The Outsiders (professional wrestling)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Tag Team
Kevin Nash and Scott Hall
Members	Kevin Nash Scott Hall
Name(s)	The Outsiders
Heights	7ft 0 in (213 cm) - Nash 6 ft 8 in (203 cm) - Hall
Combined weight	350lb (160kg/25st) - Nash 285 lb (129kg/20.4 st)- Hall
Former member(s)	Syxx
Debut	May 27, 1996 edition of WCW Monday Nitro
Promotions	WCW WWF TNA ZERO1

The Outsiders are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. They first formed in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1996, and later teamed in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX.

Hall and Nash were both good friends and part of the backstage wrestling group known as "The Clique", which was used as part of their gimmick.

1 History
2 New Diesel and New Razor Ramon
3 Championships and accomplishments
4 External links

[edit] History

Main article: New World Order

The Outsiders were formed in 1996 when Hall and Nash signed with World Championship Wrestling after leaving the World Wrestling Federation. In the storyline, Hall led the invasion, appearing on WCW programming and insinuating that he was doing so under orders from his WWF employers and warning that he would soon be joined by others. Their angle was the precursor to the heel turn of Hulk Hogan and the formation of the New World Order (nWo), a major wrestling storyline that dominated WCW programming for several years afterwards.

The Outsiders captured the WCW World Tag Team Championship six times, first winning them from Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) at Halloween Havoc in October 1996. They dropped the title to The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner) at the 1997 Souled Out event, only to have WCW President Eric Bischoff reverse the decision on the next night's edition of WCW Monday Nitro. A near repeat of these events occurred the next month when Hall and Nash lost to the team of Lex Luger and The Giant at SuperBrawl VII, with Bischoff again abusing his power and quickly returning the titles to The Outsiders.

In October 1997, fellow nWo member Syxx began substituting for a (legitimately) injured Nash, teaming with Hall to defend the titles on numerous occasions. This pairing eventually lost the title to The Steiner Brothers in on October 13, 1997. The Outsiders and Steiners traded the title back and forth at both televised and non-televised events until Scott turned on his brother, joining the nWo and giving the title to Hall and Nash.

In May 1998 The Outsiders team broke up due to dissension within the nWo, with Hall choosing to join nWo Hollywood and Nash going with The Wolfpac. The split team faced each other once later in the year before coming back together in December 1999 to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship one more time. It didn't last, however, as Hall legitimately no-showed an event, the title was stripped from them, and the team was dissolved.

In 2002, with the World Wrestling Federation owning WCW and it's trademarks, The Outsiders and Hogan reformed as the nWo in a WWF ring. The reunion was short lived as Hogan turned face at WrestleMania X8, Nash was injured, and Hall was released from WWE shortly after their arrival.

In late 2004 and early 2005, Hall and Nash teamed again, this time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as part of the Kings of Wrestling, however, they were not allowed to use the name The Outsiders. The Outsiders main evented Dream Stage Entertainment's May 8, 2004 Hustle 3 pay-per-view, losing to the team of Shinya Hashimoto and Naoya Ogawa. Hall resurfaced on the TNA iMPACT! show prior to Genesis, teasing as Sting's partner for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship tag team match.

At Turning Point 2007, the two were supposed to have their first tag team match together in a TNA ring since 2004, also teaming with Samoa Joe to take on the Angle Alliance but Hall was replaced in the match by Eric Young who eventually won the match with him team. Hall told TNA Management he didn't show at the event because of health problems. However, it is suspected that isn't the reason.

[edit] New Diesel and New Razor Ramon

During the initial days of the nWo Jim Ross of the World Wrestling Federation began making claims that "Razor Ramon and Diesel were returning", trying to capitalize on The Outsiders claims they were still working for WWF. The characters (which WWF owned) eventually returned, but now played by two different men, Glen Jacobs (Diesel) and Rick Bogner (Ramon).

Having lost two of their top stars, WWF bookers came up with a storyline where a disgruntled Ross cut a worked shoot promo, saying that he had no loyalty to the WWF and proceeded to "bring back" the two wrestlers who had left the company without mentioning that they were now portrayed by different people.

The angle didn't last long, with "New Razor" Rick Bogner being released in early 1997 and "New Diesel" Glen Jacobs going on to become Kane.

Jacobs (in his Kane persona) later feuded with the Nash-led nWo in 2002.