Matt Hardy says the nWo reached incredible heights in WCW, but eventually lost value after too many people were added to the group.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Hardy reflected on the 30-year anniversary of Hulk Hogan joining the nWo and said he remembers sensing that Hogan was about to turn.
I remember thinking, like, Hogan coming down and I was at that point where I started to have a vibe about things.
I’ll never forget because Hogan was starting to get booed, right? I remember whenever he started coming out, I said, “Oh my God, he’s turning. He’s turning bad. He’s going to be a bad guy, guys. I’m telling you.”
Hardy said the fan reaction that night showed how emotionally invested the audience was.
That was my first memory of seeing the ring filled with trash.
The people were rioting because they were so upset. They were so enraged. That was the first time.
It’s crazy how it became a trend. It happened for week after week after week whenever they got big heat.
Hardy said WCW’s top storyline exploded after Hogan joined Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.
You could just tell, like, on that night the enthusiasm for WCW and their top storyline went through the roof.
People gave a [expletive]. They were emotionally invested.
That’s the magic of pro wrestling when it’s all said and done.
Hardy said he believes the nWo reached its potential, but also stayed around too long.
I think it did. I think the nWo also overstayed its welcome.
I think they tried to be creative with it when there was Black and White, right? The original nWo, and then there was the Wolfpac.
They did that, but then they kept adding people. Once you add so many people and you water things down, it loses equity. It loses value and it just doesn’t seem important.
Hardy said the nWo was hurt when members were added who did not feel as important as the original top names.
Especially something like the nWo, which was so white hot, [expletive] white hot.
Once you start putting people that don’t feel as important with those super important tippy-top guys, you kind of water things down.
That’s what happened.
Hardy said WCW tried to get too much out of the concept.
They tried to get way too much out of the nWo over the course of those years.
You just got to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new idea. You got to come up with whatever the next hot concept is going to be.
You just can’t run with something forever. Everything has a shelf life when it’s all said and done.
Hardy said the group started to feel less elite once too many people joined.
Once it felt like, hey, this guy’s my friend, we can bring him in, it kind of had that vibe.
Like, oh, here’s Scott Norton joining the nWo. Here’s so-and-so joining. It just watered things down and it didn’t seem important.
It didn’t seem elite. It didn’t seem like a top-tier, the stellar stars of pro wrestling. It just seemed like anybody can come in, and that way it seems unimportant.
Hardy also said WCW should have used Starrcade 1997 as the beginning of the end for the nWo storyline.
Sting beating Hogan should have been the beginning of the end for the nWo.
That should have been the beginning of wrapping the angle and being done with it and move everyone on.
Hardy said the finish to that match caused confusion at a time when WCW needed a clean payoff.
He should have came in and beat the [expletive] out of him.
Him and Hulk could have had a great match, but it should have been Sting strong, clean, definitive.
They should have went forward with that and Sting should have rocked with the championship for a while.
Hardy said the way WCW handled the finish cooled off what should have been a major moment.
That was a big error on their behalf, too, because that caused so much confusion.
Sometimes you just have to make things crystal clear and you just get stuff done.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, with a h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.
