The New World Order remains an iconic act in wrestling history still discussed by fans. WWE selected the nWo as one of the headlining names for the 2020 Hall of Fame class, whenever the event does finally happen. WCW was defined by the heel stable for quite a few years in the Monday Night Wars. The best moments helped the company grow and the worst moments helped play a role in the decline.

RELATED: Hall of Fame: Ranking Every nWo Incarnation Ever

We will look at both the ways the nWo helped save WCW and helped doom it. WWE even referred to the original nWo as “poison” with Vince McMahon hiring them to kill WWE like they did in WCW. Both the success and failure of the group played huge roles in WCW’s history. Find out more about what created each identity. The following examples show how the nWo saved WCW before ultimately killing it.

10 Saved WCW: Hulk Hogan's heel turn

The face run of Hulk Hogan grew stale after over a decade as the top star in wrestling. WCW fans began to resist Hogan’s character by booing him. The ratings and buy rates weren’t hitting the levels they expected when signing Hogan to a massive contract.

RELATED: nWo: 6 Women (& 4 Celebrities) Who Surprisingly Were Members

Hogan turning heel was a great idea on its own, but the importance of the moment coming here was a huge success. WCW viewers realized the New World Order was going to become the top act in the company once Hogan was revealed as the third man with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.

9 Killed WCW: Kevin Nash Becoming Booker

Kevin Nash’s backstage influence grew along with the on-screen success as part of the New World Order. Despite Hulk Hogan being the leader of the group, Nash received a lot of television and was unofficially slotted into the top spot when Hogan missed a week or two of Nitro.

WCW started to trust Nash’s vision as a creative mind to make him the booker backstage. Nash worked with Kevin Sullivan and a few others to write the shows. Controversial moments like Nash ending Goldberg’s undefeated streak, unmasking Rey Mysterio, and having shows go an hour without wrestling matches earned him resentment from the locker room.

8 Saved WCW: Sting Feuding With nWo

The New World Order’s dastardly plan to turn the WCW locker room and fan base by creating a fake Sting character worked to perfection. Even Sting’s close friend Lex Luger assumed he went to the dark side when someone dressed and masked as Sting attacked him.

Sting would become a loner with his new Crow inspired gimmick. The slow build saw him target the nWo to take them down and get the ultimate revenge on Hulk Hogan. Starrcade 1997 set a box office record for WCW with the most buy rates in company history to show how much fans cared about the angle.

7 Killed WCW: nWo 2000 Reunion

WCW tried to create a new version of the New World Order in 2000. Bret Hart turned heel on Goldberg by having heels Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Jeff Jarrett, and Scott Steiner give him victories over the unbeatable legend.

Unfortunately, fans just never bought into this version of the nWo. It felt like a cheap rip off of the old act without any comparisons to the better times. WCW eventually just quit on the group and slowly ended it after Hart’s career-ending injury vs Goldberg.

6 Saved WCW: First Act That Put WCW Above WWE

The biggest sign of success for WCW was that the New World Order finally put them at the top of the wrestling world. WWE remained on top even when Hulk Hogan joined WCW with his face character. It was the nWo that inspired a shift in the ratings.

WCW took over the Monday Night Wars with 83 consecutive weeks of defeating WWE in the Nitro vs Raw battle. Fans wanted to see what the nWo would do next and it was a significantly hotter act than anything in WWE until Steve Austin started to heat up.

5 Killed WCW: Adding Too Many Members

The first major flaw in the New World Order showed too many people joining the group. Eric Bischoff revealed on his 83 Weeks podcast that the plan was for the nWo to have their own weekly show as a separate organization to WCW and needed more depth.

RELATED: 5 Best (& 5 Worst) nWo Moments In WCW

Everyone wanted to join the nWo since they held all the power both on screen and behind the scenes. Names like Buff Bagwell, Virgil, and Michael Wallstreet proved that they were messing with a good thing by adding irrelevant members to help it jump the shark.

4 Saved WCW: Kevin Nash's Face Turn

Kevin Nash’s popularity started to make it obvious he’d need a face turn. The naturally charismatic Nash has a likable persona that won over the audience in 1998. Nash turned face by forming his own chapter of the New World Order rocking the red and black colors.

The Wolfpac became extremely popular with fellow top stars Sting, Lex Luger, and Randy Savage joining the group. Despite the others having more long-term WCW success, Nash was the most beloved member. The splitting of the group allowed Nash to become a credible main eventer.

3 Killed WCW: Hulk Hogan's Creative Control

The creative control clause in Hulk Hogan’s contract made him the most powerful wrestler in WWE. Hogan received incredible incentives for WCW’s financial success, but he always wanted to have final say over any of his storylines or match finishes.

The reports from WCW always portrayed Hogan as a master politician. Hogan wanting to look strong often hurt other wrestlers and it was a huge negative for the New World Order backstage. Many wrestlers felt like they were more toxic in the locker room than in the ring as heels.

2 Saved WCW: Putting Over Goldberg And DDP

The New World Order was very selective about selling for the face wrestlers in WCW. Established top stars like Sting and Lex Luger received that level of respect, but few others did. Two new stars were made thanks to the nWo endorsing them.

Diamond Dallas Page refusing to join the group made him a rising top face. Randy Savage putting him over clean in a PPV main event showed that DDP was a main eventer moving forward. Goldberg also benefited from having his incredible undefeated streak culminating with a WCW Championship win over Hulk Hogan of all people as the peak of his career.

1 Killed WCW: Wolfpac and Hollywood merging

The finger poke of doom in 1999 started a downward spiral for WCW. Even with the flaws in 1998, the company was still bringing in huge ratings and PPV buy rates. However, that all started to change in early 1999 with the nWo Wolfpac and Hollywood factions merging to form the nWo Elite.

Instead of creating a better version of the nWo, it once again showed there were too many members and fans were growing sick of the act. The nWo Elite slowly ended with all the characters moving back into singles roles by the spring. WCW didn’t have a chance after the awful finger poke of doom moment.

NEXT: 5 Reasons nWo Hollywood Is The Best Version (& 5 Why Wolfpac Is Best)