Continued from Part 1
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Chapter 7 - The Rise of the nWo and The Rebirth of Sting.
The story of the Outsider Invasion begins in 1996, with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, who were wrestling their final matches in the WWF as "The Bad Guy" Razor Ramon and "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel, respectively.
Due to contractual disagreements, Hall and Nash decided not to renew their contracts, but were obligated to have 1 more match each. And that leads Us to the (In)famous MSG Curtain Call.
The MSG Curtain Call was an event where the Federation Backstage was exposed. Let me explain, during the Event,after Shawn Michaels successfully defended his WWF Championship against Diesel (Kevin Nash) inside of a 14-Foot High Steel Cage, The 2 shook hands and Bro-Hugged. They were soon joined by Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) who then bro-hugged the 2. Then Hunter Hearst Helmsley arrived and became part of what, We never knew at the time, was Diesel and Razor's farewell.
Fans were confused, as Big Daddy Cool and Tripe H were Heels...and here they were, paling around with Michaels and Razor, the Babyfaces. This incident was caught on camera by a fan. Another thing we had little knowledge of, is that these 4 Men were Members of The Kliq, a backstage group that held some influence within the company. (I'll talk more about them another time).
Vince McMahon was mad and when he found out that some one was tapping the incident, he got pissed. Since Razor and Diesel (Hall and Nash) were gonna be headed to WCW soon and Shawn Michaels was still Champion And the #2 guy in the company, they couldn't be punished.
And The 1-2-3 Kid Sean Walman (the 5th member of the kliq) was still in drug rehab, he had nothing to do with the incident. So the punishment went to Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Initially, Helmsley WAS gonna win the 1996 King of the Ring, but because of this incident, those plans were changed. So, instead, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin won and gave us the iconic (and slightly offensive) Austin 3:16 speech.
And because of that, Austin got his foot in the door to superstardom. Triple H Would eventually win The King of the Ring the Following year, in '97.
A week later on WCW Nitro, Razor Ramon, now Scott Hall, invaded the show and declared War on WCW and Turner Broadcasting.
For a short while, almost every Fan thought that Hall was challenging WCW on The WWF's behalf, believing him, and later Kevin Nash, to be agents of Vince McMahon. Fans really didn't know what was going on behind the scenes.
Interest in WCW was rising because of this angle, and that intrigue was about to rise to levels beyond what Turner Broadcasting could've hoped for.
2 Weeks later, Kevin Nash joined Scott Hall and the 2 delivered verbal beating to WCW's Stars. They then issued a challenge to the company. At the Great American Bash, Hall and Nash, now known as the Outsiders, challenged the WCW to a 6-Man Tag, promising to bring a 3rd Man.
Now everyone was talking about Who this mysterious 3rd Outsider is gonna be.? Will there be Defections? Will it be another WWF Superstar? Will it be someone from ECW? We were All glued to WCW, 'cuz we Needed Answers.
Initially, Bischoff wanted Bret "The Hit Man" Hart to be the 3rd man, since Hart was taking a break from WWF and his contract was coming up. However, Bret refused, preferring to stay loyal to Vince McMahon.
So, Bischoff went to Sting and asked Him to be the 3rd Man. Sting was very unsure, so Bischoff went to Hulk Hogan. Hogan was also reluctant,thinking about how the angle would effect his career if it failed. After some convincing, Hogan eventually agreed to do it.
Okay, a little backstory about what Bischoff was planning here before I get farther into this angle. Months before, Eric Bischoff was attending a Wrestling Show in Japan, where one Organization was invading another (I forgot which ones). From this, Bischoff got the idea for the Outsider Invasion.
At Bash at the Beach, The Outsiders, sans their 3rd Partner battled Sting, Lex Luger, and Randy "Macho Man" Savage, who represented WCW. People were glued to this match, Really wanting to know Who the 3rd man would be?
When Lex Luger was taken out early, we all expected Him to come back out later and join the Outsiders as their 3rd man. It made sense, but it was all a Red Herring (aka false lead). Then, when things were getting bleaker and bleaker for WCW, Hulk Hogan shows up and, to Everyone's shock, betrays WCW and joins the Outsiders as the Mysterious 3rd Man.
Hogan made his ,now Legendary, speech damning WCW, the Wrestling World, And the Fans. He then forms The New World Order (The nWo).
Due to this One Angle, Bash at The Beach '96 became the Very First WCW Pay-Per-View to beat the WWF's in overall buyouts. WCW was Now the Wrestling Company to watch..and Vince McMahon was Livid.
A month earlier, Vince McMahon threatened to sue WCW and Ted Turner for Millions, if Scott Hall continued to act like Razor Ramon on WCW TV, as WWF owned the rights to the Razor Ramon character.
Turner and McMahon eventually settled out of court and allowed McMahon to buy WCW if the company ever went up for sale (forshadowing!!!!!).
Thanks to the nWo storyline, The WCW became the #1 Wrestling company in the world, with people wondering what'll happen next? Who will be the next person to join this new faction? Will their be betrayls? Will there be more guys from the WWF join it? Everyone was at the edge of their seats. WCW's ratings skyrocketed and became Must Watch TV.
The nWo was So popular, that they got their own PPV in January of '97, called nWo Souled Out. It was a decent show, nothing great, but it Did beat WWF's Royal Rumble in the Buyouts.
Sting was the Franchise of the WCW since 1992 and had become The most popular star in the company AND was also the #5 Guy in Wrestling, behind Hulk Hogan, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Bret "Hit Man" Hart, and "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels, who were the #1,#2,#3,and #4 guys respectively.
And this ranking was Before the Attitude Era.
Anyway, Sting was this larger than life Super Hero, a colorful ring warrior with loads of charisma....but that all changed in late 1996. It all started when Sting was accused of joining the nWo and was framed. But, at War Games 1996, as people were beginning to doubt the Stinger, their doubts were realized when Sting entered the War Games match as a member of Team nWo, unaware that This Sting was a fake. The Real Sting entered the match and angrily left after beating on the Outsiders, Hogan, and Bogus Sting.
The next night, Sting cut a promo venting out his frustrations, telling all that who doubted him to "Stick It",and declaring himself to be a "Free Agent", one who'll drop in when everyone least expects it.
Soon, Sting went from Colorful Super Hero to Dark Avenger. Crow Sting! He would appear up in the rafters, play mind games with the WCW and the nWo, and never spoke once.
This was the Change The Stinger needed. WCW was going into the late 90s and Sting's Colorful Super Hero persona would've gotten stale..So kudos to WCW and Sting for making this change. Also, kudos to the late Scott Hall for giving Sting the idea for the Crow persona.
Everyone found this New Sting, Crow Sting, to be very interesting and that gave them another Reason to stick with WCW.
Eventually, Sting would challenge Hollywood Hulk Hogan for the WCW Championship at Starrcade '97.
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Chapter 8 - WWF Gets An Attitude!
In 1996, ratings and popularity for the WWF were growing weaker and weaker, all thanks to WCW's stotylines. Their PPV buyouts shrunk and the money was starting to dry up. Sure the product was still good, but it was nowhere Near as interesting as what WCW was doing.
Vince McMahon didn't know what to do. So Head Writer of WWF Magazine, Vince Russo, turned McMahon's attention to ECW for answers.
McMahon found what he was looking for. So, in September of 1996, Vince McMahon made a deal with ECW promoter, Paul Heymen to do cross promotional shows. ECW would invade RAW and a select few WWF Wrestlers, like Jerry "The King" Lawler, would invade ECW. This helped with ratings, but not as much.
In September, to prove that they owned the rights to the Razor Ramon and Diesel Characters, The WWF hired 2 guys to play the characters. Rick Bognar of as Razor Ramon and Glenn Jacobs as Diesel.
These Fakes were gonna be part of the "Disgruntled Jim Ross" storyline,where the commentator aired his grievences with the WWF and Vince McMahon, who was finally outed as the owner of the WWF on TV.
Ross would turn heel, but this rant of his made the fans like him even more,so the angle died prematurely. It backfired in a big way. The Fakes were only gonna stay for a month or 2, but they were forced to stay longer when the WWF needed to sell unsold Razor Ramon and Diesel figures (which were repackaged as 2-packs).
In October, for the In Your House PPV, McMahon created the WWF's first unsanctioned Match, the first ever Buried Alive Match, between The Undertaker and Mankind.
The Match was a success and it lead to the Rebirth of the Undertaker into a darker character. In November, As part of an Angle, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin invaded Brian Pillman's home in Newport, Kentucky.
In the Segment Austin was taunting Pillman and his wife and even destroying property, all while trying to break in. Pillman got a gun and to was ready to kill, all while shouting profanities, most of which were un-bleeped.
This angle was called 'The Pillman's Got A Gun' incident by fans. WWF apologized for what happened and so did the USA Network. However, Vince Russo saw an opportunity and convinced the higher ups at the WWF to explore the option of more mature programming.
At Survivor Series '96, The Leader of the New Generation Bret "Hit Man" Hart returned to battle "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. And even though we didn't know it at the time, but this match was actually between the Current Leader and the Future Leader, as Steve Austin Lead the WWF's next Big Era.
Going into 1997, the WWF would see some Changes. First, to counter WCW's expansion of Nitro the previous year, WWF made RAW a 2-Hour Show starting in February. The 2nd Hour would be titled, War Zone. And in March RAW was renamed to RAW is WAR,in reference to their War with WCW.
Second, The Red, White, and Blue Colored Ropes were replaced by Red ones and the Blue Parts of the Ring became Black.
Third, WWF allowed some more extreme moments on the show, such as more out of the box ideas, greater levels violence (including bleeding), and lesser profanities (which went un-bleeped).
At the same time, Vince Russo went from Head Writer for the Magazines to WWF's Chief Creative, Though many of his more idiotic and extreme ideas were filtered by Vince McMahon.
Going deeper into '97, WWF was still losing rating, thanks to Goldberg, the Sting Situation, and the nWo going on in WCW. But, there was some hope. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was rising in popularity and was slowly becoming the next big Megastar.
Starting in the Summer, Austin's Merch sales Boomed. Seriously,You couldn't even Watch a WWF show without seeing a Crap-ton of fans with Stone Cold Tee Shirts. Some wore Stone Cold Hats. While a small few had the Stone Cold Foam (middle) Finger.
After Summer Slam, the WWF Officially entered The Attitude Era, though it was unnamed at that point. It was all kicked off my Shawn Michaels' unhinged rant on the RAW after Summer Slam.
A month later, in September, D-Generation X would debut. DX was made up of the remaining 2 Kliq Members, Shawn Michaels and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. They were joined by Chyna, Triple H's Bodyguard. As well as, temporarily, Ravishing Rick Rude as HBK's "Insurance Policy".
D-Generation X would be one of the focal points of the Era and in March 1998, would get an expansion.
In October, the WWF would introduce a new type of Cage Match - Hell in a Cell, which debut at that Mont's In Your House PPV. The Hell in a Cell match was more violent and more dangerous than a Normal Steel Cage match.
The first ever Hell in a Cell match was between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. This match was also the Legendary debut of Kane.
The Montreal Screwjob is a subject I will cover in the future, but here is the short of it. Bret Hart was leaving for WCW soon and he was Still the WWF Champion, so Bret and Vince came up with a plan for him to win his match at Survivor Series against Shawn Michaels via DQ and Then relinquish the title the next night on RAW.
However, behind The Hit Man's back, Shawn Michaels coerced McMahon to change plans. So, during the match itself, Vince Screwed Bret. The Hit Man was pissed and even punched out McMahon backstage. In fact, many Wrestlers though that Vince was scummy for this act of betrayal.
A week later, McMahon defended his decision at the Survivor Series and played victim. Soon, most Wrestling Fans began hating Vince. And thanks to this interview, Mr. McMahon was born.
On a note that I almost forgot about. "Ravishing" Rick Rude's contract with the WWF had expired and wasn't renewed, due to a pay dispute. So Rude signed on with WCW a few days later.
Thanks to RAW being taped a week in advance and Nitro almost always being live, Rude appeared on Both RAW and Nitro on the very same night.
It was a totally surreal experience. Seriously, It Really Was.
Anyway, going into 1998, the WWF became even more outlandish and mature. And "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was being prepped to become the face of the Company. And for the first time since 1996, the WWF would score a Victory over WCW in the Pay-Per-View Wars with The 1998 Royal Rumble .
For the build-up to WrestleMania 14, the WWF brought in Mike Tyson, who would serve as The Enforcer for the Austin v Michaels Championship Match.
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania and Officially became the Leader of the Attitude Era and Face of the company. At the same time, another WWF Superstar was coming into his own - Rocky Maivia aka The Rock, who would soon become the new #2 guy in the Company, replacing Shawn Michaels.
After WrestleMania, the Attitude Era was in full swing. D-Generation X swapped out Shawn Michaels (who was injured after his WM match) for The New Age Outlaws and a returning 1-2-3 Kid, now known as X-Pac. The WWF grew even edgier by upping the "Sex Factor" of it's product (I was never a fan of That).
And finally, it was the beginning of the Legendary "Stone Cold" Steve Austin / Vince McMahon feud.
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Chapter 9 - The Unstoppable, Untoppable, Untouchable Bill Goldberg!!
On September of 1997, WCW would introduce the World to Bill Goldberg. Bill Goldberg was an unstoppable beast that ran though anyone who got in his way. He eventually garnered an impressive undefeated streak of 170-0, before it was broken by Kevin Nash.
Bill Goldberg was a rare breed, rare beast of a wrestler who just drew in crowds naturally. He became an overnight sensation and brought WCW even More popularity.
His specialty move was The Spear, which He made popular. His finisher was The Jackhammer. In 1998, Bill Goldberg was referred to as just Goldberg. It was effective and it stuck.
In April of 1998 on Nitro, Goldberg defeated Raven to become the WCW United States Champion. In June, He began using his, now, signature catchphase, "Who's Next!"
In July, Goldberg earned himself a World Heavyweight Title Shot against Hollywood Hulk Hogan on Nitro. And Won. Goldberg vacated the US Title and began his reign as World Heavyweight Champion.
Many Fans, Pundits, the Bottom WCW Brass, WCW Wrestlers, and even Vince McMahon himself criticized the Company for having This big of a match on Free TV, instead of saving it for a Pay-Per-View.
Goldberg would lose his Title and Winning Streak at Starrcade '98 to Kevin Nash (thanks to scott hall's help).
Meanwhile in the WWF, in an attempt to mock WCW's Goldberg hype, Ultra-Jobber Duane Gill was repackaged as Gillberg, a funny parody of Goldberg himself. We all had a good laugh at this.
Goldberg's legend still lives on to this day.
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Concluded in Part 3!
