Blue World Order

The Blue World Order (bWo) was a stable of professional wrestlers formed at Extreme Championship Wrestling's November to Remember 1996 event. The stable lasted until August 1998 and was revived briefly in World Wrestling Entertainment during the summer of 2005. From 2008 through 2017, the group made several appearances at various local independent events and in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as bW 2.0. History Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996–1998) Since July 1996, Stevie Richards (Michael Manna) and The Blue Meanie (Brian Heffron) had been making parodies of various wrestlers from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In early 1996 Raven was forming a stable called Raven's Nest and was gathering new members. He called upon Stevie and Meanie along with an independent performer from New Jersey, Nova (Mike Bucci). These three would often come to the ring together before Raven made his entrance, imitating rock bands or pop culture references, most notably The Jackson 5 and at The Doctor Is In in August 1996 as the rock band KISS. The latter received a great ovation from the ECW fans before The Sandman abruptly entered the ring and caned them. Backstage after the event, Bubba Ray Dudley told them how great it was and the only thing greater would be a parody of the nWo. After clearing things with Paul Heyman and Raven, it was decided that they would form the bWo at the next big event, November to Remember '96. Over the next few months, members were added and members left just like the group they were imitating. Initially meant to be a one-off parody, the Blue World Order became immensely popular and elevated Richards to the main event level in ECW. The height of the bWo's success came at the first ECW pay per view, Barely Legal. The event saw the debut of bWo Japan (with members Taka Michinoku, Terry Boy, and Dick Togo), and Big Stevie Cool was part of the 3-Way Dance main event for the #1 contendership for the ECW World Title. Just weeks after this event Richards suffered a severe injury to his neck courtesy of Terry Funk and a metal guardrail which left him temporarily paralyzed for over an hour. In July 1997, Nova had a match against Taz in which Taz vowed to kill the bWo. He squashed Nova, and although Meanie and Nova continued to tag over the next few months, the bWo was indeed dead in November 1998.