Video: The New World Order Has A New Member

There’s always room for one more. Back in 1996, the New World Order was unveiled with Hulk Hogan as the surprise third member. The team went on to become one of the biggest storylines of all time, running roughshod on WCW (and arguably running them into the ground) and making money hand over fist. With such a great reception to the initial storyline, WCW ran it several more times over the years, but they weren’t the only ones. The NWO was resurrected in 2002 in the WWE and they even had a mystery member one night.

The black and white works on anyone.

Shawn Michaels joins The nWo: Raw, June 3, 2002

WWE has posted the video of the New World Order revealing its newest member sixteen years ago to the day. The new member was Shawn Michaels, who was brought in after Scott Hall had been released, leaving the team comprised of X-Pac, Big Show, Booker T. and the injured Kevin Nash. Michaels was making a surprise return after only making sporadic appearances since retiring due to a back injury over four years earlier. While he never wrestled for the team, Michaels would return to in-ring competition just over two months later, while the NWO would be gone in six weeks.

Opinion: While this didn’t wind up going anywhere, it was certainly quite the moment with Michaels being a big surprise. Jim Ross talking about Michaels being in great shape suggested that he might even get back in the ring, which sounded insane at the time given the length of Michaels’ layoff. Sometimes you just need a big surprise and that’s exactly what we got here. The long term impact wasn’t the point here and WWE got the important part exactly right.

What did you think of Michaels’ return? Did you like him in the NWO? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 27 wrestling books. His latest book is the NXT: The Full Sail Years Volume III: From Dallas To New Orleans.

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