In 1996, WCW changed the wrestling world with the formation of the New World Order, an invading heel faction that would become the blueprint for countless villainous groups that followed. Over its 20-year-history, Impact Wrestling (formerly known as TNA) has made a few attempts at creating dominant heel groups including the Main Event Mafia and Aces & Eights, but between those was the faction called Immortal.
Initially composed of Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Abyss, Jeff Hardy, and Jeff Jarrett, this nWo-esque group lasted for a couple of years in the early 2010s. Fans may not be fully aware of them, so let’s talk about what they should know about Immortal.
10 Hyped For Months By Abyss
Much like the nWo, there were months of groundwork built to lead to a big revelation. While for the nWo, it was the identity of “The Third Man” aligned with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, the impending Immortal had the monster heel Abyss spending months in 2010 talking about how he was controlled by someone he referred to only as “they.”
Eventually Abyss revealed that “they” would be unveiled on 10/10/10 — the date of the Bound for Glory pay-per-view.
9 Formed At Bound For Glory
As Abyss promised, “they” were revealed at Bound for Glory 2010. At the pay-per-view, Jeff Jarrett turned heel on Samoa Joe by abandoning him in a two-on-three handicap match against Sting, Kevin Nash, and D’Angelo Dinero, setting up his presence in the group.
In the main event, however, it all went down — Eric Bischoff intervened in the three-way match for the vacant World Title and Hulk Hogan showed up to seemingly thwart him, but instead the two teamed up to help Jeff Hardy win the belt. With Jarrett joining them, the group announced that they, were in fact, the “they” Abyss had heralded.
8 Sting Saw It Coming
While the formation of Immortal took everyone by surprise, Sting was one of the first to sound the alarm once Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff arrived in the Impact Zone. Sting’s history with Hogan and Bischoff in WCW made him very aware that the duo weren’t to be trusted to have any power in the company, and Kevin Nash came around to agree with him on this point.
However, Sting and Nash were established heels while Hogan and Bischoff were initially babyfaces, and this cleverly made it look like the bad guys were the ones to distrust.
7 They Literally Owned Impact
Backstage, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan were brought into Impact in 2009 and given major backstage roles, making decisions about factors like the presentation of the show as well as creative, booking, and who was on the roster.
On television, this power manifested as Hogan and Bischoff literally having ownership of the company, which happened because they had tricked owner Dixie Carter into signing the wrong paperwork. Originally, Carter thought she was signing paperwork in order to make official the firing of Hogan’s protégé, Abyss.
6 Merged With Fortune
Unlike the nWo, which gradually added members over the weeks and months that followed its formation until the group was bloated and overexposed, Immortal became a stacked group right of the gate.
In addition to its initial all-star lineup, Immortal added within its first weeks an entire stable in Fortune, the Four Horsemen-esque group led by Ric Flair and including AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian, James Storm, and Bobby Roode.
5 Had A Custom Championship Belt
Nothing shows dominance over a company like introducing a vanity championship belt to replace the previously established belt. The iconoclastic New World Order simply spray-painted the letters NWO on the WCW World Title, but Immortal were literally in charge of the company, so in November 2010 they commissioned a new belt for champion Jeff Hardy.
Now named the Immortal Championship, the purple custom belt had Jeff Hardy’s face on it, matching up with the champion’s aesthetic sensibilities. This design would last until about spring 2011 when Sting won the belt, but versions of the design would resurface for future Hardy reigns.
4 The Victory Road Incident Happened During This Run
Sting defeated Jeff Hardy for the World Title on the 3/3/2011 episode of Impact, but given that Immortal ran the company, Hardy was given a rematch at the Victory Road pay-per-view. The No DQ main event would prove eventful, but not in the way Impact had anticipated.
Instead, Hardy legitimately arrived at the ring too intoxicated to wrestle, which unfortunately necessitated a rush to a finish that truncated the bout to a mere 90 seconds, resulting in ire from fans and arguably one of the most embarrassing incidents in wrestling history.
3 Fortune Turned On Them
While Immortal-Fortune alliance achieved a lot of success, going as far as holding every men’s title in the company at one point (albeit briefly), a schism occurred after AJ Styles led Fortune in an attack on Immortal in early 2011. Having seen Eric Bischoff contribute to the downfall of a major wrestling company in the past, Styles was determined not to let it happen again.
However, it seemed that not everyone affiliated with Fortune approved of the move. Ric Flair himself ended up costing AJ Styles a crucial match against Immortal’s Jeff Hardy, defecting from Fortune to Immortal.
2 Sting Won Back Impact From Hogan
In the fall of 2011, Sting — now a babyface again — goaded Hulk Hogan into a singles match at Bound for Glory, in what would be Hogan’s first televised singles outing since 2006. Hogan put his ownership of Impact on the line, while Sting risked his Impact career.
After about 10 minutes, Hulk Hogan would tap out to the Scorpion Deathlock in what would prove to be Hulk Hogan’s final singles match ever, with Dixie Carter once again regaining ownership of Impact, Sting becoming an on-screen authority figure, and Hogan turning babyface after the match.
1 Quietly Broke up
Following the loss of Impact ownership, Immortal’s big storyline involved a father vs. son angle between Eric Bischoff and his son Garett. This feud would come to a head at Lockdown 2012, where the two Bischoffs would collide in a Lethal Lockdown match where the losing Bischoff would be forced to leave the company.
Team Garett won, so Bischoff departed Impact, with the remaining Immortal members quietly going their separate ways rather than officially breaking up the group.