>>49267>>49334>>51976Would nWo have been as big without Hulk Hogan's heel turn? probably not. The fact remains however Kevin Nash & Scott Hall had already engaged the marks 6 weeks prior to Hogan turning heel.
Before Nash & Hall arrived Hogan would do everything in his power to avoid wrestling in cities where crowd reaction was likely to be unfavourable. When Nash & Hall did arrive Hogan was on hiatus filming a movie they became the hub around which WCW revolved. Moreover their presence in WCW shift television ratings to a new high. For the first time ever Monday Nitro was consistently pounding Monday Night Raw into oblivion & they not the great Hulk Hogan were responsible.
This created a problem. Nash & Hall had surpassed him as the leading drawing cards in the organisation & this, assuming they were able to sustain their momentum would lessen Hogan's bargaining power when his contract came up for renewal in November 1996. Problem number two: Nash & Hall were cool, fresh & entertaining. Hogan was not.
Nash & Hall were the in forward thinking minds who were in tune with pop culture - their contributions to the nWo angle were MONSTEROUS behind the scenes (both WCW head booker Kevin Sullivan & WCW President Eric Bischoff have publically attested to that). Nash & Hall didn't need Hogan.
Hogan NEEDED Nash & Hall. Had they not left the WWF but Hogan still turned heel he probably would have joined the Dungeon Of Doom to feud with the The Booty Man.
As monumental as Hulk Hogan turning heel & joining the nWo was, once again I reiterate the game changers were Scott Hall & Kevin Nash. You only have to look at the Dungeon of Doom raisin Hogan was involved in prior to Hall/Nash arriving to figure this out not.