A good and properly used stable or group can be a great thing in wrestling. However, much stress must be put on “properly used” (See: Nation of Domination, Los Boricuas, Disciples of Apocalypse, etc.) A great group can provide great story lines, great matches, and in some cases, even anchor a company and carry them toward professional wrestling supremacy.
When you think of good stables, there aren’t many that didn’t fall on their face and break up within a few weeks. Even those that stayed around didn’t captivate audiences and languished on the middle of the card. Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Corporation was one of the first successful stables, while The Undertaker’s Ministry (which joined Mr. McMahon’s Corporation after feuding with them) was also very successful toward the late 90s. However, in the conversation of most powerful and impactful stables, there are only two in the debate: WWF's D-Generation X, and WCW’s New World Order.
The two groups had many things in common. They were both lead by mega stars in the industry at the time. For those living under a rock, it was Shawn Michaels leading the first and third incarnations of DX (after Michaels’ departure, Triple H took over and added The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac, but for the purpose of this article, we’re going with the original group) and Hollywood Hulk Hogan leading the nWo. Secondly, they were both very anti-establishment, constantly breaking the rules and disrespecting any and all authority. Hall, Nash and Hogan would regularly take over the broadcast and just talk trash about the WCW wrestlers and just cause chaos in the backstage area. They would constantly spray paint the letters nWo all over the walls, ring and camera. However, they get points in this debate for being first. The nWo was formed in July of 1996, when Hogan shocked wrestling to the very foundation by turning heel and joining the Outsiders to form the New World Order. HBK and HHH would constantly pull in ring pranks on Vince, Commissioner Slaughter and Michael Cole. Poor Cole. Who could forget the time DX gave him a wedgie and then sprayed him down with a shower head before locking him in a shower stall and then continuing the interview without him? D-Generation X was formed in late 1997, during a promo with Bret “Hitman” Hart who called Shawn Michaels a degenerate and the reason why “Generation X gets a bad rap”. Shawn put the two together and the rest is history. But here’s where the debate begins. Which history making group had a bigger impact on their respective company?
The nWo single handedly put WCW over the top and helped them win the ratings war 84 weeks in a row. People tuned in every week to see what crazy antics the nWo was going to pull and/or who they were going to beat up next. With the most popular superstar in the history of professional wrestling leading them, they were unstoppable. So unstoppable, in fact, that the lesser talent was sick of getting beat up by them and they asked Bischoff to join the nWo. With a few key additions such as The Macho Man and Sting, the nWo was stronger than ever. Then, a power struggle ensued between Nash and Hogan and the nWo split into two factions with the nWo name. Pretty soon, almost every wrestler on the roster was a member of either of these factions. It got to be boring and uninteresting on the surface. Underneath, Nash and Hogan were becoming increasingly impressed with themselves since they were the reason that WCW was ahead of the WWF. They began to grow even more selfish and developed an even worse “me first” type of attitude and this ultimately lead to utter backstage chaos in the WCW, eventually getting to the point where Nash and Hogan controlled the booking of who won and lost and they ran the company into the ground.
D-Generation X was the same idea in theory, but different in execution. HBK and HHH basically made fun of everyone who wasn’t in and wouldn’t let them in. They would constantly antagonize other wrestlers and beat them up as well. However, they were tailor made for the direction the WWF planned to go in at the time, toward more mature viewers. Their humor and content became more sexual and maturely themed, and the crowd ate it up. D-Generation X was less serious than the nWo, which wanted to simply take over. DX just wanted to give everyone hell and have fun doing it. They just wanted to make noise and cause trouble. Shawn and Hunter had no power struggle, which worked to the advantage of the storyline. They functioned well as a team and steamrolled everything in their path. They were, aside from Stone Cold Steve Austin, the only entity the WWF had that could even have come close to competing with the nWo for the ratings.
So, which had the greater impact? I’m going with D-Generation X. Not because of my bias toward WWF programming. I will forever respect the WCW and what they had with the nWo. The nWo was groundbreaking and it kept the company afloat and brought it to unforeseen heights. However, the management of the nWo story lines was terrible after a while and since the leading members of the nWo were ultimately responsible for WCW’s collapse, I can’t give it that much credit. Not only did DX help keep the WWF's head above water during the heated ratings war, but it was so successful that it still had the ability to bail the company out when things got stagnant. Any time the story lines lacked a little luster, Vince reunited DX and fans came running back. I will say this, to be fair. The nWo had the greater immediate impact on their parent company, while DX had a greater long term impact.
The preceding article was paid for by the New World Order.
