would become the very entity that propelled World

Championship Wrestling surge to the top of the industry.

- This is nWo country.

- A pop culture phenomenon that forever altered the landscape

in professional wrestling.

Relive the revolution that was televised.

In this countdown of the very best from the nWo.

- nWo for life.

- This is WWE's Greatest Moments.

- Acknowledge me.

- My God.

Stone Cold with a beer bath.

- This is surreal.

- Look at this.

- He's slammed him.

- Welcome, everyone, to WWE's Greatest Moments.

I'm Michael Cole, and on this edition,

we celebrate the biggest shots fired from the most

revolutionary faction in the 1990s, the New World Order.

The premise was simple yet brilliant.

WCW would convince audiences into actually believing WWE's

top superstars were invading World Championship Wrestling.

Could that happen?

And how would that even be possible?

- Welcome back live to the first hour of this edition

of WCW Monday Nitro on TNT.

Wait a minute.

- But-

- What the hell?

- But what?

- What's going on here?

- Through a series of circumstances,

Scott Hall became available.

He had previously worked in WWE, became a major superstar

in the Razor Ramon character.

I asked him to come down through the audience,

and literally bust a match to the point where the

wrestlers actually stop performing.

- I'm a little skeptical.

I mean, I've just left the WWE.

You people, you know who I am,

but you don't know why I'm here.

I'm Razor.

People thought Vince sent me there.

That's the only reason it worked.

You want a war, you're going to get one.

- Look back at the Monday Night Wars.

When you're in a position where you have nothing to lose,

you're willing to take bigger risks.

Every Monday night was just so much fun.

- WCW fans were hooked, which led to a ratings reign that

would last 83 consecutive weeks.

The New World Order were determined to disrupt WCW

status quo by any means necessary.

- WCW Monday Nitro

ignites once again

as we come to you live

from the Disney MGM Studios

in Orlando, Florida.

- There were some guys actually having a match.

- From the heavens.

- And they stopped wrestling.

- Please take the camera to the back.

They need help.

The Outsiders.

- Wait a minute.

We go to the back.

There they are.

- They got baseball bats.

- People always ask me,

"How can 3 or 4 people take over a company?"

You got baseball bats in your hand.

It's pretty easy to be in control.

- Wait a minute.

Everybody's left the ring here, and there's Rey Mysterio.

- Hey, he dove off-

- That's Rey-

There's the cruiserweight champion, Rey Mysterio.

- Oh, no.

Oh.

Head first into the trailer in the back.

- He threw him like he was a dart.

- That's real.

- Uh huh.

- There's no special effects.

It's a man being thrown head first into the side of a truck.

It felt like a real chaotic takeover.

- There's gonna be some justice here.

- Two things sell, sex and violence.

We couldn't do sex, but, boy, we could be violent.

- Somebody call an ambulance, please.

- We had no idea that that thing was going to work.

Local residents called police and fire rescue,

that there was a riot going on and the police

and paramedics and stuff arrived unscripted.

They weren't part of the thing.

They showed up on their own.

- We apparently have some very serious injuries.

- 2 or 3 people really got damaged that night.

- All of us are shocked here.

- It was on the Associated Press.

"Former WWE wrestlers invade."

- But before the nWo flip the script and the bad guys became

the coolest thing in pro wrestling,

the burning question was, who was the mastermind

behind the smash success?

That's our number eight selection on the countdown.

- Monday Nitro, we are coming to you live

here on TNT.

Hello everybody.

I'm Eric Bischoff.

- On air, Eric Bischoff was the lead

play by play announcer for WCW,

but he was also known to be the president of WCW.

- We're going to do everything in our power at WCW to try to

get Roddy Piper to sign for the match, to take on Hulk Hogan.

- Tell me something.

You, you piece of [bleep], you are-

- Oh, no.

Oh my God.

- The guy in charge of the whole show.

- Oh, no.

- I just don't believe it.

- Reveals himself as a member of the nWo.

- You can make people feel,

and then turn on a dime and become vicious and dangerous.

That's an interesting character.

- Now that everybody realizes

who everybody's working for-

- Once he turned heel and came with us-

-that's always the big thing to do,

is get the boss in your faction.

He was great.

- This guy here was the foundation of the WCW.

- The nWo was that-

"Yeah, they were kind of bad guys,

but they were bad guys you wish you could hang out with."

- When Eric Bischoff came out, he was really the boss of the

nWo and was the one that let us run amok.

Oh boy, did it make people mad.

And it made our band of gypsies just even dirtier.

You're a loser fighting a losing battle.

- People were saying,

"Well, how is the nWo getting away with all this stuff?"

- nWo Nitro for life.

- The guy that's running the company is actually

in business with them.

That's how.

- Sickening.

This is sickening.

Absolutely sickening.

- It just made sense and I knew it'd be fun.

- Did you see what I saw?

Was that-

- I still don't believe it.

- I'm gonna go throw up.

- Association.

- I'm gonna go throw up.

- Wrestling has a long history with mainstream

late night television.

And in 1998, the nWo crashed the set of The Tonight Show.

It's our number seven moment.

- We have a great show tonight.

My first guest-

- Historically, The Tonight Show

is the single biggest franchise

in American television.

- Let's see what he's talking about.

- And by the time we got to the 1990s,

Jay Leno had taken over

as the undisputed king of late night

and the host of The Tonight Show.

- Well, did you see WCW wrestling on Monday night?

I didn't see wrestling.

Okay?

I was in my Jazzercise class.

- I get a phone call from the executive producer

for The Tonight Show.

He'd like to get Jay Leno involved in Nitro.

- I said, "What?

Are you kidding me?"

- You know something, Leno?

You're a real stupid little man.

We were going to be on The Tonight Show, and we just pulled

you in the back and said, "Hey, man, we need to just kick

you off your own set."

Look, I'm tired of this.

- Hey, hey, hey, hey, wait a minute.

Wait a minute

- What?

[yelling]

- You want some from me?

- Yeah, yeah.

You want to go?

You want some?

- Jay Leno really never lets anybody sit

in his seat or take over.

- Hey, welcome back to my nWo Tonight show, along with my

favorite guest, a man I know each and every one of you love

just as much as I do.

[crowd cheers]

- Get out of here.

- Then Diamond Dallas Page came out.

- I got a friend of yours.

Diamond Dallas Page, kick him out of here.

- Hey.

What are you doing?

Get off of him?

- It was shot on the main stage of the world,

and it gave WCW a whole nother visibility.

- Take him down to the old folks home.

[crowd cheers]

- The Tonight Show takeover was the perfect example of the nWo's

breakout success in pop culture.

In the 1990s, there was no one in the NBA more controversial,

more dirty than The Worm,

Hall of Fame forward Dennis Rodman.

During the New World Order's dominant run,

Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff recruited the

polarizing personality to join in on the fun.

- Back then, I think a lot of people

didn't know how to

comprehend what I was doing.

They didn't realize that I was actually being an entertainer.

- The newest member of the nWo.

You've definitely earned your colors, my friend.

- The job may be bigger than me, but you know what they say,

the old cliche, the bigger they are-

[crowd yells "The harder they fall."]

- I was afraid the wrestlers were going to kill him

because he didn't have any respect for the business.

- Tonight, the Giant and Lex Luger

against Dennis Rodman, The Worm.

- Ladies and gentlemen, the ultimate bad boy, Dennis Rodman.

- Well, there he is.

It's electric.

- And then when we go to the live event and that red light

came on, turned into a super athlete.

- Wow.

- He just arm dragged Lex luger.

Dennis Rodman has armdragged

The Total Package.

- It was just really fun, aggressive.

And it was just right in your face.

- He knows what he's doing.

- Sent him into the ropes.

- Oh, how about that?

Look at Dennis Rodman.

- As a performer in the ring,

once I saw that, he had the instinct, I went,

"Okay, now I'm good."

- One of the stories is going to be Dennis Rodman's appearance

and the force he made.

- Biggest grossing pay per view in the history of WCW.

- He came through for all of us.

- Dennis Rodman

has made his case as being a mega force with the nWo.

- Bad boys of wrestling with the bad boy of the NBA.

What a match made in heaven.

- Sweet.

- Our fifth entry on the countdown takes us back in time

to the beginning stages of the nWo,

when Scott Hall and Kevin Nash had begun their invasion of WCW.

These outsiders meant business, and there was no better way to

make a statement than by going after the World Championship

Wrestling president, Eric Bischoff.

- For the last several weeks, we've had a number of,

let's just call them interruptions.

- When we went to WCW,

perception was that we were sent by Vince

and we were going to take over WCW.

- Before we go any further, let's clear one thing up.

Do you work for the WWE?

- No.

- How about it?

- No.

Forget about the past, chico.

- Eric's a ballsy dude.

- You don't jack us around.

Don't, jack-

- Oh for cryin-

- Whoa.

What are they doing?

Security.

- Get up there right now.

For-oh for-

- Oh.

- I have people trying to talk me out of it

because "It's the rules."

You know, "In wrestling, you know, you don't ever, you know,

lay hands on the announcer."

Well, now I really want to do it because I'm not supposed to.

- Unbelievable.

- It was different than what the audience expected.

I knew it would shock them.

And that's what my intention was.

- How low can you get?

- Big boys?

They just left the building.

- Pure destruction.

The New World Order is sending a clear message about

where the big boys play.

During the height of the nWo's popularity, the group had grown

so large it created a splinter faction which traded in the

black and white for the red and black.

Our number four moment.

The birth of the Wolfpac.

- You talked about the problems of the nWo.

Two definite sides.

Definite splits of the nWo.

- The nWo got so big,

I mean, of course it was going to be some dissension.

- What we're witnessing

is an nWo recruiting war.

- There was nobody that was babyfaces.

So you basically had to take a heel group and splinter it

to make babyfaces out of the heels.

- Oh yeah.

- It was that political divide,

the tension between the original nWo.

That's what created that divide,

and that dissension, now that dissension worked.

- Wolfpac in the house.

- The red nWo,

that was more of the cliquish vibe than really being with the

black and white and down with Hollywood

- Like the Wolfpac was the babyfaces.

We had Luger.

We had Macho.

We had Konnan.

Then Sting joined us.

- He's got the red and the black.

- That was unique.

That was cool.

It was edgy.

- Rowdy ready?

- Y'all significantly like

brought something different to the table

and I appreciate that.

I think all of us as fans appreciate that.

- Sometimes a single moment can set in motion a chain of events

that forever changes the course of history.

And in the domain of professional wrestling,

the fingerpoke of doom, as it will become known,

remains one of the most replayed,

debated and controversial moments

during the Monday Night War.

- I'm going to give you one chance,

to let everybody in here know

that yes, I am your leader.

- We had teased a lot of infighting within the nWo

- If you don't think I can't go through your Three Stooges

to get to you,

you got another thing coming.

- The climax of this nWo civil war

was a world title match between Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash.

- This is better than a playoff game.

- Now this is what World Championship Wrestling

is all about.

What is that about?

What's going on here?

What?

[bell rings]

- What just happened here?

- From a storyline perspective, kind of made sense because it's

starting to look like the nWo was going to fall apart.

People were expecting to see it happen

and I wanted to take that away from them.

- A new heavyweight champion of the world.

- Hollywood Hulk Hogan.

- It seemed like a good idea at the time,

showed "Ha ha ha, we got everybody.

He was really with me all along."

But it was like a big F you to

the fans because they wanted to see a match.

- The nWo The Wolfpac back together,

- We're back in the saddle baby.

- The nWo's emergence on the pro wrestling scene in 1996

was a jolt to the entire industry.

But for this group to truly make an impact, it needed to seize

the very symbol of greatness in World Championship Wrestling

the coveted Big Gold Belt,

the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

- Welcome to the 56th Annual Harley Rally.

250,000 bikers are here for WCW Hog Wild.

- Hulk Hogan now will meet the World Heavyweight

Champion the giant.

Two of the most dominant figures in our sport.

- What happens if Hogan wins the title?

- That Sturgis was a rough crowd?

Why don't you just shut up out there, huh?

I thought for sure the bikers would love the bad guy,

but man, they hated me.

[laughing]

- Turn around.

Hall is up.

The giant throws him in.

- Deep chokeslam the gigantic Nash.

- He laid him out.

- He laid him out with a-

- I can't believe this.

- -one, two, no.

- We got a new champion.

We got a new champion.

[bell rings]

- Aw, that's spray paint.

Oh my God, they're going to spray paint.

- I cannot believe this.

This is unbelievable.

- Somebody-

Somebody needs-

- This is going to turn my stomach right now.

- This is something I did on the spot.

- I got a knot in my gut about this situation going on here.

- The nWo is the only way to go.

And what you gonna do?

- When Hogan defaced the prestigious WCW World

Heavyweight Championship and spray painted the signature nWo

letters on its big gold canvas,

it signified that the New World Order was for real.

None of that happens if the group doesn't have

the ultimate front man,

the Third Man.

Without further ado, the final moment on our countdown.

Which brings us back to the very beginning.

The official genesis of the New World Order

from the 1996 Bash at the Beach.

- I don't see three men here tonight.

Where is your partner?

- All you need to know little man

is he's here and he's ready.

- Where is he?

- You know we're doing this

"Who's the Man" thing?

This big angle at the Bash at the Beach.

We're going to launch the nWo.

- They have said the Third Man is here,

but he is not in the ring.

- We didn't tell anybody.

- The drama is thick.

Unbelievable.

- We played it as close to the hip as we could

until the 11th hour.

- Hulkamania.

Hulk Hogan is here.

- Hulk Hogan's here.

- When I went out,

it looked like I was coming out to save Macho Man.

- Yes, sir.

- Get him Hogan.

Go get him, baby.

Who's bad now, boys?

- Hulk Hogan arrived.

Hulk, Hulk, Hulk-

- What is he doing?

- Oh my God.

- Is he the Third Man?

- He's the Third Man.

- What the hell is going on here?

- Hulk Hogan has betrayed WCW.

He is the Third Man.

Look at this picture.

- Oh my God.

- What the hell is going on?

- Oh my God.

- I knew all the stuff that was thrown in the ring,

the trash, the bottles.

We have pissed some people off.

This right here is the future of wrestling.

You can call this

the New World Order of wrestling, brother.

- Hulk Hogan was Hulk Hogan.

He was the ultimate good guy.

Once he turned heel,

it changed the wrestling world.

- We have seen the end of Hulkamania.

- The fix was in, as they say, and the Immortal One was

revealed to be the elusive Third Man,

the former face of WWE Hulk Hogan.

The nWo had its core,

and the wrestling world would never be the same.

That'll do it for this edition of WWE's Greatest Moments.

We hope you enjoyed this

look back at one of Sports Entertainment's

most influential factions.

The New World Order.