Many of WWE's newer fans, and even Superstars, will not know of the (in)glorious history of the New World Order within the business. While originally a WCW concept, the first instance of the nWo we shall deal with will be the one former in January of 2002 in the now defunct Fantasy Wrestling Championship (FWC).
Shawn Michaels had recently comeback from a career ending back injury, persuaded by money, by his own admission, he joined the upstart FWC, reuniting with Razor Ramon and Diesel, better known as Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. The trio would soon form the nWo and the FWC Championship around the waist of Michaels. Despite the accolades and plaudits Michaels received, he and many other Superstars were unhappy in FWC due to the booking flaws of the company.
In March, he and the entire nWo defected to the then WWF.
In a memorable month, the group invaded Madison Square Garden, declared war on the World Wrestling Federation and laid waste Superstars such as Silent Assassin, Kane, Hollywood Nitro and Steve Austin, spraying their familiar "nWo" logo on the backs of their enemies. Michaels in particular was noted for becoming the most hated man in the industry both on TV and backstage. The New World Order ere not just a gimmick, they were for real. It wasn't to last however and after the WWF decided to turn Michaels face at WrestleMania 18, the nWo drifted apart, but significantly, all it's members left Skydome as a title holder, Michaels the Undisputed Champion and The Outsiders the World Tag Team Champions.
With the Monday Night Wars against FWC in full swing, WWE decided they needed to hit FWC where it hurt - in the ratings. Hell in a Cell - Steve Austin - the nWo, three knockout blows from which WWE figured FWC would never recover.. they were right.
The summer of 2002 was the summer of the nWo. Forming in May, this second version of the nWo is considered the "nWo classic", the definitive and most successful version of the group.
Since being in WWE Michaels had former a backstage Kliq, a group of Superstars closely allied and working to advance their own careers and "have some fun" as HBK put it in a 2004 interview. The Kliq were loved and loathed alike, many seeing them as the saviors of the business, the ones taking the war to FWC, while others saw them as arrogant, obnoxious and holding good Superstars down. The Kliq consisted of Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Nightmare and Silent Assassin, the 5 men who would play a key role in what was to come.
The nWo centered around three of the five members of the Kliq - Michaels, Hogan and Nightmare, with Urban-Wolf as the forth member and Shane McMahon in a management role. Triple H had been in the group for only a week but due to heat with the Kliq, was released from the company in the first sign of things to come.
To feud with the nWo? Team WWE, led by Kliq member Steve Austin and later Silent Assassin.
The havoc caused the first time around was nothing compared to the carnage this time, Steve Austin was stripped of the WWE Championship, Nightmare became WWE commissioner and split the brands, the nWo literally bought the company and fired Vince McMahon. HBK was awarded the WWE Championship and anybody who argued was beaten and abused. WWE was in the grip of an nWo dictatorship.
A5 on 5 elimination match for total control of WWE was arranged for SummerSlam 2002, but little know to the nWo, Shawn Michaels had become increasingly insecure about his own position within the group, Hulk Hogan having become Undisputed Champion several weeks before with Shawn struggling to get back into the title picture. Unknown to anybody, Michaels had a secret agenda and during the match betrayed the nWo to form D-Generation X with Silent Assassin, it was a tear from which the nWo Classics would not recover.
Hulk Hogan immediately formed a new nWo with the returning Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, Nightmare being drafted to SmackDown and also leaving the group. While it looked like the nWo's time maybe over however, they received an unexpected boost as another consequence of the brand split - Eric Bischoff became General Manager of Raw. An nWo sympathizer since the WCW days, Bischoff brought Hogan to Raw and instantly made him World Heavyweight Champion.
The nWo continued in much the same way it had, invading UWW at one point, ejecting Randy Savage from the company and creating all manner of havoc, but their power was broken - Nash and Hall were not Nightmare and Shawn Michaels. Hogan soon became disillusioned with the black and white and as America geared up for war with Iraq, Hogan's patriotic strings were pulled. In one memorable moment in early 2003, Hogan returned in the red and yellow, ready to do battle against the Iron Sheik and the Weapons of Mass Destruction tag team, finally headed to the main event of WrestleMania XIX against Steve Austin in the Icon vs Icon match. The nWo was dead.
But as somebody once said, maybe everything that dies one day comes back... and it was certainly true for the nWo.
With no competition, WWE's creative department became lax and by 2004 ratings had dropped like a stone. Coupled with a scandal concerning steroid and recreational drug use backstage at WWE events, WWE was in serious danger of being taken off the air. WWE decided that once again, the nWo were needed.
At WrestleMania XX, Vince McMahon claimed that if the performers did not please him, he would kill WWE there and then. As he watched from a skybox at Madison Square Garden, it became ever increasingly obvious he was not happy, calling Evolution - Triple H, Batista, Ric Flair and Suffering, along with Goldberg into the skybox to watch the Main Event. As Hulk Hogan pinned Shawn Michaels, dethroning Showtime as World Champion in the process, it became clear this was no ordinary match. Eric Bischoff, X-Pac, Nash and Hall all came out - the nWo were not going to let the company die, Hulk Hogan proclaiming this was the "house that Hogan built", they were here to take what they could from the ailing company. Vince put his thumbs up, WWE lived and he accepted the challenge.
The last nWo were more vicious than ever, throwing people through glass doors, belt whippings, not even interested in winning matches anymore - just taking all they could and making sure they remained on top as the likes of Evolution tried to save the company, tried to make new stars. The nWo died a few months later inside a Wargames match, the first and only such match on Raw. It would be the nWo versus Evolution, Silent Assassin and Goldberg. Suffering pinned Michaels, his future seemingly made, the nWo in crisis... but we never found out what happened next as the USA Network pulled the plug on Raw, taken off the air.
And that would have been the end of the story, the final chapter ending on the last episode of the old Raw inside the cell. but that is, until the events of this weeks Raw.
The parallels are there for all to see, the upstart group led by Shane McMahon, trying to take over the WWE, even some of the same figures are present - Vince McMahon and Stone Cold leading Team WWE. But this time, McMahon has had little success against his son and the New Generation, a group who's sole aim is to destroy the WWE Originals. McMahon becoming increasingly frustrated at the war he's fighting, ever more unhinged.
Then this week he did the unthinkable - signing a deal to reunite the original nWo, to ally Team WWE with the very men they fought such a bitter war against - a unified WWE and nWo to fight off the challenge of the New Generation.
But is Vince as mad as he appears?
The nWo made a career out of putting themselves over young stars, of beating down, holding down and throwing upstarts out of the company. Could it be that Vince sees this as an asset in fighting the New Generation? there can be no doubt that the nWo will stoop to tactics even John Cena and Michael Shane would not even consider. Plus, there is the Wolfpac aspect, will Kevin Nash and Scott Hall also join this nWo in which there were once so instrumental? could we see an nWo supergroup containing ALL members of it's past incarnations?
nWo - The History 
Inglorious Bastards: The History of the New World Order