During his 83 Weeks podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff responded to a recent claim from former WWE writer Chris Dunn, who claimed creative planned an nWo reboot in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Sean Waltman reached out to me and said, hey, did you ever hear anything about this? I never heard anything about that. And neither did Kevin Nash… So the three surviving members of the NWO knew nothing about it… it seems very unlikely. It could be just silly internet stupid s—”
Dunn, appearing on a recent Public Enemies Podcast, said creative plans were for Sheamus, Cesaro (Claudio Castagnoli in AEW), Nakamura, and Lars Sullivan all to be introduced as a new version of the nWo. Dunn also said a “legendary member” of the nWo was supposed to fly into Orlando and introduce the group. He added that he could not remember who it was and is wasn’t X-Pac. However, Dunn then said the member did not pass a COVID-19 test, so they dropped it.
“Do you guys remember that ThunderDome? Really tough to do TV in there, so a lot of ideas were thrown against the wall. So it was discussed at one point, bringing back the nWo in 2020, a new version. So the pitch was Sheamus, Cesaro, Nakamura, and Lars Sullivan. So it was really close to happening, I forget which legendary nWo member was supposed to fly to Orlando to introduce this new nWo. It wasn’t X-Pac. Essentially, they landed and they didn’t pass the COVID test so they couldn’t do it.”
In 2020, WWE had implemented the ThunderDome concept at the then Amway Center (now Kia Center) in Orlando, with live fans on virtual screens.
(All quotes are courtesy of F4WOnline)