Larry Zbyszko Takes Credit For Some Early NWO Ideas
Larry Zbyszko has had his fair share of involvement in pro wrestling history, and the WWE Hall Of Famer made it known he played a role in getting the NWO jump-started. Zbyszko recently partook in a virtual signing for fans on Facebook Live courtesy of "Captain's Corner" and was asked about feuding on-air with Eric Bischoff, who, as WCW president, eventually joined the upstart New World Order that invaded the company back in May of 1996.
"Even Scott Hall said it when he was always interviewed a lot but I'm the guy that programmed the New World Order," Zbyszko said while signing autographs. "I actually named the New World Order, not officially, but I was using it and stuff, and Eric heard the New World Order and it got in his mind and he decided, 'This is the name for the thing,' but I'm the one that programmed it — the way Scott Hall came in, the way it started and happened. If you start something off right, it gets the most emotion it can. If you start it dumb, you don't get as much out of it for the fans," he said before mentioning that the angle got so big that Bischoff became involved.
"Eric did a hell of a job. I mean, he did a great job and got heat, and in a time you didn't have the dirt sheets and all the blabbers and all this and that, people were diving over the security rails trying to punch Eric out. He got real heat and he did a hell of a job, and the secret was he was a smart guy, smart enough to listen to me."
On a 2021 episode of "83 Weeks", Bischoff credits Zbyszko for first mentioning the term on commentary.
"I didn't remember hearing it. Clearly, I did. Undoubtedly, I did. Consciously, I didn't say, 'Oh, that's a good idea. We're going to use that,' but right here, right now, I want to clarify and correct, by the way, 25 years of unintentional misinformation on my part," he said.
Zbyszko was one of the early "WCW guys" to begin to feud with the faction. As a color commentator for WCW Nitro, Zbyszko's notable days of wrestling were behind him, but the NWO storyline became so big that it was "The Living Legend" who ended up working an extended program with Scott Hall. Zbyszko vs. Bischoff eventually became one of the featured fights at Starrcade 1997.
"Clearly, Larry Zbyszko deserves all of the credit for coming up with the term 'New World Order.' I'm honest to goodness really pleasantly surprised to hear that. It's fun, and for years, Larry hasn't gotten the credit that Larry deserves and should get after hearing that," Bischoff added.