In 2002, Vince McMahon decided to “inject a lethal dose of poison” in WWE after his inability to persuade Ric Flair to sell his portion of the company. As a result, McMahon decided to bring in the original nWo members, Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash, to invade the company. The trio made their WWE debut at the No Way Out pay-per-view in February of that year. That same night, the three decided to significantly affect the outcome of the main event, as they cost Steve Austin his match against Chris Jericho for the WWE Undisputed Championship.
At WrestleMania, two of the three nWo members were involved in marquee matches, as Austin competed against Hall, and Rock competed against Hogan. Both nWo members lost their respective matches, and it appeared that the road of domination was put to a halt.
Following WrestleMania, however, is when the faction became very poorly booked, and the nWo stock and interest was plummeting. One of these booking decisions involved the Big Show.
On the episode of Raw, which aired on April 22, 2002, Austin and Big Show were in a tag team match against Scott Hall and X-Pac. During the match, Big Show received the “hot tag.” When he entered the ring, Big Show chokeslammed Austin, joining the nWo. During his time in the group, he would not receive the best treatment, such as being superkicked by Shawn Michaels when he and Kevin Nash were forced to “kiss and make up.”
On a recent episode of Something to Wrestle With Bruce Prichard, show host Bruce Prichard revealed why the Big Show joined the nWo. Prichard stated that it was the result of the WWE “backing themselves into a corner” and wanting the group to work. As a result of Kevin Nash being injured, WWE felt that another person would should join the faction to compete in matches. As a result, Big Show was picked to be the new member.
Prichard added:
“It was so bad, [WWE thought], ‘Hey. We lost one seven-foot [giant], let’s put another seven-foot [giant] in there. And you replace one with another. And people won’t notice.’ You’re just trying to save something, and you’re trying to complete that vision. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work.”
Prichard called the way the nWo was portrayed in the WWE “scotch tape booking,” trying to find desperate ways to recreate something after circumstances force the situation to change, as well as being indecisive on finalizing an idea. He stated that on a frequent basis, something would be written down on Friday for Raw, but by the time Monday arrived, it would change.
The nWo only lasted five months, before Vince McMahon appeared on an episode of Raw on July 15 to officially disband the faction and appoint Eric Bischoff as the General Manager.
