WCW finally turned a profit in 1995, their seventh year as a company. The first half of 1996 was pretty much the same as 1995 with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage feuding with The Dungeon of Doom and Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen and Sting and Lex Luger getting along and not getting along.
It would be the same old shit. The second half of 1996, however, would change the way professional wrestling history would be as we knew it.
Savage brought back Woman (Nancy Sullivan) to WCW early in 1996 and then also brought back his ex-wife Miss Elizabeth. Elizabeth returned to wrestling for the first time in nearly four years since she and Savage got divorced as WCW looked like the WWF from 1988-1991.
Savage and Flair traded the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in January and February. Both Woman and surprisingly Elizabeth betrayed Savage and helped Flair win the title back from Savage. Hogan continued his feud with The Giant before it ended for the moment at SuperBrawl VI in a Steel Cage match.
This setup perhaps the worst match gimmick ever at Uncensored in March called the Doomsday Cage match featuring Hogan and Savage against eight members of The Alliance to End Hulkamania (Dungeon of Doom + Four Horsemen).
I have a lot to write about this year so if you want to know more about the Doomsday Cage match and Uncensored PPV read it here. Hogan would go on a hiatus for a couple of months to make a movie as this would lead to the biggest story of 1996, maybe ever.
The best thing about the first half of 1996 for WCW was the craziness of "The Loose Cannon" Brian Pillman. Pillman took his unpredictable character to new heights going into 1996. Pillman did a great job with his character as you didn't know if this was a gimmick or if he was just that f'n crazy and uncontrollable with what he did and said.
At January's Clash of the Champions, Pillman went outside during a match and put his hands on commentator Bobby Heenan's neck as Heenan yelled "what the fuck are you doing?" live on TBS. Heenan had neck surgery shortly before and had neck problems in the past and the wrestlers are not allowed to touch him. Pillman did not know that.
Pillman's antics drew the ire of Kevin Sullivan as it created problems between the Four Horsemen and Dungeon of Doom as they were trying to take out Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. Pillman and Sullivan feuded which culminated in a leather strap match at SuperBrawl with the winner had to make the loser say "I respect you."
Their match lasted not even a minute when Pillman yelled "I respect you, Booker man!" as Sullivan stood there stunned. Pillman did the unthinkable at that time, outing someone as the head booker. This further added to the Loose Cannon gimmick. It was reported that Eric Bischoff yelled and fired Pillman at the event.
However, that was a total work known only by Pillman, Bischoff, and even Sullivan. Bischoff let Pillman out of his contract sending him down to ECW to further work on his character, where Pillman ripped WCW and Bischoff in ECW, and would have Pillman return to WCW later.
Pillman was involved in a serious car accident and while he was recovering from the injuries, he was negotiating with WCW and also not known to Bischoff, he was negotiating with Vince McMahon and the WWF. He would ultimately sign with the WWF. Sullivan feuded with Horsemen member Chris Benoit, who took Pillman's place on Sullivan's shit list.
They had an incredible Falls Count Anywhere match at The Great American Bash where they even fought in the bathroom with the two of them slamming each other's heads into the stall door with Sullivan sticking Benoit's head in a toilet.
As part of the feud, Benoit began a storyline affair with Sullivan's real life wife Woman (Nancy Sullivan). Benoit and Nancy did a great job with the storyline affair as they decided to have a real life affair which led to the divorce of Kevin and Nancy. Benoit eventually married Nancy and they were together until their deaths in 2007.
They feuded for the next year until the 1997 Bash at the Beach PPV where Benoit defeated Sullivan in a Retirement match where Sullivan was forced to retire. This was used to have Sullivan focus more on his booking duties than being a wrestler.
Another good thing in WCW in 1996 was the introduction of the Cruiserweight division and the Cruiserweight Championship. In addition to established stars like Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero, WCW added more guys like Rey Mysterio Jr., Psicosis, and Chris Jericho to name a few. The Cruiserweights often put on the best matches on WCW events.
Tag team action again heated up with the Harlem Heat still carrying the WCW World Tag Team Championship but lost them to Sting and Lex Luger on an episode of Nitro in January. They won the titles back from them in June. The high-flying Public Enemy came over from ECW in January and feuded with The Nasty Boys.
The Road Warriors reunited also in January when Animal came back from retirement when his back healed up. The Steiner Brothers returned to WCW that year as well for the first time in nearly four years. The Steiners traded the tag team titles a couple of times with Harlem Heat in the summer. The Road Warriors soon left the company in the middle of 1996.
Randy Savage continued to feud with Ric Flair as well as Elizabeth as that was the only other thing good about the first half of WCW in 1996. The story was that since Liz turned on Savage and joined Flair, Flair and Liz were storyline spending money she got from her and Savage's divorce.
Flair and Liz would be shown on TV eating expensive dinners, Flair buying her expensive items, and even throwing his money into the crowd on his expense. Savage would be livid and go after both only to be taken out of the arena by security and even arrested one time and taken to jail.
The Giant defeated Flair to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on the April 29 edition of Nitro. This time his title reign was legit unlike the previous year at a Halloween Havoc. Then.Giant successfully defended the title against Sting at Slamboree and Lex Luger at The Great American Bash.
Slamboree featured the stupid Lethal Lottery Battle Bowl as it wasn't successful the first three times they did it, the fourth time certainly was not the charm. Diamond Dallas Page ended up winning the Battle Bowl as it would soon begin a huge push that would have to wait until 1997. Thankfully, help was on the way for WCW from up north in an unlikely source: the WWF.
Eight days later on the May 27 episode of Nitro from Macon, GA, which was the first two hour episode of Nitro, a surprise occurred right in the middle of the event. During the middle of a match, Scott Hall was wearing street clothes yet still portraying his Razor Ramon character came through the audience and entered the ring during the middle of a match.
Hall appeared eight days after his final WWF appearance in Madison Square Garden. Hall would grab the microphone and talked in his Razor Ramon accent. He said "you know who I am. But you don't know why I'm here!" He would go on to challenge several of WCW's top wrestlers like Sting, Randy Savage, and Hulk Hogan.
Hall told Eric Bischoff "you want a war? You got one!" as Bischoff would repeatedly give away WWF Raw results. Hall would then say "We are taking over!" referring to the WWF taking over. It was made to look like Vince McMahon sent his wrestlers down to invade WCW. He confronted Bischoff in the broadcast booth at the end to tell Ted Turner to pick three of his best wrestlers to fight.
Hall appeared again the next week on Nitro and again confronted Bischoff at the end of the event. Sting came out and confronted Hall and challenged him to a fight but Hall declines as he wants three of WCW's best. Hall throws his toothpick in Sting's face and Sting responds by slapping him in the face. Hall then tells Sting he has a "big surprise" for him next week.
The next week on the June 10 episode of Nitro, Hall again came out and again bothered Bischoff at the end of the night. Bischoff was wondering where the "big surprise" was. All of a sudden, Kevin Nash appeared behind Bischoff only to turn Bischoff around. Nash then challenged WCW to give them three of their best wrestlers and threatened Bischoff.
Six days later at The Great American Bash, Hall and Nash again appeared as per the request of Bischoff. He asked them if they were working for the WWF and they said no as the WWF filed a lawsuit against WCW to have them stop having Hall and Nash portray their Razor Ramon and Diesel characters and to stop saying that the WWF was taking over.
According to Hall, they made many in the WCW locker room believe they were still getting paid from Vince McMahon in addition to WCW as they believed they were still working for the WWF. The WWF responded with fake Razor Ramon and Diesel characters since they owned the rights and trademark to the Razor Ramon and Diesel names and characters.
Hall and Nash, who would be known as "The Outsiders", demanded Bischoff tell them the three wrestlers who would fight them and their surprise partner but Bischoff would not say. Hall then punched Bischoff in the gut as Nash gave Bischoff the Jackknife Powerbomb through a table as The Outsiders officially declared war on WCW.
Hall and Nash left the WWF and signed big guaranteed contracts with WCW in early 1996 as Bischoff and Ted Turner wanted to beat the WWF so badly. Hall and Nash returned to WCW after leaving there to go to the WWF in 1992 and 1993, respectively. It was in the WWF that they became superstars.
Hall and Nash would continue to invade WCW Nitro as police and security would try to force them to vacate the premises as it looked like a hostile takeover. It was announced that at Bash at the Beach that Hall and Nash and their third mystery partner would take on Sting, Lex Luger, and Randy Savage the "Hostile Takeover" match.
Many questioned who the third "outsider" would be if it was another WWF wrestler or maybe even someone on the inside. Bash at the Beach took place from Daytona Beach, Florida on July 7, 1996 as it would be the biggest PPV in WCW history.
Hall and Nash came out by themselves as they told Gene Okerlund the third partner was in the back and he would come out when they needed him. Sting, Luger, and Savage came to the ring all wearing matching face paint like Sting was wearing as WCW looked to be in unison.
Early in the match, however, Sting hit Nash with a Stinger Splash, but Luger was trapped in the corner and was knocked out by the blow. He was taken to the back as it left only Sting and Savage to take on Hall and Nash with the third teammate in the back.
I thought back then it was Sting who was going to be the third man as he would have been the biggest surprise since he was the Franchise of WCW. According to Scott Hall, the third man was going to be Sting and possibly Bret Hart as WCW was interested in Hart as Hart's contract in the WWF was up. I heard WCW wanted Hart so I thought Hart also would have been the third man.
Hall and Nash dominated Sting and Savage that is until Hulk Hogan came from the back and came to the ring. Hall and Nash left the ring as it looked like Hogan was there to help WCW. Hogan even ripped his shirt off and posed for the fans when the unthinkable happened.
Hogan dropped three leg drops on Savage as he was the third man and betrayed WCW two years after he came to WCW and two years at the event he defeated Ric Flair to win his first WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his WCW debut and the fans as he became the biggest heel in the business.
Eric Bischoff wanted Hulk to turn heel for some time and wanted him to be the third man all along but Hulk would not turn as he had creative control in his contract where he could veto any idea he didn't want to do. Eventually, Hogan decided to be the third man.
Hogan cut a promo with Hall and Nash in the ring after the match with Gene Okerlund. Hogan said the trio would be the "New World Order" of wrestling. He also trashed both the WWF and WCW and told the fans to "stick it" as the fans threw garbage in the ring.
The next night, Hogan came out in black and white instead of the usual yellow and red and began to refer to himself as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan and eventually just Hollywood Hogan. Hogan soon grew a beard and dyed it black to go along with his signature blonde fu-manchu mustache.
Hogan, Hall, and Nash began to call themselves the New World Order and eventually just "nWo" for short. They wore black and white nWo t-shirts and soon began to sell nWo merchandise like their own separate entity and even sold their merchandise separately from WCW at WCW events to make it look like they were separate from WCW.
The nWo merchandise soon became the top-selling merchandise in the industry. Even though the nWo were a group of heels, their rebellious and anti-establishment ways soon gained a cult following as more and more fans soon came to the arena wearing their nWo t-shirts and gear and even cheered for the bad guys.
They were the cool guys while the WCW wrestlers, especially the faces, suddenly weren't so cool as fans these days began rooing for the bad guy (i.e. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin).
They would attack various WCW wrestlers each and every week on WCW Monday Nitro and other WCW events. The attacks looked so realistic as they would continue to invade WCW events and attack their wrestlers. They would even spray paint "nWo" in black on the fallen wrestlers. One famous moment was when Nash picked up Rey Mysterio Jr. and launched him facefirst into a trailer outside.
The nWo and their attacks would cross the line between scripted and real in terms of storylines in professional wrestling as wrestling was going more towards adult-oriented and realistic storylines. Many wondered if this was a story or it was realistic. The nWo helped put WCW ahead of the WWF and Monday Nitro defeated RAW in ratings for 84 consecutive head-to-head weeks.
Hollywood Hogan defeated The Giant to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the inaugural Hog Wild PPV in August. Afterwards, Hogan's best friend Ed Leslie came out wearing an nWo shirt and was carrying a birthday cake for Hulk to celebrate as it was Hogan's birthday.
So how did Hogan repay his best friend? Simple, he and Scott Hall and Kevin Nash attacked and beat up on Leslie. Hogan said if he could do that to his best friend, imagine what he could do to WCW. He picked up the title belt and spray pained nWo and rechristened it the nWo World Heavyweight Championship. The nWo looked unbeatable.
This was personal as babyfaces and even heels of WCW would put their respective differences aside to join forces to take down the nWo. Even longtime rivals Ric Flair and Sting would put their differences aside in the war. Sting suggested that he and Lex Luger team with Flair and Arn Anderson to take on the nWo in a WarGames match at Fall Brawl which they agreed.
The Giant was the first new member of the nWo when he turned on The Dungeon of Doom and attacked them and helped the nWo attack them and Randy Savage. It was surprise as it was only a few weeks after The Giant lost the title to Hogan.
More and more wrestlers soon joined the nWo shortly after Fall Brawl and at the end of 1996 either coming from the WWF or simply turning on WCW. Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase joined WCW. He was revealed as the nWo's "financer" and was nicknamed "Trillionaire Ted."
Sean Waltman (1-2-3 Kid from the WWF and Scott Hall and Kevin Nash's real life best friend and fellow "Kliq" member) came over to WCW and joined the nWo as "Syxx" as the "sixth member" of the nWo. Many even made the joke of the number six after adding up 1+2+3 and that equals six.
Former WWF wrestler Virgil came to WCW and joined the nWo as "Vincent." Former WWF wrestlers and current WCW wrestlers Mr. Wallstreet (I.R.S.) and Big Bubba Rogers (Big Boss Man) joined the nWo as did other WCW wrestlers Scott Norton and Marcus Bagwell (renamed "Buff" Bagwell).
Even Japanese wrestlers from New Japan Pro Wrestling joined the nWo as "nWo Japan." However, the nWo became too watered down with everyone and anyone from WCW just simply joining the nWo.
The WarGames match at Fall Brawl featured Sting, Lex Luger, Ric Flair, and Arn Anderson taking on the nWo's Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and a mystery nWo member. It was hinted that it was going to be a WCW wrestler and everyone wondered who was going to turn on WCW and jump to the nWo.
We would get our answer six days before Fall Brawl on the September 9 episode of Nitro. Sting was not scheduled to be there and he was supposedly somewhere else. However during the event, Ted DiBiase is seen talking to someone in a limo in the parking lot and the voice sounds like Sting's.
Luger was told of what was going on and he went out to the parking lot to confront DiBiase. Soon after, "Sting" came out of the limo and attacked Luger as Sting looked to have joined the nWo and would be on their side at WarGames.
Just before the WarGames match at Fall Brawl, Sting confronted Luger, Ric Flair, and Arn Anderson and told them it wasn't him that attacked Luger, but they did not believe him. When it was time for the fourth and final nWo member to come out for the match, it was Sting as he attacked the WCW wrestlers.
When it was time for the fourth WCW wrestler come in, it was Sting!?!? Sting was telling the truth as the nWo had an imposter (Jeff Farmer) dressed like Sting. Sting attacked all four members of the nWo before he left the ring as he yelled "is that good enough for you Lex?!" and he left the cage.
The nWo easily defeated WCW after the real Sting left as the nWo Sting put Luger in the Scorpion Death Lock while Hogan locks in a front face lock simultaneously. Luger had no choice but to submit which at this time, the babyfaces rarely submitted to the heels as this was an attempt to make the nWo far superior than WCW. Luger would end the PPV crawling on his knees to the dressing room yelling for Sting only to be further attacked by the nWo.
The next night on the September 16 episode of Nitro, the real Sting went to the ring to cut a promo about how everyone doubted him about the week before. Sting said to everyone who doubted him "they can stick it!" Sting then said he was a "free agent" and would pop in from time to time and abruptly left. That was the last time we would see the colorful Sting.
For the next month, Sting would not appear when all of a sudden, he made an appearance wearing all black ring attire with a long black leather coat with long dark hair and wore white face paint with black accents. Many wondered if he joined the nWo.
Sting began to resemble the Brandon Lee "Crow" character in the 1994 movie The Crow. He would often be referred to as "The Crow" Sting. Sting would be shown sitting all alone in the rafters as everyone betrayed him. He would also not say a word and would not even wrestle for well over a year.
Scott Hall came up with the Crow gimmick. He noticed Sting was growing his hair longer and dying it darker so he pitched the idea about the Crow character from the file The Crow. Long story short, Sting pitched the idea to Eric Bischoff and the new character was created.
Sting changed from the cheery, colorful, and fun "surfer" hero that was beloved by everyone, especially the younger crowd to this more dark, loner, anti-hero. Sting received a much-needed change in his character as Bischoff wanted to change him heel to change with the times as Sting refused. The next best thing was to be an anti-hero and the fans really got behind him as he was the top babyface despite not even wrestling.
Sting would come from rafters and through the crowd and into the ring and attack unsuspecting WCW wrestlers who made comments about Sting. He would give them his new finisher the Scorpion Death Drop (inverted DDT). Sting would not attack any nWo wrestlers except for the bogus Sting as it made it look more and more like he was going to the nWo.
The next bizarre thing Sting did was come to the ring carrying a black baseball bat. He would go up to several WCW wrestlers and point the bat and even shove them with the bat. He would then attempt to hit them with the bat but would instead hand the bat over to the wrestler. Sting would turn his back and see if they would hit him with the bat. When they did not, he nodded, picked up the bat, and walked away.
One moment came on Nitro in December where Sting and the nWo Sting, who began dressing like the Crow Sting, both came to the ring to confront The Steiner Brothers. Both Stings handed the Steiners their bats and both turned their backs to them. Just when they did this, the real Sting gave the fake Sting the Scorpion Death Drop and left.
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper came to WCW and made his first appearance at the end of the Halloween Havoc PPV. After Hollywood Hogan defeated Randy Savage to retain his nWo Heavyweight Championship, Hogan celebrated in the ring saying he was the one true icon in professional wrestling.
All of a sudden, bagpipes played and out came Piper who confronted Hogan in the ring. Piper told Hogan he was the one true icon and said Hogan never beat him ever and made fun of Hogan's bald head. Hogan then challenged Piper for "one more war to settle the score."
Eric Bischoff was the brains behind the invasion angle and the nWo after seeing a similar thing occur in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Piper tried to get Bischoff and his powers to setup the Piper-Hogan match. Bischoff, however, would waffle around saying he was doing his best to get the match signed and even went to Piper's house in Portland to get the contract signed, but he wasn't there.
All of a sudden, Piper came out unannounced on an episode of Nitro and confronted Bischoff. He said Bischoff was a liar since he was home at Portland and never saw Bischoff. He then accused Bischoff of working for Hogan and tried to go after him only for Hogan and the nWo to run down to the ring to detain Piper.
Bischoff finally was revealed as the one behind the nWo all along as he was the guy who used his power and influence at Ted Turner's headquarters to "officially" give the nWo members jobs as WCW wrestlers without anything WCW could do about it. He even demanded that WCW wrestlers turn their WCW contracts over to nWo contracts "or else."
Piper took on Hogan in a non-title match in the main event at Starrcade in December. Despite the nWo's interference, Piper defeated Hogan with the Sleeper Hold. The next night on Nitro, the final Nitro of 1996, the nWo attacked Piper and really beat him down and even used chair shots on his bad hip that had surgery years before. Piper was taken out of the ring on a stretcher and onto an ambulance.
Hogan then blasted The Giant for not chokeslamming Piper like he wanted to and for costing him the match the previous night at Starrcade. He then slapped The Giant in the face and The Giant retaliated by grabbing Hogan by the throat and choking him.
Hogan was cowering as The Giant was making Hogan give him a world title shot which Hogan said yes. Then the nWo beat down The Giant, kicking him out of the nWo by ripping his nWo shirt off of him and turning Giant into a babyface.
1996 was such a huge year for WCW, well at least the second half with the nWo angle. That was their best year to date and it was the start of a two-year reign where WCW beat the WWF in the head-to-head Monday Night ratings war as Nitro beat Raw in head-to-head ratings from June 1996 until April 1998, 84 consecutive weeks.
However, their best year was yet to come and that would be 1997.
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