Kemo
07-07-2021, 08:52 PM
:nwo:
With today being the 25th Anniversary of the Bash at the Beach 96 PPV, WWE is celebrating “NWO Week.” Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and other members of the faction recently spoke to Sports Illustrated regarding the importance of the famous angle in WCW.
“Hollywood” Hogan was interviewed for the piece. He spoke about who is influences were as a heel.
“I knew I could work as a heel because I’d watched so much of Ray Stevens and Pat Patterson and ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham and The Great Malenko,” Hogan says. “They’d chop, kick and beat the crap out of you, but then they’d backpedal, cross their heart, and drop to their knees the moment the babyface would make his comeback. For me, the problem was the timing. I didn’t know if that was the right timing to do it.”
“I thought I could be a really intense heel. But turning, after all we’d been through to reach that point, it really concerned me.”
Few people talk about the actual main event match from Bash at the Beach 96. Kevin Nash noted in the interview that the match itself wasn’t very good. This was partly due to just how long it had been since either Hall or Nash had wrestled.
“That was the first match [since signing in WCW],” Nash recalled. “We hadn’t worked in a while.”
“It wasn’t that great of a match,” Nash said. “Hulk coming down was just him coming down, but it was all about what happened after that.”
“We knew we definitely had some heat in that building,” Nash continued. “But we didn’t know if it would transcend any further than that night.”
Scott Hall also commented on how the NWO still makes headlines today 25 years after it was born.
“We obviously did something right,” Hall says. “Twenty-five years later, we still make headlines.”
“It was a different time,” Hall also said. “The internet was not as prominent as today. People thought it was real. Other WCW wrestlers thought it was real. We sold the story that Vince sent me and Kev to join Hulk and cancel WCW.”
Eric Bischoff spoke to Sports Illustrated for the piece. He said the angle felt real because that is how they treated it.
“It felt real because it was treated real,” Eric Bischoff said. “Kevin and Scott coming allowed us to apply that kind of reality to the WCW product. Once Hulk made his decision, I knew it would be shocking and I knew he would be good at it. I just didn’t know if he’d follow through on the decision.”
Bischoff continued to say that he had hoped to get maybe 8 months out of the storyline at first.
“I had hoped, initially, we’d get a successful six-to-eight-month story out of the NWO,” Bischoff added. “I had no idea it would become as big as it became, and still is.”
Paul Wight was in and out of the NWO throughout its entire existence, even during its run in WWE. He talked about the importance the angle had on the business.
“The NWO changed the business,” said Paul Wight. “They made it possible for heels to be cool.”
“The reaction of the crowd that night of the pay per view told us something different was happening,” Wight continued. “The anti-hero became the hero, and that was a direct parallel to what was happening in society. And so much of that night was unpredictable.”
With today being the 25th Anniversary of the Bash at the Beach 96 PPV, WWE is celebrating “NWO Week.” Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and other members of the faction recently spoke to Sports Illustrated regarding the importance of the famous angle in WCW.
“Hollywood” Hogan was interviewed for the piece. He spoke about who is influences were as a heel.
“I knew I could work as a heel because I’d watched so much of Ray Stevens and Pat Patterson and ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham and The Great Malenko,” Hogan says. “They’d chop, kick and beat the crap out of you, but then they’d backpedal, cross their heart, and drop to their knees the moment the babyface would make his comeback. For me, the problem was the timing. I didn’t know if that was the right timing to do it.”
“I thought I could be a really intense heel. But turning, after all we’d been through to reach that point, it really concerned me.”
Few people talk about the actual main event match from Bash at the Beach 96. Kevin Nash noted in the interview that the match itself wasn’t very good. This was partly due to just how long it had been since either Hall or Nash had wrestled.
“That was the first match [since signing in WCW],” Nash recalled. “We hadn’t worked in a while.”
“It wasn’t that great of a match,” Nash said. “Hulk coming down was just him coming down, but it was all about what happened after that.”
“We knew we definitely had some heat in that building,” Nash continued. “But we didn’t know if it would transcend any further than that night.”
Scott Hall also commented on how the NWO still makes headlines today 25 years after it was born.
“We obviously did something right,” Hall says. “Twenty-five years later, we still make headlines.”
“It was a different time,” Hall also said. “The internet was not as prominent as today. People thought it was real. Other WCW wrestlers thought it was real. We sold the story that Vince sent me and Kev to join Hulk and cancel WCW.”
Eric Bischoff spoke to Sports Illustrated for the piece. He said the angle felt real because that is how they treated it.
“It felt real because it was treated real,” Eric Bischoff said. “Kevin and Scott coming allowed us to apply that kind of reality to the WCW product. Once Hulk made his decision, I knew it would be shocking and I knew he would be good at it. I just didn’t know if he’d follow through on the decision.”
Bischoff continued to say that he had hoped to get maybe 8 months out of the storyline at first.
“I had hoped, initially, we’d get a successful six-to-eight-month story out of the NWO,” Bischoff added. “I had no idea it would become as big as it became, and still is.”
Paul Wight was in and out of the NWO throughout its entire existence, even during its run in WWE. He talked about the importance the angle had on the business.
“The NWO changed the business,” said Paul Wight. “They made it possible for heels to be cool.”
“The reaction of the crowd that night of the pay per view told us something different was happening,” Wight continued. “The anti-hero became the hero, and that was a direct parallel to what was happening in society. And so much of that night was unpredictable.”