Retro Wednesday: The Hulk Hogan Heel Turn

It all started when Scott Hall appeared from the crowd on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro. During a match between Steve Doll and Mike Enos, Hall nonchalantly grabs a microphone, walks up to the ring, and said these ominous words, "You people?You know who I am. But you do know why I'm here... You wanna go to war? You wanna war? You're gonna get one."

This led to Kevin Nash, who was popularly known as Diesel in the WWE, to side with Scott Hall in this mysterious "war." What led to an even greater mystery was that they both continued to talk about this "third man" to join them in combat.

Well, the stage was set. Bash at the Bash, 1996. Team WCW was represented by Sting, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and Lex Luger, while Hall and Nash came to the ring without a third participant. During the match, Luger gets hurt due to an accidental collision with Sting, and the numbers are even, 2-2.

Shortly after, Hulk Hogan, conspicuous by his absence in recent WCW programming, makes a return. Presumably, most of the wrestling world assumed that he was going to save the day for WCW. However, this was far from the truth, and the exact oppose happens.

Hogan turns heel and aligns with Hall and Nash. This begins one of the most popular factions in wrestling history?The New World Order.

To this day, it is still recognized throughout the wrestling industry as the best heel turn ever. Virtually no one saw it coming, and it was the most hated ending of any pay-per-view, shown by the massive debris that was thrown in the ring by the live audience.

I don't know if we'd ever get a turn that good again.

Classic storyline. Classic build. Classic moment.

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