By Al Galdi WrestleLine/WrestleManiacs
The recent retirement of pro football's Barry Sanders elicited two questions: Why and how soon will he be back?
Despite being among the more respected high-profile athletes in terms of character, people still didn't buy what Sanders was telling them (or, more accurately, what a letter posted on a Detroit newspaper's website stated). For if sports fans have learned anything this decade, it's that retirements are about as permanent as high school marriages.
Such has been the case in pro wrestling for quite some time. Roddy Piper retired in 1987 after losing to Adrian Adonis at Wrestlemania III, but he remains active today. Hulk Hogan supposedly hung up the boots in 1992 and then in 1998, but he's still around. Ric Flair was defeated in a "loser must retire" match by Hogan at Halloween Havoc in October 1994, but was back jobbing to Mr. Nanny by May of the following year. Diamond Dallas Page's loss to the Booty Man at Uncensored in March 1996 ended his career, but somehow he managed to become a breakout star later that year.
Two major players in the current wrestling landscape recently "retired." What comes to mind with each man's retirement isn't whether he will be back, because he will. Rather, it's that both retirements mark the end of wrestling's two greatest all-time angles, the fates of which teach a rather important lesson.
Kevin Nash's loss to Hogan at Road Wild deems he be gone. Already reports have surfaced that Nash will return in a matter of weeks and reform the Outsiders duo with Scott Hall, who has never retired but has spent more time off than anyone who has. So like those who have left before him, Nash will come back, perhaps sooner than later.
But the circumstances surrounding Nash's hiatus would suggest the time frame be later. Nash desperately needs to recharge his batteries. His eight-month tenure as booker was a complete failure. The quality of WCW television, despite sporadic signs of promise, was on the whole pitiful. House show attendance, pay-per-view buy rates, and television ratings all declined during his time as booker. While it would be unfair to attribute all of the blame to Nash, he deserves a more than sizable portion. Additionally, weak story lines and bad matches severely damaged Big Sexy's crowd heat.
The departure of Nash, however temporary, signifies the end of the nWo angle. Dont tell me the B-level, "black and white" group constitutes a continuation of the angle, because it doesn't. I'm talking about the main-eventers portion of the nWo. The most successful thing ever produced by WCW is now officially over. Hogan is back as a babyface, Hall has been inactive for much of the past year, and now Nash is gone. Once amazingly effective, the nWo angle became stale after the Sting-Hogan match at Starrcade 1997, for reasons that will be discussed later.
So the nWo angle has been "retired." It goes out long after its peak. The other great angle from this decade was also recently retired. But unlike the nWo, it leaves us while still the hottest thing in the business.
Check Out Other Articles/Interviews
Kevin's Forum
End of an Era
Outsiders- Self Contained
Road Warriors
Nash Uncensored
WCW Live: Kevin Nash
Nash Internet Chat
Nash Speaks
The Heart Of A Big Guy
Nash Fires Back
Dusty Comments On Kevin Nash
Kevin's Forum: Aug. 6th (New)
David Delluci on Nash (New)
