The DVD (features comments from Hulk Hogan and Scott Hall, but not Kevin Nash):

"This is the story of three men, two companies and one organization...

The three men are Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hollywood Hulk Hogan

The two companies: the WCW and the WWF

The organization: The NWO"

Hogan: The NWO represented a turning point, a new attitude, the new generation of wrestlers who became the new superstars of wrestling.

Hall: It's like Chief Jay Strongbow said: you're in it to make friends or make money. Let's make some money.

Hogan: The NWO represented the changes that created the new wrestling industry.

Hall: When we were in WCW, we made an impact...the fans were having a good time. Now, we're back in the WWF...we have a chance to show the fans more good times...so far, so good.

In May of 1996, the landscape of sports entertainment was much different than it is now (footage of Mabel, Doink, Kwang, Justin Bradshaw and others shown). When Vince McMahon's WWF and Ted Turner's WCW went head-to-head on Monday nights, one thing was clear: there can be only one winner.

1/24/84, MSG: Hulkamania was born. Footage shown of Hogan beating the Iron Shiek.

Footage shown of Hogan fighting Sid, Savage, Bundy, Yokozuna, etc.

Hogan: Back in the day, I could have a war with King Kong Bundy and it'd last a year. Nowadays, wars are much quicker. It's a sign of the changing times.

Stars such as Hogan, Randy Savage and others were lured to Turner by fat contracts and relaxed work schedules. The WWF created new stars in their absence...

Razor Ramon montage shown. Footage shown of Ramon beating Rick Martel and Diesel for his first and second IC titles.

Hall: Was proud to be a part of the WWF. Everything clicked with the Razor character.

Diesel montage shown. Footage of Diesel beating Ramon for IC title shown.

11//26/94, MSG: Diesel beating Bob Backlund for the WWF title...match shown in its entirety.

Diesel and Ramon eventually signed with WCW for more money.

The grainy footage of the "MSG Incident" shown.

Hall: It was meant as a good-bye to the fans, not as a way to hurt the company. Flattered that people still talk about it.

5/27/96, Nitro: Scott Hall invades Nitro. In-ring promo shown complete and uncut.

Later that night: Hall confronts Eric Bischoff.

6/10/96, Nitro: Kevin Nash appears with Hall to confront Bischoff.

6/10/96, Great American Bash: The "Powerbomb Heard 'Round the World." Footage begins with Bischoff asking Nash "Do you work for the WWF?"

7/1/96, Nitro: Hall and Nash have a standoff with Savage, Sting, Lex Luger, other WCW superstars, and lots of security.

7/7/96, Bash At The Beach: Extended clips of the Hostile Takeover Match. The Hogan turn and subsequent interview with Mean Gene shown complete and uncut, except for Bobby Heenan asking whose side Hogan is on.

7/15/96, Nitro: Hogan appears to befriend Big Bubba, but the Outsiders jump Bubba. Hogan challenges the Giant to a World title match at Hog Wild.

Hogan (direct quote): "My favorite piece of business when I was in the WCW was bringing everything I learned from the WWF down there and basically wiping out their whole talent pool."

8/12/96, Nitro: Footage of the infamous "Rey Mysterio, Jr. lawn-dart" incident shown.

8/10/96, Hog Wild: Footage shown of Hogan beating the Giant for the World title. Match joined in progress when Giant "hulks up" against Hogan. Footage shown of Hogan spray-painting the World title belt.

Footage is shown of the post-match activities...Hogan giving Ed Leslie the "kiss of death," and the subsequent NWO beatdown of Leslie. While this footage is being shown, we hear another Hogan comment...

Hogan (direct quote): "I know every shortcut...I know every way to get to a wrestler...I know every way to get to a piece of talent, in and out of the ring. And I used all my weapons to my advantage, so my favorite thing was basically stirring the pot in the WCW...that's why I'm called the Hulk-'Stir.'"

8/26/96, Nitro: One of the best beatdowns in recent history is shown...The NWO takes out the Horsemen and the Dungeon of Doom...Heenan leaves the broadcast booth, fearing for his life...the Giant comes down, presumably to make the save, but joins the NWO...Savage comes down with a chair, but gets beat down...Hogan spray-paints a yellow streak down Savage's back...the crowd is rabid...garbage is littering the ring...Bischoff is beside himself on commentary the entire time. Afterwards, the NWO destroys the broadcast booth, and Hogan tells the Giant to spit on the "WCW Nitro" logo.

9/2/96, Nitro: The NWO attacks Ric Flair...Hogan spray-paints Flair's hair.

Hogan: As we added members and friends to the NWO, it became watered down. But the funny thing is we could throw the NWO t-shirt on any average wrestler, and that wrestler would become a star overnight.

Hall: Agrees that the NWO was at its strongest with the original three members. He thought the NWO would get its own TV show, merchandise line, etc., so that fans would be forced to choose between WCW and the NWO, not WCW and the WWF.

Meanwhile, in the WWF, stars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock were helping to create a new attitude...

Fast forward five years...

11/19/01, RAW: Ric Flair appears to announce he bought 50% ownership of the WWF.

A very eerie montage of Vince McMahon's soliloquy from Smack Down! is shown, where he announces he will inject the NWO poison into the WWF.

Flair tries to talk McMahon out of bringing in the NWO.

2/17/02, No Way Out: The NWO appears in the WWF.

Hogan: Didn't really feel at that this point that his career came full circle.

Hall: How many people get a second chance?

Footage shown of the NWO running into Stone Cold and the Rock backstage at No Way Out.

Footage shown of the NWO costing Austin the title match against Chris Jericho.

Wrestle Mania video package of Austin vs. Hall shown.

2/18/02, RAW: The Hulk Hogan-Rock confrontation and subsequent beatdown are shown.

3/4/02, RAW: Footage shown of the NWO backstage drinking beer, beating up a stagehand and the "coffee-checker." Hall shown destroying Spike Dudley in Hall's first match back.

3/7/02, Smack Down!: Hall vs. The Rock. NWO beatdown, Austin saves.

3/17/02, Wrestle Mania X-8: Extended clips of Hall vs. Austin.

Wrestle Mania video package of Hogan vs. Rock shown.

3/17/02, Wrestle Mania X-8: Extended clips of Hogan vs. Rock.

Hogan: His match against Rock was a greater moment than his match against Andre the Giant, and that's the truth, brother.

Footage shown of Rock encouraging Hogan to tear off the NWO t-shirt the night after Wrestle Mania.

Hogan: After Wrestle Mania, I felt that the circle was then complete.

What does the future hold for the NWO?

Hall: Back to basics. We have to be the poison we were advertised to be.

3/21/02, Smack Down!: Rock vs. Nash. X-Pac joins the NWO.

Hall: WCW was weak...it didn't take long at all to kill it off. It'll take longer to kill the WWF, since it's much stronger.

Hogan: The downfall of the NWO will be that they won't realize when to stop pushing the envelope.

DVD Extras

7/7/96, Bash At The Beach: Kevin Nash and Scott Hall vs. Sting, Randy Savage and Lex Luger...match shown in its entirety.

9/15/96, Fall Brawl: WarGames: Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, NWO Sting vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Sting...match shown in its entirety.

12/27/98, Starrcade: Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash for the WCW Title...match shown in its entirety.

NWO 4 Life: The intro movie from No Way Out 2002.

NWO Poison: One of the commercials from WWF TV hyping the arrival of the NWO.

3/11/02, RAW: Stone Cold and the Rock vs. Hogan, Hall and Nash (falsely advertised as Austin and Rock vs. Hogan and Hall)...match shown in its entirety.

DVD Easter Eggs

None that I know of.

Comments

Buy this DVD now. This is a must own. Seeing old WCW footage and hearing WCW commentary on a WWE release is just awesome. As you can see, the "history" is very, very incomplete. At first, I was taken aback by the fact that five entire years were just plain skipped. But then I realized that, for WWE's purposes, it was the only way to do it. Most everything in those five years was inconsequential to the legacy of the ORIGINAL NWO. Where the WCW footage ended is when a new member was added to the NWO on a weekly basis. I could see why WWE excluded anything having to do with the Wolfpac...the Wolfpac meant nothing to what WWE wanted for Hogan, Hall and Nash. I'll say this: Watching the DVD jump from September 96 (when the NWO was destroying everything in sight) to McMahon threatening to poison the WWF in 2002 sent chills down my spine. In the timeline of the DVD, you don't get to see any of the stupid shit from 1997-2000, so you really feel that Hogan, Hall and Nash are a deadly poison that will destroy the WWF. Very effective production. Putting the Goldberg-Nash match on the DVD...why? This match meant nothing in the grand scheme of things to the legacy of the NWO. Some Nash ass-kissing? Perhaps. You'll notice that during Nash's introduction in this match, his crowd response seems just a wee bit too sweet (no pun intended). If you're going to include Nash-Goldberg, then you should include the "Finger poke of doom." The "Finger poke" isn't there, so the Starrcade match really has no place here. The beatdown from the 8/26/96 Nitro is worth the price of this DVD all by itself.

Mr Shh
freelance