[1997-04-07-WCW-Nitro] Interview: NWO

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The NWO is out to fix these problems and the crowd is loving the dissension. The crowd is very excited about a possible Hogan vs Nash feud, but they don't pull the trigger for another year! How awesome is that! This is also interesting politically, as Hogan sort of gets to emasculate Nash and Savage. The segment ends with the NWO putting the tension behind them and agreeing to work together.

 

Love the "We Want Sting" chants. They haven't forgotten about the long term either. I'm not sure a promotion could click anymore than WCW was at this time.

[Strummer]

The crowd is very excited about a possible Hogan vs Nash feud, but they don't pull the trigger for another year!

very interesting year for WCW. In the first half they set the stage for so many awesome angles but they wanted to have a slow build (which was great) so the summer and fall are fairly dull. I don't know if it was part complacency or just good old fashioned slow build but the product lacked the spark it had in the beginning of the year. And then you have Turner execs wanting Hogan on TV more in the later months and Terry Taylor gaining more power and emphasizing workrate and titles. There seemed to be less hot angles in the second half of the year

[Loss]

Interesting. I have no recollection of WCW shifting in the second half of the year. We'll see how it plays out.

[soup23]

Good bring the troops back together promo. Everything that everyone said was logical and you had distinct lines and feud set with Nash vs. Hogan and Macho vs. Bischoff. I especially liked Bischoff again in this segment as a person really contemplating that everything could be crumbling around him. His works for me at the probation ultimatum was great and the NWO is united for now.

[Kevin Ridge]

DiBiase starts things off and talks about turmoil in the family. Ted actually getting mic time. Again, I think he was underused by now with Bischoff’s involvement and so many other voices in the group. Hogan goes right after Nash! Oh, this is good. The crowd loves the possibility of NWO going at it. Nash and Hogan smooth things out but Savage is still very hostile about things. Everyone works things out at the end, for now.

[El-P]

It's pretty notable how patient WCW was at the time, planting the seeds for an nWo split, building anticipation but not delivering yet. Good segment. The crowd is eating this stuff up.

[PeteF3]

Savage on crutches--I forgot to mention but DDP bungled an inverted atomic drop something awful at Spring Stampede, which he noticeably had to cover for and seemed to slow Savage down considerably for the rest of that match. Hogan calls out Nash for his comments the previous week, ripping Hogan for being at the Double Team premiere the previous week instead of Nitro. Hulk declares that he's bringing in elite athletes like Rodman to watch their back, and Nash delivers a pretty strongly-worded non-apology apology. Then Hogan calls out Nash about the whereabouts of Scott Hall. Nash responds that Hall is NWO 4 life without really addressing his current status (understandably). Big tease of a Hogan-Nash fight, to a huge reaction. Savage and Eric do the same, putting themselves on "probation" with each other. Good teaser of what's to come--Savage with the NWO seems like it should be like the Giant's run--a disaster waiting to happen. The NWO settles their differences but it's made perfectly clear that they've only put a Band Aid on the problem instead of solving it.