Eric Bischoff Reveals Original Concept For The nWo

On the latest episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff reveals the original storyline plans for the nWo and The Outsiders’ invasion of WCW.

Led by Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and later “Hollywood” Hogan, the nWo revolutionized the industry. At a time when WCW and Raw were battling each week for ratings supremacy, Hall and Nash were the jet fuel WCW needed to bring WWE to its knees. The nWo was the hottest thing in wrestling. The angle eventually evolved into a hostile takeover of WCW, but Bischoff reveals there was another storyline discussed that would have explained Hall and Nash’s reason for showing up on Nitro.

“The premise of nWo, the very premise of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash coming over, was to get revenge because they weren’t treated fairly when they were previously in WCW,” Bischoff says.

“Now that they became big stars, they’re coming back to exact their revenge on WCW and the people that didn’t treat them with the respect they deserve.”

Scott Hall and Kevin Nash both worked for WCW in the early 90’s as mid-card acts. Hall worked as the Diamond Studd, while Nash portrayed multiple characters, including Oz and Vinnie Vegas. They’d later attain greater fame and success in the World Wrestling Federation as Razor Ramon and Diesel.

When the Outsiders arrived in WCW, WWE sued them sued WCW in 1996 for defamation, slander, unfair competition, and trademark infringement, all in relation to the angle. The basis of WWE’s lawsuit was that Hall and Nash were portrayed on WCW television as still working for the company, and the appearance was given that WWF was working with WCW on the angle.

23 years later, Eric Bischoff reveals that was not the intention. Rather, Bischoff says that his original idea of disgruntled employees morphed into a brand split concept.

“We didn’t know that it would be as successful as it became,” Bischoff says.

“Once that became obvious in 1996, the ideas had already been ricocheting around in my head that we were eventually going to split the brands.”