When WCW introduced the nWo, it changed the landscape of professional wrestling. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Hulk Hogan threatened to take over, and for a couple of years, that is what they did. Soon, more wrestlers joined, both from within WCW (The Giant) and from WWE (Ted DiBiase, X-Pac).
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By the time all was said and done, there were almost more wrestlers in the nWo than WCW. It almost became a joke after a while when anyone and everyone joined up with the heel stable. Here is a look at 10 wrestlers that many people might have forgotten were members of the nWo.
10 MIKE ROTUNDA
Mike Rotunda had a long career in professional wrestling and was successful on many of his stops. He was a tag team champion with Barry Windham for WWE in the '80s. Rotunda was a great wrestler in the '80s territories as well. He went to WWE and became IRS. He is the father of Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas.
However, there was also a time in the '90s when IRS went to WCW with a similar gimmick of Michael Wallstreet and joined the nWo in 1996 when his WWE tag team partner Ted DiBiase extended an invitation. He only lasted a few months but rejoined them in New Japan.
9 BIG BUBBA ROGERS
Fans in WWE know him as Big Bossman, but before he went to WWE, he worked in the NWA as Big Bubba Rogers, starting as a bodyguard for Jim Cornette and later working in the UWF. In WWE, he had the gimmick of a corrections officer who brutalized his opponents with a nightstick.
He returned to WCW as Big Bubba, and after a short time in the Dungeon of Doom, he betrayed them and joined the nWo in 1996. He only lasted a couple of months before the nWo fired him, and he started feuding with them through 1998 before returning to WWE.
8 THE DISCIPLE
Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake entered the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019. In WWE, he was both a tag team wrestler with Greg Valentine and a popular babyface who cut his opponent's hair after beating them in matches and knocking them out with the sleeper.
However, in WCW, Hulk Hogan did everything he could to get his buddy a significant role in the company. He was Brother Bruti, The Butcher, The Man with No Name, The Zodiac, and The Booty Man. Then, in 1998, he joined the nWo as The Disciple.
7 BRIAN ADAMS
Brian Adams is someone else who has gone through many different gimmicks in his career. We arrived in WWE in 1990 as Crush and joined up with Demolition, turning them from a dominant tag team into a trio unit. When he returned to WWE in 1992 as Kona Crush, a surfer gimmick. He finished up as part of the DOA.
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In 1998, Crush showed up in WCW and attacked Bret "The Hitman" Hart, joining the nWo. He ended up in nWo Hollywood and later the nWo Black and White, mostly as a lower card wrestler. By 1999, he was repackaged in the tag team Kronik.
6 STEVIE RAY
One thing that the nWo did was turn friends against each other. They did it with Sting and Lex Luger. They did it with members of the Dungeon of Doom. They did it with the Steiner Brothers. Then, they pulled it off with the most successful WCW tag team in the '90s, Harlem Heat.
Booker T moved into the main event scene and became a world title contender. Meanwhile, Stevie Ray took some time off. Then, in 1998, Stevie Ray joined nWo Black and White, turning heel. He ended up leaving in 1999 and rejoining Booker T as Harlem Heat.
5 DUSTY RHODES
There are a few wrestlers who became such big babyfaces that they never looked back and turned heel again. Ricky Steamboat is a great example. Sting was one, and even the one-time WCW tried to turn him heel, it didn't work. Dusty Rhodes is another example.
However, WCW tried the same thing with Rhodes that they attempted with Sting. In 1998, Rhodes turned heel and joined Scott Hall and the nWo in beating down Larry Zbyszko. Rhodes managed Hall and Nash until November 1998 when he defected back to WCW.
4 HORACE HOGAN
Arguably, the most essential member of the nWo was always Hulk Hogan. Yes, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash started the group, but it was Hogan that led the faction and was a multi-time world champion during its heyday. However, he wasn't the only Hogan in the nWo.
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Hulk Hogan's nephew Horace Hogan made his debut in WCW in 1997 as a member of Raven's flock. In 1998, Hogan revealed to the world that Horace was the son of his dead brother, and then he destroyed Horace with a steel chair to prove how far he would go in his feud with Ultimate Warrior. Despite this, Horace joined the nWo the next week.
3 DISCO INFERNO
Disco Inferno was one thing in WCW — a comedy jobber. He would come to the ring, do his disco dance and lose 90 percent of the time. When he did win, it was almost always shown as a fluke or upset. There were times where he was pushed, once as a tag team wrestler with Alex Wright and once as the TV Champion.
In 1998-99, Dico Inferno showed up to help the nWo Wolfpac and ended up joining them along when he helped Scott Hall and Bam Bam Bigelow help Kevin Nash to end Goldberg's world title reign and undefeated streak.
2 RON AND DON HARRIS
Ron and Don Harris have been around a lot, although they were a better fit in territory styled promotions like the USWA than in the big leagues. Many fans remember them best from their days in WWE as part of the DOA. When they returned to WCW in 1999, they became hired thugs.
Known as Creative Control, and using the names of Gerald and Patrick (making fun of Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson), they were Vince Russo's lackeys. In a short angle in 2000, they joined the nWo 2000 faction as Jeff Jarrett's hired muscle.
1 MASAHIRO CHONO
Masahiro Chono is one of the best Japanese wrestlers in history, a seven-time IWGP tag team champion, a one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and he was even a former NWA World Champion. Add to that the fact that he holds the record for the most G1 Climax wins with five, and he is a legend.
When the nWo was getting its start in WCW, he joined up in 1996 and then carried that back to Japan, where he led nWo Japan. He led a unit that included American stars like Scott Norton, Brian Adams, and Buff Bagwell as well as Japanese stars like Hiro Saito and Hiroyoshi Tenzan.
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