It was 18 years ago today that the New World Order walked through the curtain at WWE No Way Out, bringing their brand of unpredictability and chaos to the company it nearly put out of business just years earlier.

The renegade faction, founded by the trio of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan in 1996, changed professional wrestling forever and intensified the Monday Night Wars. The influence it had on the industry was undisputed, while the impact it had on pop culture was equally as significant.

On the anniversary of its WWE arrival, relive these iconic moments that helped define the NWO's legacy in sports entertainment, many of which came before Nash, Hogan and Hall sported black-and-white T-shirts in McMahonland.

10. Rodzilla

Dennis Rodman was one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet in 1997, thanks to his eccentricity as much as his explosive defensive play and rebounding as a member of the storied Chicago Bulls dynasty. He was cool, controversial and a media magnet, bringing mainstream attention to whatever he did.

So when WCW negotiated to bring him in as a member of the NWO, it was understandably a big deal.

From his debut in March 1997 all the way through his 1998 Bash at the Beach appearance, in which he teamed with Hollywood Hogan to defeat Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone, Rodman's presence only added more credibility to the faction.

It was not every day that one of the greatest basketball players of his era left the team for which he played, skipping practice to appear on Monday Nitro and becoming a mainstream sports media story in the process, but Rodman did.

He exemplified the anti-establishment ideals behind the NWO and fit in seamlessly.

9. NWO Turns WCW's Franchise on It

Paranoia set in during the early days of the NWO, with WCW wondering who would jump from the establishment to the outsiders. That Hogan, Hall, Nash and others fueled that paranoia, repeatedly reminding the opposition that anyone could turn at any time, did not help matters.

On the September 9, 1996, episode of Nitro, it appeared as though the faction had secured its greatest defection to date in Sting.

The WCW franchise star stunned the wrestling world by appearing to join the stable when he jumped Lex Luger in a parking lot and left him lying ahead of the Fall Brawl pay-per-view.

It was a heart-wrenching moment for WCW, which had already lost Hogan. The commentators sold the betrayal, hammering home how much it meant that the man most associated with the company had turned his back on it.

Of course, it would turn out to be a fake. Jeff Farmer, in Sting gear, would prove to be the phony who attacked Luger, but it was the repercussions of the company's lack of faith in Sting that would spark one of the greatest wrestling storylines of all time.

After stomping to the ring, kicking ass and walking out on WCW at War Games just days later, Sting returned to television one last time and told his WCW brethren to "stick it" before disappearing into the rafters for the next year.

We do not get that chapter of Sting's career or, arguably, his longevity without the NWO to play off and the angle that set it all in motion. It was an underrated gem from the early days of the iconic faction. 

8. Hollywood Hogan Paints the Belt

The tone had been set for what kind of faction the NWO would be long before Hollywood Hogan defeated The Giant for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Hog Wild in 1996.

They were rebellious and disrespectful, so it was no surprise when Hogan and Co. produced a can of black spray paint and defaced the gold belt. With "NWO" adorning its front, the title now belonged to the opposition and had become a casualty of the wrestling war WCW found itself in.

The title would become iconic, a reminder of the incredible run the company was in at the height of the NWO's popularity and one of the greatest heel acts ever.

7. The Outsiders Power-Bomb Eric Bischoff into Infamy

Scott Hall and Kevin Nash took the wrestling world by storm when they arrived in WCW during the spring of 1996. After several weeks of seemingly idle threats, they struck out against the company in grand fashion, sending a loud and painful message directly to its president.

Eric Bischoff may have been an interviewer and play-by-play commentator in front of the cameras, but behind the scenes, he ran the show.

Blurring fiction and reality for the first time, Hall and Nash cut a promo with more warnings to the WCW locker room before Nash caught Bischoff in the midsection before he was power-bombed off the stage and through a table.

As security rushed to the aid of the company boss, Hall took the opportunity to throw one more jab, mocking its "where the big boys play" tagline: "The big boys...they just left the building."

It was another key moment in the presentation of the NWO as an invading force of rebels, one that would only enhance what was to come a few weeks later.

6. Paid for by the New World Order

There was a ton to love about the original NWO run, not least of which were the black-and-white ads that appeared all over WCW and featured everything from words of warning to mocking jabs directed at the company.

"The following has been paid for by the New World Order," a voiceover would confirm. From there, fast cuts, black-and-white imagery and sarcasm filled the screens as Hogan, Hall and Nash further established the tone of the group's feud with WCW.

The videos were major production accomplishments and a testament to Eric Bischoff and management, who understood how important it was for the faction to be presented as different from everything else WCW was doing.

It worked, and NWO gained further traction with a fanbase that was all too eager for change.

5. NWO Debuts in WWE

In February 2002, WWE was reeling.

After unprecedented success at the height of the Attitude Era, it found itself without competition and coming off a mostly disastrous Invasion storyline. It needed a boost creatively and, rather than turning to the loaded roster he already had at his disposal, Vince McMahon brought in Hogan, Hall and Nash.

From a storyline perspective, the only thing McMahon was injecting into WWE was poison. He was hellbent on destroying the company he had built rather than watching co-owner Ric Flair change it. By bringing in the faction that nearly put him out of business in 1997, he thought he would accomplish just that.

Things started well enough, with a memorable pay-per-view return and chaos in the main event as the NWO cost "Stone Cold" Steve Austin the WWE Undisputed Championship.

That first night was the beginning of the end for the trio, though. Nash would suffer an injury early, Hall would be gone by May, and Hogan turned babyface amid fan demand.

That first night should have meant more, but it was still a magic moment that gave fans something they would never see in a WWE ring: the NWO in its original form.

4. Eric Bischoff Joins the NWO

Before Vince McMahon became the evil, megalomaniacal heel Mr. McMahon character who would oppose "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and lead WWE back from the brink of defeat in the Monday Night Wars, Eric Bischoff underwent a heel turn that saw him become the most insufferable bad guy in pro wrestling.

The November 18, 1996, episode of Nitro saw "Rowdy" Roddy Piper confront Bischoff, who finally revealed he was with the New World Order and a major part of what Hogan, Nash, Hall and Co. were able to accomplish logistically.

He had gotten them into the buildings, manipulated the rules and made it easier for them to stage their hostile takeover of Ted Turner's wrestling company. While Ted DiBiase was the money man behind the group, it was Bischoff who was the master puppeteer.

In the grand scheme of things, Bischoff associating himself with the group as an on-screen character hurt his ability to remain objective in creative discussions surrounding it.

Still, one should not underestimate how significant a deal it was that he was revealed to be the boss and this evil owner character a full year before it became the cool thing to do elsewhere.

3. NWO Attacks Rey Mysterio, WCW at Disney

There are few angles more important to the aura of the NWO than the brutal and violent attack it waged on WCW on the July 29, 1996, episode of Nitro.

Making their way through the backstage area, a production lot at Disney/MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida, Hall and Nash beat and brutalized anyone in their path.

They blasted Arn Anderson with a tire iron and, in one of the most unforgettably violent moments in WCW history, Nash hoisted Rey Mysterio on his shoulders and sent him face- and head-first into the side of a production trailer.

The realism of the angle and the fact that concerned citizens surrounding the lot called police to report some sort of gang assault provided Bischoff and WCW all the evidence it needed that the storyline was working.

In the Monday Night Wars documentary on WWE Network, current All Elite Wrestling Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes recalled reaching out to his father, Dusty, and asking for a health update on Mysterio.

That's how convincing that angle was—something we rarely see in today's overproduced world of wrestling.

2. Scott Hall Debuts

"Well, what the hell?"

Larry Zbyszko's sentiments reflected those of fans across the globe as they watched Scott Hall, fresh off a four-year run as Razor Ramon in WWE, walk through the stands, hop a guardrail and address the WCW crowd.

"You know who I am, but you don't know why I'm here," he said ominously.

It was the first indication of any kind that there was an invading force in WCW, one that would threaten it with extinction. It wasn't, as Hall said, "where the big boys play." He promised he wouldn't be the only one to come before taking off, leaving the wrestling world wondering what they had just witnessed.

As history tells us, it was the start of the NWO storyline and one of the most historic moments in the annals of Monday night wrestling history.

Hall perfectly set the tone, laying the groundwork for everything that followed. That he walked in through the crowd, to the surprise of the commentators and in everyday street clothes, added so much to the angle. That he cut the promo with his Ramon accent, hinting he was sent on behalf of Vince McMahon and WWE, was even better.

A lawsuit from McMahon claiming WCW was using his intellectual property would force a change in that regard, but not before Hall had the industry buzzing and WCW ready to blast off to heights it had never previously experienced.

1. The New World Order of Wrestling

There are certain moments in time when you remember exactly where you were when it happened. Hulk Hogan's shocking betrayal of WCW and revelation as NWO's third man was one such moment.

As Hall and Nash beat down Lex Luger and "Macho Man" Randy Savage, The Hulkster hit the ring, cleared out the bad guys and seemingly became the savior WCW needed in the face of the invasion. Until that is, he dropped a leg on Savage and arrogantly walked around the ring, wiping his hands of the fans and the company.

When Mean Gene entered the ring to get a word with his longtime friend, Hogan cut a scathing promo on the fans and announced: "The New World Order of wrestling, brother." It was a key moment in the sport's long history—and one that immediately launched WCW past WWE in the battle for supremacy. 

It was also a gutsy move creatively. Hogan had, for over a decade, been the biggest star and most beloved babyface in the industry. Sure, fans had started booing him, but that was not necessarily grounds for a complete character overhaul the likes of which we ultimately got from him.

It was a huge risk on the part of WCW officials and Hogan himself, one that paid off with the first cup thrown into the ring out of disgust. 

Hogan's turn and the official formation of the NWO at Bash at the Beach 1996 was the sort of milestone moment in professional wrestling that fans can point to as a paradigm shift and one that lives on vividly in the minds of fans who watched the betrayal go down live.