A New, New World Order
Photo Credit: WWE
I like to keep things as positive as possible.
I like WWE.
I like AEW.
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The following article has been written for the New World Order.
Hey yo! We’re coming to the end of nWo week in the WWE and I’ll be damned if I’m not putting out a piece dedicated to the greatest faction and story of all time. July 7th 1996, a day that changed the history of professional wrestling/sports entertainment…FOREVER! It was the beginning of the only time in history where Vince was looking up at the competition.
The New World Order forced his hand and made him dig deep to kick start the most successful era in modern wrestling, the Attitude Era. Without the nWo, wrestling would NOT have evolved in to what it became. Whether you liked them or hated them, you couldn’t help but watch em and looking back you damn well respect them.
So now that we here 25 years later, still celebrating the best faction to ever grace the wrestling world, after many failed attempts to duplicate the success, I’m going to do some fantasy booking here and put together the best possible reincarnation with the talent we have today. I won’t just be using WWE/NXT talent either, we’re using wrestlers from across the board. Now obviously nobody can beat the original. They were just… too… sweeeeeet. But we’re gonna try, so here we go:
6. Heath Slater
Weird pick at first sight, I know, but bare with me though. Who remembers Vincent? Most remember him as Virgil, but during his time in the black and white he was known as Vincent. What is the correlation between the two? We all know them and love them for being glorified jobbers. I liked Heath in his role on WWE television. He had charisma, he was entertaining and no matter what the occasion was, I knew he was eating the pin or taking the brunt of the beating. That is exactly what Vincent’s role in the nWo was, and it was actually more important than casual viewers knew. When Sting came to save the day, who was their to eat the bat every single time? When somebody had to eat a Diamond Cutter, who didn’t see it coming? And when the group had to eat a loss, who was fed to the wolves to protect the rest of the talent in the group?
Vincent helped make the good guys get their moments, and protect the more over talent from the nWo. That’s where Heath comes in, only I think he nails this role better just for the simple fact that he has way more charisma to him than Vincent did. It’s almost like bottling up Vincent and Buff in to one member. At the very worse, Heath gets kicked out because the role doesn’t work. At the very best, Heath gets over big time and is allowed a chance to have some kind of run that doesn’t see him taking L after L after L.
5. Miro
I think an important part of successful stables is having a beast that can be the muscle. There have been some exceptions in the past, but I think it is a role that helps generate heat for the group. Especially during the beat downs that occur after the matches or during the segments throughout the show. Miro is the perfect man for that. He debuted in WWE with a huge success, going a year without losing as he ran through everyone that stood in his way. He then floundered around obscurity for his remaining time there. His move over to AEW started off shaky with a questionable gimmick, but has since been saved with booking and is now bigger and badder than he ever was during his prime in WWE.
Miro is as believable a monster as we have today, if not the best. He can throw around the smaller guys and leave them in a heap or can go toe to toe with the bigger guys and wear them down with his brute strength. He won’t need to do much mic work but when he is called upon, the one liners that he has done a good job with lately will work perfectly. If I’m comparing him to anybody, Scott Norton comes to mind. But once again, just like the Heath Slater choice, Miro is a better version here and would dominant atop the mid card scene.
4. AJ and Omos
Not picking a former member of the Bullet Club was something I really tried hard to do. But I’m looking for a tag team that can fill in for The Outsiders and nobody else comes close to that level right now that would work. AJ brings in great technical wrestling, story telling and mic work along with a veteran presence that is missing so far in this group. Along his side, Omos is a big, BIG man that can clean house and be that presence that intimidates challengers. Together, they tower over the tag division… literally. We don’t need to focus much more on what AJ can bring to the table here, we all know.
As a singles star, he could shine just as much. Omos is the guy that not gives the group a towering presence over their foes, but gives the good guys a legitimate test to take on before being able to challenge the top guy. “Oh you think you’re ready to step in the ring with me? Me!? Well, Omos has something to say about that.” Omos isn’t a guy that will be taking a lot of pinfalls so for those rare occasions in which he does, it just makes the challenger all the more credible to challenge for the top spot which will be held by or challenged by the groups top guy. I don’t think AJ and Omos are an upgrade from Hall and Nash, but they are good enough to fill the spot for version of today’s nWo.
3. Bayley
A glaring omission from the original group was a female wrestler. I know women’s wrestling is leaps and bounds bigger and better than it was during that time period but it always seemed weird that they never even attempted it. So with no talent to compare to, this spot was wide open when deciding who would fit the best. There are a few that might work, but I don’t think any of them take the cake like Bayley. Her evolution in to the best heel in the womens division over the past year has been nothing short of fantastic. Her arrogance, mic work and ability to have a great match with anybody would be a huge aquisition for the New World Order.
Did WWE’s TikTok have any influence on this decision? Yeah, a little bit. Bayley looked good rocking the nWo. But when you think about her character work, and where she has taken it, it makes sense. She can talk with the best of them and can take charge of people to really impose her will on a segment. She would NEVER be over shadowed by anybody else in the group which means the women’s division would not be taking a back seat. It would still feel important, maybe even more so if she was standing there with the belt along side everyone else.
2. Shane McMahon
What would the nWo be without an authority figure that had a lot of pull within the company. Eric Bischoff doesn’t get nearly enough credit for his on screen portrayal as a member of the New World Order. Hogan, Hall and Nash were able to accomplish a lot with the group, but it was Eric Bischoff that gave them the power to completely run the entire WCW organization. Who better to fill that spot that Shane O’Mac.
The redemption of his failed attempt during the Invasion gives us a reason for it. The rest can build from there. As long as Shane isn’t getting back in the ring, this won’t be a move that rubs the fans the wrong way either. Very simple choice for one of the more important roles of the group.
1. John Cena
Roman Reigns is the expected man for this position. He wouldn’t have to change much from his current character to take the role as leader. But because that is expected, I’m going a different path here. We got a look at John in the good ol’ black and white during his Firefly Funhouse Match with The Fiend at Wrestlemania 36, and it looked pretty damn cool. Hogan was THE babyface of his generation and the heel turn is what made the whole nWo thing feel big and important the first time around. If we want lightning to strike twice, we have to use the biggest lightning rod available. John Cena is as close to that babyface Hogan that we’ve had over the past 20 years. Sure, there were times where the fans tried to turn their backs on him but in the end it just never happened. In and out of the ring, John Cena has been the consummate good guy for everyone to look up to as the perfect role model. Not once did John turn his back on them, no matter how bad they asked for it.
Time to shatter the worlds of all those who look/looked up to him. John Cena turning on the fans for all those years of being fickle and taking over the WWE Universe with his fellow members is the return we all need and deserve. I watched the new Fast and Furious movie, John Cena can play the bad guy. All he has to do is bring a little bit of that character over and mix it with the wrestling persona and BOOM, we have the top heel. It is the only thing left for John Cena to do in a career that really doesn’t need anything else to validate it. He’s accomplished all there is to accomplish, so why else come back? To do something new, something fresh and have fun playing the bad guy for his last final run. Let the Funhouse come to life.
There you have it. Cena, AJ, Bayley, Miro, Omos, Shane O’Mac and Slater to start this thing off. I’m not against adding a few more names to that group to really give it the feeling of the New World Order. What do you guys think? Who would you take off my list? Who would you add? Let’s hear from you guys.
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