The nWo is arguably the biggest faction in all of wrestling. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall threatened to take over WCW after jumping ship from WWE and once Hulk Hogan joined them, they conquered the entirety of the wrestling world. It is hard to imagine the legendary faction without any of the original three. However, there was a point when Eric Bischoff mulled over giving Hogan’s spot to another WCW legend, Sting.
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The WCW President asked the Hulkster if he wanted to turn heel and join hands with Nash and Hall. However, Hogan was unsure about the move and even believed doing so would be career suicide. However, after seeing the two make the outsiders gimmick work, Hogan called Bischoff and the rest is history.
Sting would have been the third man in nWo had Hulk Hogan refused to turn heel
During an interview with Corey Graves on WWE After the Bell, Hogan recalled joining the WCW. He was doing the same old shtick he did in the WWE before, it got old in front of his new audience as well. Eric Bischoff soon asked Hogan if he wanted to change his alignment, but Hogan was not too sure about it.
“When Hall and Nash came in, I was on the fence about teaming up with guys. Eric kept asking me if I wanted to do this gimmick and I kept saying ‘I don’t know, I don’t know who these brothers are and I don’t know what their deal is as far as work ethic, where their heads are at. I don’t even know these guys, they’re part of Shawn Michaels kliq and I wasn’t a part of that deal,” Hogan said.
However, Hogan was soon swept off his feet with the work they were putting out week after another. He eventually called Bischoff to give him his nod of approval, to which Bischoff replied, saying that he was just going to ask Sting to do it instead.
“I saw Scott come in and then I saw big Kevin come in and I called Eric right away and said ‘I’m in.’ And he goes ‘Good, cause I was just getting ready to get Sting to do it.’ And I said ‘Thank god, I’m the guy.’”
Sting ended up becoming the bane of nWo
While Bischoff may have originally considered Sting to be a part of the group, the Icon instead became a thorn in their flesh. The nWo quickly became the hottest act in wrestling. In fact, it was on their backs that Eric Bischoff beat the WWE for 83 consecutive weeks in the ratings.
A fantastic group of villains need a captivating hero who can stand up to them. That man for WCW was Sting. In fact, he was the first person to go against Nash and Hall and later Hogan.
However, with his fellow WCW wrestlers doubting his loyalty to the promotion, some even assumed that he had joined the WCW, he left the company, although he kept returning from time to time. He was the most over star in the promotion, despite not wrestling for a year or even uttering a word.
You can only imagine the excitement in the air when Sting finally challenged Hogan for the WCW World title. However, the promotion managed to botch what was supposed to be the climax to their story.
The referee was supposed to do a fast count for Hogan, then Hart, who joined WCW after the Montreal Screwjob exit from WWE, was supposed to force the match to restart. However, the referee ended up doing a normal count, making Hart’s interference look like Hogan had been unfairly screwed over.
The feud then dragged on for a bit with more swerves than you can count and by the end of it all, Sting, who was supposed to be the defender of WCW, ended up joining nWo like a million others.
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