Ah, greetings and happy holidays. Welcome to the first edition of Slush's WCW nWo Snowball, where I take a look and give opinions on the goings on in World Championship Wrestling, and of course the New World Order. Where should I begin?

This past Monday Nitro came the first of many payoffs in the slowly progressing Powers That Be angle. The internet critics haven't been too kind to WCW as of late, slamming the new head writers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera for their booking that seemed to go nowhere. Of course, that was before the last Nitro. One of the first pieces of the puzzle has been set into place; and that's the nWo returning as an elite group with Bret Hart, Jeff Jarret, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall. Presumably their colors will be black and silver, an nWo for the new millenium (I'm not really in the mood to argue the fact that the new millenium doesn't technically begin until the year 2001, since nobody believes me anyway). But why did the nWo return? And is this good or bad?

First, I guess I should try and find some reasoning behind this reformation (the second nWo reformation of 1999 to boot). The fact of the matter is, we just have to wait and see the full reasoning behind the nWo's return. Vince Russo's on air character of, erm, Vince Russo, was fretting during Starrcade for some reason, and on Nitro he wasn't any calmer. After Roddy Piper destroyed the PTB's makeshift office, we could see Vince Russo talking to Jarret in his limo saying that "it was out of his hands now." This is apparenty referring to somebody even higher than Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera in the storyline. But why would the PTB have Jarret and their boys regroup the nWo when they have complete control of the company to begin with? Who's the "higher power" (I suddenly feel so dirty)? Ted Turner? Eric Bischoff? Vince McMa---forget about that one. The Devil? Wait, I already said it wasn't Vince McMahon. If it was Ted Turner, then what would he have against the PTB? Eric Bischoff would make more sense, but even if his firing was a work all along, wasn't his character fired from WCW too (remember Ric Flair's snide comments about Bischoff a few months back)? So is the nWo remade to combat the Higher Powers That Be, or is it for something else? Makes you want to know, doesn't it? Makes you want to watch WCW? I think I just found the reason they did it.

Now, the question is: Is the reformation of the nWo a good idea? The New World Order Black and Silver? Especially after the jobberish death the nWo Black and White suffered, and the injuries-o-rama that plagued the nWo Wolfpac? Yes, this is a good idea, and for two reasons. Number one, the nWo has BRAND LOYALTY, something the WWF has but WCW doensn't. The nWo is still the most successful angle in North American wrestling today. It attracts more fans than WCW does (Look at how I changed the name of this column seconds before I started to write it, and this site is even called "Wolfpack Yea!!" to begin with). The WWF has so much brand loyalty that they have the straightest of fans cheering homosexual catch phrases from a guy who's best move is a funny looking eyebrow. Sure, WCW has the Big Wiggle and Hacksaw Jim Duggan cleaning toliets, but they're only over with the loyal WCW fans. The kind of guys that will stick with their team through their ups and downs. They won't attract new fans or bring back the old fans. There is just something incredible about the nWo, and if I tried to describe it I would sound like a fool. It's impossible to describe. But chances are you've felt it when watching the nWo (at least in it's glory days). Number two, the same things that made the nWo flounder parts of last year and all of this year won't happen again. Russo said himself he was keeping the number of guys down to these four and maybe adding a fifth guy somewhere down the road. That should be music to the ears of all the nWo-ites out there. One final reason the nWo won't fail this time: Hogan will not be in it in any way possible. SWWWWEEEEETTT!

Personally, I think this is fantastic. It's been more than 24 hours since Jeff Jarret sprayed those magic little letters on Goldberg, and I'm still marking out. I can't wait for every Monday, Thursday, and even Saturday (to hear Scott Hudson voice his disgust over the nWo....yes, I even what to just hear people talk about it). Nash and Hall said back in Autumn that they wouldn't "come back" until it's fun again.

I'm having a blast.

Written By The King Of Nasal Congestion, SirSlush2@aol.com