One Way or Another,
It’s the End of the World
As We Know It
The annals of pro wrestling tell of no more appropriately named stable than the New World Order.
When Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall joined forces in July 1996 and dubbed themselves the NWO, they changed wrestling’s landscape forever. In the process, they elevated World Championship Wrestling — theretofore an also-ran, second-rate wrestling company — into a mainstream pop culture sensation, supplanting the World Wrestling Federation from the industry-leading position it had held for owner Vince McMahon’s entire tenure.
The parallels between the emergences of the NWO and LIV Golf are hard to ignore: rebel factions defying conventions, buttressed by attention-grabbing levels of star power, that threaten to reorder their industries in ways that never seemed possible.
They also are made up of cartoonish, mostly bad people — who, likewise, have obvious parallels.
. . .
Phil Mickelson
This one’s easy: an aging star whose charisma won him top billing long past the time his talents merited it. Won a fluke title at age 50. Tried unsuccessfully to cross over into a different industry. Reputation in the locker room dramatically different than what the public sees. History will not be kind to him. Heel turn coincided with bad stubble. He’s nice to the kids, though. Phil Mickelson is Hulk Hogan.
Dustin Johnson
Good looking big guy with effortless charisma and facial hair that always looks just right. Keeps some nefarious company. Should’ve won more titles than he did, but his consistency is historic in its own right. Feuded with his former best friend. Can dunk a basketball. Dustin Johnson is Kevin Nash.
Bubba Watson
Cultivated an odd sense of love and hate for most of his career, and no one who watched him ever walked away without an opinion. Bigger guy than you’d think, with a ton of athletic creativity. Not the most decorated champion, but took part in some of the defining matchups of his generation. Also took some big tumbles. Career-best No. 2 world ranking is appropriate for a guy with insane talent but who never quite reached the top. Notoriously bad teammate. Bubba Watson is Scott Hall.
Greg Norman
Supposedly the guiding hand behind the scenes, but it’s not clear what exactly he does here, other than being rich. High-profile foil. Surrounds himself with neckless goons. Probably will be in prison eventually. Greg Norman is Ted DiBiase.
Bryson DeChambeau
Famous principally for his strength, but badly underrated for the finer details of his skillset. Has said some very weird things on camera. It’s not clear why he’s here, because wasn’t he opposed to this whole thing at one point? Bryson DeChambeau is Randy Savage.
Lee Westwood
Anyone who watches the sport intently knows that he’s one of the single most skilled competitors in any of our lifetimes. Criminally underproductive, in terms of titles won. Never failed to go where the money was. Might not be terribly bright. Lee Westwood is the Giant.
Patrick Reed
An all-time heel. Showed up with new group after all the hard work had been done. Ostentatious sense of fashion. Probably has weird pets. Famously turned on his family. Patrick Reed is Scott Steiner.
Ian Poulter
Always seemed to be surrounded by talented colleagues on wildly successful teams. No success to speak of as a solo performer. Prolific presence on Instagram. Ian Poulter is Vincent.
Chase Koepka
Let’s be honest: the only reason he’s here is because he’s (allegedly) related to one of the sport’s biggest names. Chase Koepka is Horace Hogan.
Slugger White
A turncoat rules official with bad facial hair. He’s a deep cut, but a source of amusement among diehard devotees. Slugger White is Nick Patrick.
. . .
Of course, the rise of the NWO wasn’t the end of the story. Its fall says more than its ascent about the fragility of success.
In the NWO, WCW created the greatest long-term storyline in wrestling history. Beyond creating that monster, though, WCW had no plan for moving forward. The group, which had begun with three of the biggest names in the business, grew too quickly and added too many bland personalities. Backstage politics and backstabbing cost WCW too many opportunities to elevate rising stars to main events. Slowly, that mismanagement led to death by a thousand self-inflicted cuts.
And by the time the NWO imploded in early 1999, the WWF had positioned itself to retake its place as wrestling’s undisputed champion. In the void left by Nash and Hall in 1996 (and Hogan just three years prior), the WWF retooled out of necessity. It committed to elevating young talent, and to pushing out familiar faces as soon as they became stale. Just two weeks before the NWO’s birth, Stone Cold Steve Austin won the WWF’s 1996 “King of the Ring” tournament, which catapulted him into an all-time program with Bret Hart. A few months later, Rocky Maivia — the Rock — debuted in the WWF; in early 1997, he won his first of two intercontinental championships. And in late 1997, the WWF deliberately committed to a new “Attitude Era” with edgier storylines and more compelling matchups.
The WWF undoubtedly took a back seat to WCW during the height of the NWO era. But it used that time to reevaluate where its talent lay and how to elevate that talent quickly. The NWO served as WCW’s excuse to do neither of those things. And in the end, victory went not to the side that disrupted, but to the side that adjusted better to the new landscape: after a years-long death spiral of disfunction and mistakes, WCW went out of business in March 2001. To fully seal WCW’s fate, Vince McMahon bought the company for a pittance: just over $4 million.
That is to say that neither the PGA Tour nor LIV Golf are entitled to a destiny. LIV enjoys many of the NWO’s early advantages: it’s small, with an amount of planned exposure designed to keep audiences hungry rather than overfed. There’s no reason LIV can’t avoid the mismanagement that doomed the NWO and WCW. But neither is there any reason that the PGA Tour can’t recognize this moment as one that cries out for reimagining itself as an organization that rewards young talent and experiments with storytelling styles that have never been tried before.
But that will require the PGA Tour to reach the same realization that the NWO forced upon the WWF: that any chance at beating back this insurgency must begin by remaking itself.
. . .
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