Before the merger of the nWo’s back in 1999, the nWo: Wolfpac included Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Lex Luger, Konnan, Randy Savage, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, and Sting at various points. Outside of Nash, Hall and Konnan, the Wolfpac made no sense. Lex and Sting were decisively WCW guys, Savage was old, and Hennig just went back to the Black and White after a handful of weeks.
The point of the Wolfpac was to double the sales of the nWo group, but it should of been WCW’s answer to not just the nWo but DeGeneration X of the WWE. DX in 1998 was hip and cool, featuring young and charismatic personalities, about 3/5 of which could work good matches (Gunn, X-Pac, HHH) and the other two were unique personalities.
WCW’s Thunder event should of been an exclusive nWo show, and the Wolfpac should of been the face response to the nWo Black and White, which means it should never of pulled from the teams depth. This gives you the opportunity to utilize young, popular and exciting characters in the new Wolfpac, while putting over talent that may of felt undeserved. So here’s who should of been in the nWo Wolfpac.
Wrath:
– He was a monster in 1998, having squash matches left and right. Sure, injuries sidelined him later in the year, but if you had him squashing the lesser nWo members from the Black and White, then you could of gotten him over enough. Then pair him with Goldberg on PPV and have them eat a heel team in minutes, and that rub would of gone a long way for getting him ready for a top spot.
Billy Kidman and Torrie:
– Torrie would obviously come in 1999, but Billy Kidman should’ve joined right after he left The Flock. Turn him around, make him the ‘pup’ of the Pack, and have him feud with Raven through the rest of 1998. Bischoff was good at selling matches but rank garbage at building and developing feuds. Kidman and Raven would of elevated Kidman, The Pack and eventually Raven when he finally goes over on Kidman in a brutal match.
Chris Jericho:
– Right after that match with Dean Malenko where he drops the Cruiserweight title at Slamboree 1998, I’d have Jericho join up with the Pack. It’d be a case of Jericho finally “manning up”. If the idea of Thunder as the nWo show was to hold true, he’d be the kind of young guy to build around in his feuds with them going forward.
Rey Mysterio:
– Rey and the next man on this list, would be great for the nWo instead of being apart of the lame and pretty hacky lWo group. The lWo or the Latino World Order, was the Spanish off shoot of the group that featured every Luchadore in WCW not named Konnan. The stable was lame but had Rey and Eddie, so it was pretty cool in hindsight. Putting Rey in the Wolfpac allows you to add a popular, creative and cool wrestler to the group and allow Rey to grow as a character. His popularity would rise and would have more of an opportunity to get promoted up the ranks the higher he climbs.
Eddie Guererro:
– Guerrero would be one of the men that would lead the group, without a doubt. He was over, extremely skilled and could out wrestle so many people. His high energy, intensity and ability to get fans interested in his match was enough on their own to make him worthy but the idea of seeing how popular he could get, would make the idea of the Wolfpac being the ‘cool alternate’ all the much more obvious.
Booker T:
– While a lot of WCW guys, like DDP, Sting and Goldberg should (have) never be a part of the nWo, Booker was always one guy that made sense to see him join. But not the black and white of nWo Hollywood, no, but the red and black of the Pac. Booker would serve as it’s defacto leader after coming to blows with Stevie Ray. I would maybe have Hall and Nash, or Konnan (but not both acts) in the group as well, but this core group of ex-WCW guys taking on the nWo would be extremely interesting, as all six have a reason to “bail” on WCW for the nWo. Booker’s built in issues with his brother Stevie, a member of the black and white nWo Hollywood, would lend to some interesting angles down the line.
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