title: Thallumaala

text: In August 2022, a trailer show was held on the outer wall of Dubai Festival City Mall. The film's title was written using laser technology on the water fountain. This was the first time that a Malayalam film is drawing a picture in water as part of its promotion.


title: Thallumaala

text: On August 10, The cast were supposed to visit the HiLITE Mall in Calicut for the promotion of the movie. However, crowd had turned out in huge numbers at the venue, which made the makers cancel the promotional event.


title: Thallumaala

text: A promotional song titled "Manavaalan Thug" written, composed and performed by Dabzee & SA was released on Muzik 247's YouTube channel on 10 Aug 2022.


title: Thallumaala

text: "Thallumaala" was released worldwide on 12 August 2022. The satellite and digital rights were sold to Surya TV and Netflix respectively. The film began streaming on Netflix on 11 September 2022.


title: Thallumaala

text: The film was a commercial success and turned out to be the highest grossing Tovino Thomas film yet. In the opening day, the film grossed 7.4 crore and 15 crore from the first and second day worldwide. On its fourth day, the film grossed 31 crore at the box office overtaking the lifetime collections of Tovino's other three ventures of 2022, "Vaashi", "Dear Friend" and "Naaradan" in less than a week.


title: Thallumaala

text: Nirmal Jovial of "The Week" rated the movie 4/5 stars and said, "With a strong script—complemented by a strong flavour of Malabar—it delivers what it promises in its title and more. Thallumaala is a film with a nonlinear narrative structure with the plot divided into different chapters. Rahman uses this narrative structure to give the audience a parallel view of the present and the past of the protagonist. This also ensures no drop in the film's energy in either of the halves. The script by Ashraf Hamza and Muhsin Parari is top-notch."


title: Thallumaala

text: Cris of "The News Minute" called the movie "loud, cartoonish and fun" and rated it 3.5/5 stars. "It is experimental with a capital E. You can either enjoy it, or understand that this is something appreciable and just not your kind of thing. But if you are the curious kind, you'd want to know just what the H this is all about. Princy Alexander of "Onmanorama" reviewed the movie as "A fun ride anchoring on new gen vibe" and said, ""Thallumala" is more of a jovial experiment in terms of technique and narrative. The use of technology and graphics resonates well with the youth who can also relate to the characters because of their spontaneity and their lack of fear of consequences."


title: Thallumaala

text: S.R. Praveen of "The Hindu" gave praise for its action sequences and technical craft, but mentioned the lack of substance in the narrative and the same craftily hidden with non-linear style and the relentless fight-song-fight routine that would render one without a breathing space to think.


title: Thallumaala

text: On 7 March 2022, two people have admitted to a hospital claiming Shine Tom Chacko manhandled them during the filming of the movie. The incident happened when the local people of Kalamassery HMT colony questioned the crew of the film regarding dumping waste while filming. Later the police intervened and set end to things.


title: Thallumaala

text: On 12 September 2022, a day after the film's streaming release, the subtitling company "Fill in the Blanks" through their social media handles expressed their dissatisfaction of Netflix editing their English subtitles for the film which were already approved by the film's writer. Upon the incident, several subtitle artists from various countries shared similar experiences they faced in the past, and showed solidarity to the company. Netflix is yet to respond on this.


title: Thallumaala

text: After the movie began streaming on Netflix, It has been reported that the word "beef" was completely cut from the Kannada version of "Thallumaala". The word "beef" enters into the dialogues in many parts of the movie. However, "beef" was completely removed from the dialogue and subtitles in Kannada version, "mutton" and "curry" were used instead. Audience and critics have come forward on social media against Netflix, saying Netflix has a history of censoring "beef" from movies and the like. Some critics even pointed out that Netflix is doing ""such degrading work"" out of fear of cow vigilante organizations, working with the support of Government of Karnataka.


title: Thallumaala

text: On 11 September 2022, The film's animation team "Studio" "Kokaachi" accused the makers of the film for repeatedly not crediting them in titles. After "Thallumaala" dropped on Netflix, the animation team said that “"powers-that-be" had refused to acknowledge their contribution and share the names of the artistes who had worked on the film's animated scenes, which were wide praised by the audience and to an extent gave the film its unique style". The makers of the movie then apologized "for missing" their names on the title credits, explaining "it was an honest mistake from our side". "Kokaachi", however, stated that they first spotted the error when the movie had released in theatres and they found out that their names were missing from the end credits, the makers had "ample time and opportunity to correct the mistake".


title: USB On-The-Go

text: USB On-The-Go (USB OTG or just OTG) is a specification first used in late 2001 that allows USB devices, such as tablets or smartphones, to act as a host, allowing other USB devices, such as USB flash drives, digital cameras, mouse or keyboards, to be attached to them. Use of USB OTG allows those devices to switch back and forth between the roles of host and device. A mobile phone may read from removable media as the host device, but present itself as a USB Mass Storage Device when connected to a host computer.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: USB OTG introduces the concept of a device performing both Host and Peripheral roles whenever two USB devices are connected and one of them is a USB OTG device, they establish a communication link. The device controlling the link is called the Host, while the other is called the Peripheral.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: USB OTG defines two roles for devices: OTG A-device and OTG B-device, specifying which side supplies power to the link, and which initially is the host. The OTG A-device is a power supplier, and an OTG B-device is a power consumer. In the default link configuration, the A-device acts as a USB host with the B-device acting as a USB peripheral. The host and peripheral modes may be exchanged later by using Host Negotiation Protocol (HNP).


title: USB On-The-Go

text: Standard USB uses a Master/Slave architecture; a "host" acts as the Host device for the entire bus, and a USB "device" acts as a Peripheral. If implementing standard USB, devices must assume one role or the other, with computers generally set up as hosts, while (for example) printers normally function as a Peripheral. In the absence of USB OTG, cell phones often implemented Peripheral functionality to allow easy transfer of data to and from computers. Such phones could not readily be connected to printers as they also implemented the peripheral role. USB OTG directly addresses this issue.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: When a device is plugged into the USB bus, the host device sets up communications with the device and handles service provisioning (the host's software enables or does the needed data-handling such as file managing or other desired kind of data communication or function). That allows the devices to be greatly simplified compared to the host; for example, a mouse contains very little logic and relies on the host to do almost all of the work. The host controls all data transfers over the bus, with the devices capable only of signalling (when polled) that they require attention. To transfer data between two devices, for example from a phone to a printer, the host first reads the data from one device, then writes it to the other.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: While the master-slave arrangement works for some devices, many devices can act either as master or as slave depending on what else shares the bus. For instance, a computer printer is normally a slave device, but when a USB flash drive containing images is plugged into the printer's USB port with no computer present (or at least turned off), it would be useful for the printer to take on the role of host, allowing it to communicate with the flash drive directly and to print images from it.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: USB OTG recognizes that a device can perform both Host and Peripheral roles, and so subtly changes the terminology. With OTG, a device can be either a host when acting as a link master, or a link peripheral. The choice between host and peripheral roles is handled entirely by which end of the cable the device is connected to. The device connected to the "A" end of the cable at start-up, known as the "A-device", acts as the default host, while the "B" end acts as the default peripheral, known as the "B-device".


title: USB On-The-Go

text: After initial startup, setup for the bus operates as it does with the normal USB standard, with the A-device setting up the B-device and managing all communications. However, when the same A-device is plugged into another USB system or a dedicated host becomes available, it can become a slave.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: USB OTG does not preclude using a USB hub, but it describes host-peripheral role swapping only for the case of a one-to-one connection where two OTG devices are directly connected. Role swapping does "not" work through a standard hub, as one device will act as a host and the other as a peripheral until they are disconnected.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: USB OTG is a part of a supplement to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 specification originally agreed upon in late 2001 and later revised. The latest version of the supplement also defines behavior for an Embedded Host which has targeted abilities and the same USB Standard-A port used by PCs.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: SuperSpeed OTG devices, Embedded Hosts and peripherals are supported through the USB OTG and Embedded Host Supplement to the USB 3.0 specification.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: The USB OTG and Embedded Host Supplement to the USB 2.0 specification introduced three new communication protocols:


title: USB On-The-Go

text: The USB OTG and Embedded Host Supplement to the USB 3.0 specification introduces an additional communication protocol:


title: USB On-The-Go

text: USB OTG defines two roles for devices: OTG A-device and OTG B-device, specifying which side supplies power to the link, and which initially is the host. The OTG A-device is a power supplier, and an OTG B-device is a power consumer. In the default link configuration, the A-device acts as a USB host with the B-device acting as a USB peripheral. The host and peripheral modes may be exchanged later by using HNP or RSP. Because every OTG controller supports both roles, they are often called "Dual-Role" controllers rather than "OTG controllers".


title: USB On-The-Go

text: For integrated circuit (IC) designers, an attractive feature of USB OTG is the ability to achieve more USB capabilities with fewer gates.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: Also, most gadgets must be either a host or a device. OTG hardware design merges all of the controllers into one dual-role controller that is somewhat more complex than an individual device controller.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: A manufacturer's targeted peripheral list (TPL) serves the aim of focusing a host device towards particular products or applications, rather than toward its functioning as a general-purpose host, as is the case for typical PCs. The TPL specifies products supported by the "targeting" host, defining what it needs to support, including the output power, transfer speeds, supported protocols, and device classes. It applies to all targeted hosts, including both OTG devices acting as a host and embedded hosts.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: The original USB OTG standard introduced a plug receptacle called mini-AB that was replaced by micro-AB in later revisions (Revision 1.4 onwards). It can accept either a mini-A plug or a mini-B plug, while mini-A adapters allows connection to standard-A USB cables coming from peripherals. The standard OTG cable has a mini-A plug on one end and a mini-B plug on the other end (it can not have two plugs of the same type).


title: USB On-The-Go

text: The device with a mini-A plug inserted becomes an OTG A-device, and the device with a mini-B plug inserted becomes a B-device (see above). The type of plug inserted is detected by the state of the ID pin (the mini-A plug's ID pin is grounded, while the mini-B plug's is floating).


title: USB On-The-Go

text: Pure mini-A receptacles also exist, used where a compact host port is needed, but OTG is not supported.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: With the introduction of the USB micro plug, a new plug receptacle called micro-AB was also introduced. It can accept either a micro-A plug or a micro-B plug. Micro-A adapters allow for connection to standard-A plugs, as used on fixed or standard devices. An OTG product must have a single micro-AB receptacle and no other USB receptacles.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: An OTG cable has a micro-A plug on one end, and a micro-B plug on the other end (it cannot have two plugs of the same type). OTG adds a fifth pin to the standard USB connector, called the ID-pin; the micro-A plug has the ID pin grounded, while the ID in the micro-B plug is floating. A device with a micro-A plug inserted becomes an OTG A-device, and a device with a micro-B plug inserted becomes a B-device. The type of plug inserted is detected by the state of the pin ID.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: Three additional ID pin states are defined at the nominal resistance values of , , and , with respect to the ground pin. These permit the device to work with USB Accessory Charger Adapters that allows the OTG device to be attached to both a charger and another device simultaneously.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: USB 3.0 introduced a backwards compatible SuperSpeed extension of the micro-AB receptacle and micro-A and micro-B plugs. They contain all pins of the non-Superspeed micro connectors and use the ID pin to identify the A-device and B-device roles, also adding the SuperSpeed pins.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: When an OTG-enabled device is connected to a PC, it uses its own USB-A or USB Type-C cable (typically ending in micro-B, USB-C or Lightning plugs for modern devices). When an OTG-enabled device is attached to a USB slave device, such as a flash drive, the slave device must either end in the appropriate connection for the device, or the user must supply an appropriate adapter ending in USB-A. The adapter enables any standard USB peripheral to be attached to an OTG device. Attaching two OTG-enabled devices together requires either an adapter in conjunction with the slave device's USB-A cable, or an appropriate dual-sided cable and a software implementation to manage it. This is becoming commonplace with USB Type-C devices.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: BlackBerry 10.2 implements Host Mode (like in the BlackBerry Z30 handset). Nokia has implemented USB OTG in many of their Symbian cellphones such as Nokia N8, C6-01, C7, Oro, E6, E7, X7, 603, 700, 701 and 808 Pureview. Some high-end Android phones produced by HTC, and Sony under Xperia series also have it. Samsung Android version 3.1 or newer supports USB OTG, but not on all devices.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: Specifications listed on technology web sites (such as GSMArena, PDAdb.net, PhoneScoop, and others) can help determine compatibility. Using GSMArena as an example, one would locate the page for a given device, and examine the verbiage under "Specifications → Comms → USB". If "USB Host" is shown, the device should be capable of supporting OTG-type external USB accessories.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: In many of the above implementations, the host device has only a micro-B receptacle rather than a micro-AB receptacle. Although non-standard, micro-B to micro-A receptacle adapters are widely available and used in place of the mandated micro-AB receptacle on these devices.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: USB OTG devices are backward-compatible with USB 2.0 (USB 3.0 for SuperSpeed OTG devices) and will behave as standard USB hosts or devices when connected to standard (non-OTG) USB devices. The main exception is that OTG hosts are only required to provide enough power for the products listed on the TPL, which may or may not be enough to connect to a peripheral that is not listed. A powered USB hub may sidestep the issue, if supported, since it will then provide its own power according to either the USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 specifications.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: Some incompatibilities in both HNP and SRP were introduced between the 1.3 and 2.0 versions of the OTG supplement, which can lead to interoperability issues when using those protocol versions.


title: USB On-The-Go

text: Some devices can use their USB ports to charge built-in batteries, while other devices can detect a dedicated charger and draw more than 500 mA (0.5 A), allowing them to charge more rapidly. OTG devices are allowed to use either option.


title: New World Order (professional wrestling)

text: The New World Order (commonly abbreviated as nWo) is an American professional wrestling stable that originally consisted of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash.


text: The stable originated in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) with the gimmick of a group of unsanctioned wrestlers aiming to "take over" and control WCW in the manner of a street gang. The group later appeared in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) after the purchase of WCW by the WWF. The nWo angle became one of the most influential storylines in the mid-to-late 1990s success of WCW and was instrumental in turning mainstream North American professional wrestling into a more mature, adult-oriented product. The stable became the main driving force behind WCW competing with the WWF in the Monday Night Wars.


text: Fueled initially by the unexpected villainous turn of Hulk Hogan, the nWo storyline is generally considered one of the most successful angles in the history of modern-day professional wrestling, spawning several imitations and parodies, including the bWo, lWo and the jWo. The group dominated WCW programming throughout the late-1990s and continued until the dissolution of WCW in 2001, during which time there were several, sometimes rival, incarnations of the group.


text: In December 2019, it was announced that the nWo would be inducted into the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame, with Hogan, Hall, Nash, and Sean Waltman as the inducted members.


text: The nWo storyline was an idea created by WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff, whose inspiration for the angle came after attending New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Battle Formation show at the Tokyo Dome on April 29, 1996. The show was headlined by a NJPW vs. UWFi match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, as New Japan's Shinya Hashimoto defeated UWFi's Nobuhiko Takada. Bischoff wanted to do an invasion-type angle where World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was being sabotaged by another wrestling group, initially insinuated as being the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), since the nWo's founding members had previously wrestled for the company.


text: The nWo was originally portrayed as a separate entity from WCW. Often, propaganda-style vignettes and product commercials concerning the nWo were presented in the style of a broadcast signal intrusion, with a voice proclaiming, "The following announcement has been paid for by the New World Order". Others, such as Kevin Nash, television director Craig Leathers, chief WCW booker Terry Taylor, and Taylor's assistants Kevin Sullivan and Paul Orndorff, all contributed their own ideas to the nWo concept.


text: Craig Leathers approached Disney/MGM Studios for a nWo logo. The designers came back with 6 to 10 examples, and eventually WCW management settled on the logo we know today. Scott Hall is credited with the group's trademark hand-signals, and Taylor belatedly scrawled the group's most popular catchphrase, "When you're nWo, you're nWo 4 life," in one segment he scripted for "WCW Monday Nitro" in late 1996.


text: On May 19, 1996, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash wrestled their final matches as, respectively, Razor Ramon and Diesel in the WWF and signed with WCW shortly after. Hall appeared on the May 27, 1996 edition of "Nitro", which emanated from the Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia. As The Mauler and Steve Doll wrestled, Hall emerged from the crowd and entered the ring, bringing the match to a halt, and called for the ring announcer's microphone. "You all know who I am", Hall said to the stunned crowd, "but you don't know why I'm here". He went on to deliver what became known as the "You Want a War?" speech, stating that he and unnamed allies had a challenge for WCW executive vice president Bischoff and any WCW wrestlers. As the episode neared its end, Hall accosted Bischoff, who was also the lead broadcaster for "Nitro" at the time, in the broadcast booth and demanded that he tell WCW owner Ted Turner to pick three of his best wrestlers for "a war". The next week, Hall claimed to have a "big surprise" for fellow professional wrestler Sting. On the following "Nitro", the big surprise was revealed to be Nash. Hall and Nash were then dubbed as The Outsiders, randomly appearing at WCW events to cause trouble and inevitably be led out of the building by security.


text: Hall and Nash were both fully employed by WCW, but the storyline implied that they were WWF wrestlers "invading" WCW. This was enough of a concern to the WWF that it considered legal action over Hall and Nash's antics. Hall was the bigger concern to the WWF, as he had not fully distanced himself from his Razor Ramon character, continuing to act like Razor and speaking with Razor's pseudo-Cuban American accent. WCW attempted to address these concerns at The Great American Bash in June 1996. Bischoff promised them a match at the next pay-per-view event, and then directly asked both Hall and Nash if they were employed by the WWF, to which they said no. The WWF, still unsatisfied, filed a lawsuit, claiming that Bischoff had proposed inter-promotional matches that would air on TBS, associating the two promotions with each other. Also at The Great American Bash, both Hall and Nash pressed Bischoff to name his company's three representatives for their impending match. Bischoff said that he had found three men who would answer their challenge, but would not name them. This would lead to Hall and Nash attacking Bischoff, culminating with Nash powerbombing Bischoff off the stage and through a table below the stage itself. Bischoff held a draft on "Nitro" to determine WCW's representatives, with Sting, Lex Luger, and "Macho Man" Randy Savage being chosen.


text: The match Bischoff promised, a six-man tag team match billed as the "Hostile Takeover match", was scheduled as the main event of Bash at the Beach at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida on July 7, 1996. Hall and Nash came to the ring by themselves, leaving speculation open as to who the third man was. Team WCW then entered with all three members wearing face paint as a sign of solidarity.


text: Luger was hurt and badly injured right when the match started and had to be removed on a stretcher. The match reached its climax at approximately the sixteen-minute mark, shortly after a late tag from Sting to Savage. Savage went on the attack, nailing both the Outsiders with repeated axe-handle smashes from the top rope. However, while referee Randy Anderson checked on a downed Hall, Hall grabbed his shirt while Nash nailed Savage with a low blow which knocked both men to the mat. With all four men down, Anderson had no choice but to begin counting them out as he did not see the low blow. As he began his count, the fans' attention turned to the entrance area as Hulk Hogan entered and began walking to the ring to a loud roar from the crowd. Hall spotted him and immediately fled the ring. Hogan, who had not been seen on WCW television for some time, climbed into the ring to chase away Nash and tore off his T-shirt, as he had done many times before.


text: With the fans still cheering wildly, Hogan stood in the corner nearest and hit his long-time friend Savage with his Atomic Leg Drop, stunning the crowd into silence and turning heel for the first time since his AWA days in 1981. The Outsiders came back into the ring to celebrate with their now-revealed partner as Hogan dropped the leg on the fallen Savage a second time, and after the three men all shook hands Hogan threw the referee from the ring and hit Savage one last time. The official match result was a no contest and Savage had to be carried from the ring by an exhausted Sting. After the match, "Mean" Gene Okerlund came to the ring and interviewed Hogan. During the interview, Hogan exclaimed that he, Hall and Nash were "the new world order of wrestling", giving the group its name – the New World Order.


text: Hogan continued, reminding everybody of the "big organization up North" where Hall and Nash had come from and that he too had been there and how he had made that company a household name. Hogan followed by bringing up his signing with WCW in 1994.


text: He then declared that Hall and Nash were the kind of people he really wanted as his friends and that together, the three of them were going to take over WCW and destroy everything in their path. At this point, Okerlund directed Hogan to look at the debris strewn around the ring and told him that he could expect more of this if he chose to associate with Hall and Nash (subtly suggesting that Hogan should reconsider one more time). Hogan disregarded Okerlund and went into a tirade against the fans while taking another shot at Bischoff and some of the newer talent the fans were cheering.


text: Hogan then grabbed Okerlund by the collar moments later but quickly let him go after Okerlund threatened to sue him if he didn't. The show closed with the three wrestlers continuing to taunt the fans, who booed and pelted them with garbage. Wrapping up the event on pay-per-view, a still-stunned Tony Schiavone said: "Hulk Hogan, you can go to hell... Straight to hell". The night after Bash at the Beach, Hall and Nash appeared on "Nitro" without Hogan, attempting to attack Sting, Arn Anderson and Randy Savage, but were held back by WCW security. On the July 15, 1996 edition of "Nitro", Hogan returned and helped Hall and Nash attack Lex Luger and Big Bubba Rogers during the "Nitro" main event. He then made a challenge to then-reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion, The Giant, for Hog Wild in August. On the July 29, 1996 episode of "Nitro", The Outsiders attacked Arn Anderson, the American Males (Marcus Bagwell and Scotty Riggs) and Rey Misterio Jr., whom Nash threw the latter into the side of a WCW production truck before leaving in a limousine.


text: At Hog Wild, the newly rechristened "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan won the match after knocking The Giant out with his title belt. After the match, Hogan rechristened the Big Gold Belt as the nWo World Heavyweight Championship by spray-painting the group acronym in capital letters across the faceplate. Nearly two weeks after Hog Wild, Ted DiBiase made his WCW debut and declared himself the financier and spokesperson of the nWo (thus becoming the fourth man), and was given the nickname "Trillionaire Ted". On the September 2 episode of "Nitro", the nWo got its first defection and fifth member from WCW as The Giant, who just weeks earlier lost his title to Hogan, turned on his Dungeon of Doom teammates and attacked The Four Horsemen and Randy Savage.


text: As the Fall Brawl PPV event neared, WCW was gearing up for another battle against the nWo. On the September 9 episode of "Nitro", the nWo tricked fans and wrestlers into thinking that Sting had joined the nWo by putting wrestler Jeff Farmer into the group as a Sting clone, complete with Sting attire and face paint. This point was furthered when Farmer, as the nWo Sting, attacked Luger, who had been lured into an attack by referee Nick Patrick. This led Luger, his longtime ally and tag team partner, to publicly question Sting. At Fall Brawl, as Team WCW was being interviewed, Sting told his teammates that he had nothing to do with the attack, but Luger did not believe him. Going into the match, only three wrestlers on each side had been officially named: Hogan and The Outsiders for the nWo, with Luger, Arn Anderson, and Ric Flair for Team WCW. Sting had originally been named the fourth man for WCW, but his participation was in doubt. The fourth man for the nWo was indeed the nWo Sting, who convinced everyone (including the broadcast team) that the real Sting was nWo. The real Sting showed up moments later as the last man for Team WCW and took apart the nWo by himself. After assaulting Hogan, Hall, Nash and the nWo Sting, Sting left the ring and Team WCW, yelling at an apologetic looking Luger "Is that good enough for you right there? Is that truth enough?". Team WCW, now fighting a 4-on-3 handicap match, lost when the nWo Sting locked Luger in the "Scorpion Death Lock".


text: The next night on "Nitro", an angry Sting laid into his fellow wrestlers as well as the fans for doubting his true colors. He came out unexpectedly, with no music or pyrotechnics, and kept his back to the camera purposely as he spoke:


text: With that, Sting began a retreat from the ring that would last for nearly fifteen months, and in the process, left his loyalties on the table for either side to try and move him to theirs. The nWo stepped up its efforts to try and recruit Sting, yet never removed the nWo Sting from the group. As Sting's character and look evolved, so too did Farmer's nWo Sting character. On the same night Sting made his speech, the nWo inducted its sixth official member into the group, Syxx. On the September 23rd episode, the nWo debuted Vincent, as its "head of security". Nick Patrick became the group's official referee after he began showing partiality to nWo members during their matches. Miss Elizabeth turned against The Four Horsemen and joined the group as Hogan's valet.


text: The nWo continued to dominate WCW, with Hogan successfully retaining the nWo World Heavyweight Championship against Randy Savage and Hall and Nash winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship from Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) at Halloween Havoc. At Halloween Havoc, Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper, whom WCW had just signed to a contract, came to the ring to confront Hogan. Piper began looking for a match with Hogan the following night on "Nitro".


text: In the storyline, WCW only recognized Hogan, Nash, and Hall as WCW employees due to their holding WCW championships, and the other nWo members went unrecognized as WCW employees; because of this, they were unable to wrestle other WCW wrestlers. This led to the nWo starting a segment on "Saturday Night", called "nWo Saturday Night", where nWo stable members wrestled local jobbers inside an empty arena. The nWo also used their "financing" to purchase ad time during WCW programming, which amounted to low budget anti-WCW propaganda, or "hijack" the broadcast signal.


text: At Halloween Havoc, The Giant defeated Jeff Jarrett by disqualification after Ric Flair attacked Giant during the match. This led to an announcement on the November 11 episode of "Nitro" that Jarrett would be facing Giant in a rematch at World War 3.


text: On the November 11 episode of "Nitro", Nick Patrick disqualified Chris Jericho in a match against Konnan when Konnan kicked Jericho into Patrick. On the November 16 episode of "Saturday Night", Jericho challenged Patrick to a match at World War 3, with Jericho's left arm tied behind his back.


text: On November 18, 1996, "Nitro" was live at the Florence Civic Center in Florence, South Carolina and opened with Hall and Nash physically attacking The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags), High Voltage (Robbie Rage and Kenny Kaos), Ciclope, and Galaxy and forcing Tony Schiavone to walk off the show after they threatened him. As the show moved into its second hour, Hogan and his entourage accosted Bischoff at the announce table and forced him to say that Hogan was better than Piper, who was still seeking a match with Hogan, but whom Bischoff had not agreed on a contract with yet. At the end of the show, Piper and Bischoff began arguing in the ring. As Piper continued to badger Bischoff, The Giant entered the scene and grabbed Piper from behind. He was followed by Syxx, Vincent, and The Outsiders, who all stepped in to stop Piper from attacking Bischoff. Finally, Hogan and DiBiase came out and revealed to the entire world that Eric Bischoff, despite appearances, had secretly been a member of the nWo all along.


text: At World War 3, Chris Jericho defeated Nick Patrick while The Giant had defeated Jeff Jarrett after outside interference from Sting and The Outsiders were successful in retaining their Tag Team Championship against both the Nasty Boys and the Faces of Fear. Furthermore, Piper and Hogan had signed an official contract for a match, though Piper would end up being attacked by Hogan and the nWo. Lastly during the main event, The Giant had won the 60-man battle royal, last eliminating both Lex Luger and Kevin Nash, thus becoming the #1 contender in earning a World Heavyweight Championship title shot.


text: The following night on "Nitro", Bischoff permanently left the broadcast booth, and his character became an egomaniacal tyrant as WCW's executive vice president, as well as a manager and replaced DiBiase as spokesperson for the nWo while DiBiase handled the financing. At the top of the program, Bischoff issued an ultimatum to the WCW locker room: all wrestlers were given thirty days to join the group. Marcus Bagwell (redubbed "Buff Bagwell"), Mr. Wallstreet, Big Bubba Rogers, and Scott Norton became members in the following weeks. Japanese wrestler Masahiro Chono also joined the group on December 16 and established himself as the leader of nWo Japan, a sister stable in NJPW.


text: At Starrcade, Piper defeated Hogan. At the same event, after multiple attempts to convince Diamond Dallas Page to join, Hall and Nash attacked Page in his United States Heavyweight Championship tournament final match against Eddie Guerrero, costing him the match. The nWo left with physical possession of the title belt. It was then given to Syxx, and Guerrero began feuding with him. The next night on "Nitro", The Giant was kicked out of the nWo when he refused to perform a chokeslam on Piper in an nWo assault.


text: At nWo Souled Out, Hogan and The Giant fought to a no contest in the main event due to the nWo referee, Nick Patrick, being biased toward Hogan. The United States Heavyweight Champion Eddie Guerrero retained his title against Syxx in a ladder match, while The Outsiders lost the tag team titles to The Steiner Brothers. Bischoff re-awarded them the titles the next night on "Nitro" after claiming that Randy Anderson, who ran in to officiate after Patrick was knocked down, was not the official referee. Bischoff then fired Anderson for his actions.


text: At SuperBrawl VII, the Outsiders lost their titles to Lex Luger and The Giant, while Syxx defeated Dean Malenko for the Cruiserweight Championship. Later that night, Hogan successfully defended his title against Roddy Piper. "Macho Man" Randy Savage, after weeks of roving with Sting as a "free agent", helped Hogan win. Savage participated in a post-match beatdown of Piper, cementing his place in the nWo. The next night on "Nitro", Savage helped the Outsiders get revenge on DDP by attacking him from behind while they distracted him, and reunited with Miss Elizabeth. Later, Bischoff returned the tag team titles to The Outsiders, as Luger had been injured and was not cleared to wrestle in the SuperBrawl match. Luger, however, issued a challenge for a "winner-take-all" tag team match at Uncensored. Two weeks later on the March 3 episode of "Nitro", Turner Sports vice president Dr. Harvey Schiller "suspended" Bischoff for abuse of his office. At Uncensored, Team nWo won the 3-team tag team match. In addition to winning, per a pre-match stipulation, the nWo gained the right to challenge for any WCW championship whenever and wherever they pleased. At the event, Sting descended from the rafters and attacked the top members of the nWo: Hall, Savage, Nash and Hogan, indicating his allegiance to WCW.


text: Tensions began to surface within the nWo in April 1997. At Spring Stampede, the show ended with Savage and Bischoff at each other's throats after the former's loss to Page, and both were forced to be held back by other group members. J. J. Dillon, who was appointed as WCW commissioner during Bischoff's suspension, later had Big Bubba Rogers and Mr. Wallstreet removed from the nWo due to a contractual technicality. Additionally, Ted DiBiase quit the group after feeling remorse for some of the WCW wrestlers who were victims of nWo assaults. In the interim, the nWo recruited The Great Muta on May 26, and Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hiro Saito several weeks after Spring Stampede; they made occasional appearances on television due to their full-time employment in NJPW. The nWo also added Konnan, whom they dubbed "K-Dogg", on July 14 after he attacked Rey Mysterio, Jr. while Kevin Nash watched.


text: At Bash at the Beach in July, Dennis Rodman made his wrestling debut as he teamed with Hogan to take on Luger and The Giant in a tag team match. Luger won the match for his team by forcing Hogan to submit and earned a title shot at Road Wild, set for August. Luger, however, elected to take his shot on the August 4 episode of "Nitro", five days before the pay-per-view, and defeated Hogan to win the championship. Hogan regained the title at Road Wild after Rodman, dressed up as Sting, hit Luger with a baseball bat. Following Road Wild, the nWo began a rivalry with The Four Horsemen, marked by a skit where they mocked members of the group. The Horsemen responded by challenging the nWo to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl in September. The match pitted Ric Flair, Curt Hennig, Steve McMichael and Chris Benoit against Nash, Konnan, Syxx, and Bagwell. During the match, Curt Hennig turned on his team to align with the nWo. The nWo was victorious after McMichael surrendered in the match.


text: Bret Hart made his WCW debut on the December 15 episode of "Nitro" and declared he would not join the nWo, but did say he would be the special guest referee for a match between Bischoff and Larry Zbyszko at Starrcade. If Bischoff won the match, the nWo would be given permanent control over "Nitro", but if Zbyszko won, it would remain with WCW. Rick Rude (who previously had been in WCW during the early to mid '90s) would join the nWo, later on that year. On the "Nitro" before Starrcade, the nWo completely took over the show by tearing down the set and chasing off the WCW announcing crew. They destroyed anything WCW-related and rebranded it "nWo Monday Nitro". This event was done as a test run for a permanent changeover of "Nitro" to an nWo-centric show, with the soon-debuting "Thunder" becoming the WCW-centric show, however the ratings dropped dramatically during this show, putting these plans on ice. Zbyszko later defeated Bischoff at Starrcade. Also at Starrcade, Hogan lost the title to Sting. Hogan originally pinned Sting, but confusion arose when Hart appeared at ringside and accused referee and former nWo member Nick Patrick of making a fast count. In reality, Nick Patrick was supposed to make it a fast count, revealing himself to be a crooked official. Hogan then submitted to Sting's "Scorpion Death Lock", and the entire WCW locker room came out to celebrate the defeat of Hogan.


text: Shortly after Hogan lost the title at Starrcade, the nWo started showing signs of division within the group. Because of the controversy surrounding Sting's title win, J. J. Dillon vacated the title on January 8, 1998 on the inaugural episode of "Thunder". In addition to the title being vacated, Scott Hall was still slated to face the world champion at SuperBrawl VIII as per the stipulation surrounding his World War 3 win, and this also would have to be resolved with the vacant championship. New WCW commissioner Roddy Piper resolved that at Souled Out on January 24 by declaring that since there was no champion for him to face at SuperBrawl, he would face the winner of a second Hogan vs. Sting match at Uncensored in March. Later that evening, the feud between Hall and Larry Zbyszko came to an end when he defeated Hall by disqualification when Louie Spicolli, who had just signed with WCW a month earlier, interfered. After the match Dusty Rhodes, who had been in the broadcast booth that night and who Zbyszko had asked to come to the ring with him, joined Hall and Spicolli in attacking Zbyszko and joined the nWo, where he served as a mentor to Hall.


text: The nWo continued to expand their ranks into the new year as former WWF star Brian Adams jumped ship to WCW and joined the nWo. Hogan gained a second bodyguard when Ed Leslie, who had previously tried to join the nWo at Road Wild in 1996, debuted as a barely recognizable bearded biker dubbed "The Disciple".


text: At SuperBrawl VIII, the nWo had a mixed array of success. Hall and Nash regained the WCW's world tag team championship from The Steiner Brothers after Scott Steiner unexpectedly turned on his brother Rick and manager Ted DiBiase. Scott handed the championship belts to Hall and Nash after the match and celebrated with The Outsiders and Dusty Rhodes, marking his induction into the nWo. However, Hogan lost to Sting in a match for the vacated WCW World Heavyweight Championship and was attacked by Savage late in the match. After SuperBrawl, Savage then made his intentions clear and declared that he no longer needed the nWo's help to win matches, that Hogan had dropped the ball, and that he was going after Sting to try to bring the world championship back to the nWo. Hogan and Savage tried to one-up each other on episodes of "Nitro" and "Thunder" over the next few weeks, which led to a steel cage match at Uncensored in March which ended in a no contest. Earlier that night, Hall lost his World War 3-earned title match against Sting.


text: The rift between the different factions of the nWo grew wider after Syxx, who had been out injured since October, was released from his contract and sent to rehab for his ongoing alcoholism. Shortly thereafter, Hall was removed from television; this led to a confrontation between Kevin Nash, Eric Bischoff, and Hogan on the March 26 episode of "Thunder".


text: The differences within the nWo were becoming more apparent as Savage and Nash were suddenly realizing that Hogan was only looking out for himself, and the nWo was secondary. Nash sided with Savage after Hogan had interfered in a number of Sting/Nash matches, not wanting to have to face Nash to take back his title. Nash supported Savage in his quest to defeat Sting, but also agreed to team with Hogan against the returning Roddy Piper and The Giant in a Baseball Bat on a Pole match. At Spring Stampede, Hogan and Nash defeated Piper and The Giant, but after the match Hogan assaulted Nash. Nash later helped Savage defeat Sting by hitting a powerbomb on the champion, earning Savage the win, the title, and the ire of Hogan who came out following the match arguing that Savage had "his title". Hogan and The Disciple then attacked Nash and Savage to close out the show.


text: The next night on "Nitro", Hogan issued a challenge to the new champion for his title, and WCW commissioner Roddy Piper made the match a no disqualification match and said no run-ins would be permitted. Savage and Nash made their own speech later, where Nash said to Hogan "have a nice life" and implied that the nWo was not going to be together, at least in its current form, when the night was over.


text: Late in the match, while Hogan and Savage were fighting in a corner, The Disciple entered the ring and gave referee Nick Patrick a neckbreaker. While this was allowed, due to the match being no disqualification, it also meant that no one was able to stop Hogan and Disciple from doing whatever they wanted to Savage. The Disciple hit his finisher, "The Apocalypse", on Savage while the belt was draped over his shoulder. Just after this, a furious Nash charged to the ring to aid the fallen Savage. After Nash entered the ring, Eric Bischoff came running from the back and slid into the ring to intercept him. After tossing Bischoff aside, Nash nailed the "Jackknife Powerbomb" on Hogan. As the match was still going on, Nash pulled Savage on top of Hogan and went to revive Patrick as Bret Hart entered the ring. Hart picked up the title belt, struck Nash with it, rolled Hogan back over Savage, and revived the referee so he could count the pinfall for Hogan. Although Hogan was WCW World Heavyweight Champion for a fourth time and appeared to have taken the reins of the nWo again, the members of the group itself were now going to have to choose whose side they would be on: his or Nash's.


text: On the May 4 episode of "Nitro", Nash, Savage, and Konnan appeared wearing black shirts with a red nWo logo, as opposed to the familiar white logo. They called themselves nWo Wolfpac (a name which Nash had previously been using alongside Hall and Syxx to refer to themselves as a trio), and were joined in the following weeks by Curt Hennig, Miss Elizabeth, Rick Rude and Dusty Rhodes. The Wolfpac became the first nWo incarnation to wrestle as faces. Hogan's side retained the black and white colors of the original nWo and took on the moniker nWo Hollywood, with Vincent, Bischoff, Scott Steiner, Scott Norton, Brian Adams, Buff Bagwell and The Disciple on his side.


text: At May's Slamboree, Nash and Hall were to defend the WCW World Tag Team Championship against two of WCW's stalwarts, Sting and The Giant. However, The Giant joined nWo Hollywood shortly before Slamboree as retribution for Nash injuring him at Souled Out in January. Despite this, The Giant maintained his alliance with Sting, but strongly suggested that Sting had a decision to make in terms of his allegiance. At Slamboree, Hall made his return to WCW in the colors of the Wolfpac for The Outsiders' title defense. During the match, however, he (along with Rhodes) turned on Nash by hitting him with the title belt, which gave the win to the team of Sting and The Giant. The next night on "Nitro", Hall was introduced as the newest member of nWo Hollywood.


text: On the May 25 episode of "Nitro" the Wolfpac added Lex Luger, who urged his friend Sting to join him. However, nWo Hollywood made their own effort to woo Sting. Sting revealed his decision on the following week's "Nitro", fooling Hogan into believing that he was going to join his side, then turning on him and tearing off the black and white T-shirt he was wearing to reveal a red and black one underneath. As part of his joining the Wolfpac, Sting began painting his face red and black instead of the black and white "Crow" style face-paint he had been wearing since 1996. At The Great American Bash, the Wolfpac lost two members as Hennig and Rude turned on Konnan following a loss and joined nWo Hollywood. It was not a total loss for the red and black, however, as Sting defeated The Giant in a singles match for control of the vacated WCW World Tag Team Championship. The next night on "Nitro", Sting chose Nash as his tag team partner and the two began defending the titles.


text: In yet another shocking move, Miss Elizabeth defected from Savage (and the Wolfpac) and joined nWo Hollywood during a shocking promo (which included an on-screen kiss with Bischoff) on the June 8 episode of "Nitro". On the June 15 episode of "Nitro", Savage had a steel cage match versus Diamond Dallas Page (which featured Piper as special guest referee, and saw all three men on the receiving end of an attack by nWo Hollywood at the end of match). This attack, which resulted in a "knee injury" caused by a chair to his knee, would be the storyline angle for writing Savage off of TV, and he would then take a hiatus from the company to recover from at least two major knee surgeries (this was his final appearance with the Wolfpac).


text: In the meantime, a new contender for Hogan's championship emerged in undefeated rookie and United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg, who had run off an impressive string of victories. On the July 2, 1998 episode of "Thunder", Goldberg was granted a title match against Hogan for the July 6 episode of "Nitro." However, Hogan changed his mind and forced Goldberg to wrestle Scott Hall in order to earn his title match. Goldberg defeated Hall and then topped Hogan in the main event to win his first WCW World Heavyweight Championship. After his loss to Goldberg, Hogan turned his attention to celebrity matches for the next two months, wrestling in two tag team matches at Bash at the Beach and Road Wild. Hogan won the first match with Dennis Rodman over Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone. The second match was a culmination of a storyline involving several "Tonight Show" skits involving Jay Leno making fun of Hogan, which resulted in Hogan and Eric Bischoff taking over the show and Diamond Dallas Page coming to save the day. Hogan and Bischoff lost to Page and Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks.


text: Meanwhile, the feud between Scott Hall and Kevin Nash continued while Nash continued to defend his half of the tag team championship with Sting. On the July 20 episode of "Nitro", Hall and The Giant challenged the champions to a match for the tag team titles. Late in the match Bret Hart, who had been feuding with Sting over the previous few weeks, came out in an attempt to attack Sting. Sting knocked Hart to the floor and climbed the turnbuckle to taunt him, but the momentary lapse in concentration enabled Hall to pin Sting to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship back to the black and white. nWo Hollywood added a new member to its ranks on the August 24 episode of "Nitro" when Stevie Ray joined their stable. A few weeks later they lost a member when The Disciple officially joined " O.W.N. " from The Warrior on the September 21 episode of "Nitro" after being "kidnapped" by The Warrior in the previous weeks.


text: The feud between Hall and Nash culminated in a singles match at Halloween Havoc in October, where Hall earned a countout win after Nash left the ring. Nash later stated that he didn't care about winning the match, he just wanted his friend back. On the same night, Hogan defeated The Warrior when Hogan's nephew, Horace, interfered and joined nWo Hollywood. Bret Hart defeated Wolfpac member Sting, putting him out of action for about 6 months. (this was Sting's final appearance with nWo Wolfpac)


text: At World War 3, nWo Hollywood attacked Scott Hall and kicked him out of the group for disrespecting Hogan and Bischoff a few weeks earlier. Kevin Nash won the 60-man battle royal and earned a WCW World Heavyweight Championship shot against the still-undefeated Goldberg. On the Thanksgiving episode of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", nWo Hollywood leader Hollywood Hogan announced his retirement from professional wrestling and Scott Steiner went on to assume the leadership role in the nWo Hollywood faction. On the November 30 episode of "Nitro", Dusty Rhodes was appointed, by Bischoff, to be "special guest referee" during the Barry Windham vs Dean Malenko match later that night, but during the match Rhodes turned on Windham & Bischoff and quit the nWo for good (which resulted in him getting "kayfabe" fired by Bischoff). At Starrcade, Nash handed Goldberg his first loss and won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hall interfered in the match and shocked Goldberg with a taser, incapacitating him long enough for an oblivious Nash to hit the "Jackknife Powerbomb" and score the win.


text: On the first "Nitro" after Starrcade (December 28 episode), the main event would be between WCW/nWo president Eric Bischoff and WCW's franchise player Ric Flair. This was after months of feuding and weeks of demanding a match against Bischoff for the presidency of the company. Flair declared he would give up all his possessions if he lost. The match was made by Bischoff who believed that Flair would not be able to compete after he had a kayfabe heart attack during a promo. Flair, despite interference by The Giant (which led to the shocking return of Savage, who shockingly assisted Flair and quit the nWo for good) defeated Bischoff in the match to become WCW president for 90 days, and Bischoff was relegated back to his old position as an on-air commentator. The ending of the match symbolized a new beginning for WCW heading into 1999 and appeared to be the possible conclusion to the nWo storyline.


text: As 1999 began, the divided nWo factions were headed by world champion and "de facto" leader Nash, who was unhappy with Hall's actions at Starrcade, and Scott Steiner, who had taken over nWo Hollywood following Hogan's retirement in November. On the first "Nitro" of the new year (January 4 episode), which took place at Atlanta's Georgia Dome, Nash and Goldberg were scheduled to face off in a Starrcade rematch as Nash had promised on the December 28 episode of "Nitro". However, nWo Hollywood accused the former champion of stalking Miss Elizabeth and Goldberg was arrested and taken from the arena in handcuffs. Later that night, Hogan made his return to WCW for the first time since November 1998 and was challenged by the reigning champion. Hogan accepted Nash's request and took Goldberg's place in the main event. In the match, after the bell rang to begin the bout, Hogan poked Nash in the chest, after which Nash fell to the mat. Hogan covered Nash for the win and became champion again. After the win, Hogan celebrated in the ring with Nash, Hall, and Steiner, revealing that it was all a conspiracy and the nWo had reunited under what would be known as the nWo Wolfpac Elite label.


text: However, while Hogan, Hall, Nash, Steiner, Lex Luger, Konnan, Buff Bagwell, Eric Bischoff and Miss Elizabeth were part of the new "nWo Elite", the undercard wrestlers in the nWo (The Giant, Curt Hennig, Horace Hogan, Stevie Ray, Brian Adams, Scott Norton, and Vincent) were still in the black and white colors of nWo Hollywood and never were officially assimilated back into the group. The "nWo Wolfpac Elite" quickly began to "trim the fat" by eliminating a few guys from the newly reunited nWo entirely (first, Konnan and The Giant were both [separately] kicked out on the January 11 episode of "Nitro"; and then Hennig was kicked out on the January 25 episode of "Nitro"). The subtractions of The Giant and Hennig from the nWo "black and white" left a short-lived group sardonically labeled the nWo B-Team by fans and commentators. This "B-Team" was a staple of WCW programming throughout 1999, and it officially consisted of Stevie Ray, Brian Adams, Vincent, Horace, and Scott Norton. Stevie Ray eventually became their leader after winning a 4-man "Battle Royal" match on the April 5 episode of "Nitro" (Norton was not present for this match).


text: The reunited nWo did not last long for either faction. The nWo Wolfpac Elite enjoyed initial success with Hogan as WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Steiner as World Television Champion and Hall as United States Heavyweight Champion. However, they were wrecked by injuries when Hall's foot was accidentally backed over by a car and he was put on the shelf (and subsequently was stripped of the title), while Luger suffered a torn biceps and as a result he and Miss Elizabeth went on hiatus. Hogan dropped the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in a First Blood barbed wire steel cage match at Uncensored to Ric Flair and Steiner lost the World Television Championship to Booker T after Buff Bagwell accidentally nailed him with a chair. Shortly after, Steiner beat him down and threw him out of the group. Scott later reunited with his brother Rick, who interfered on Scott's behalf during his match with Bagwell at Slamboree in May 1999.


text: A month earlier, Hogan suffered a severe injury during a fatal four-way match (with Page, Flair and a returned, white-painted Sting with a returned Randy Savage as the special guest referee) at Spring Stampede for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which Diamond Dallas Page won, and was put out of action for three months. It has been debated whether this injury was legitimate or not. Nash then began a rivalry with Page, who he blamed for causing Hogan's injury, and defeated him for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Slamboree. Scott Steiner was forced to go on hiatus due to a back injury and stripped of the United States Heavyweight Championship. Other minor members included Disco Inferno, David Flair, and Samantha. Inferno engaged in a feud with Konnan that ended with a loss to him at Spring Stampede (which was the quiet end of his membership), while Flair and Samantha were quietly removed from television following Hogan's title loss at Uncensored.


text: However, by that time, the nWo Elite had collapsed and no longer had any importance in WCW. As the year went on, the nWo Black and White (B-Team) members slowly began distancing themselves from each other. Stevie Ray left the group in July to reform Harlem Heat with his brother Booker T. Brian Adams was kicked out of the group on the August 16 episode of "Nitro" and vanished from WCW programming for some time, eventually forming a tag team with Bryan Clark called KroniK. Scott Norton left WCW completely after the September 30 episode of "Thunder" and returned to Japan. Vincent left the group and joined The West Texas Rednecks alongside former nWo stablemates Curt Hennig and Barry Windham, changing his name to "Curly Bill" and later to "Shane" (as another slap at Vince McMahon). Horace Hogan would quietly go on his own after all of this.


text: Hogan and Nash also entered a feud before the end of the summer. Nash lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach in July pitting him and Sting against Sid Vicious and Randy Savage as Savage pinned him. The next night, Hogan returned to "Nitro" and accepted a challenge from Savage for the championship; Nash interfered by hitting a "Jacknife Powerbomb" on Savage and gave Hogan the victory, but the next week Nash attacked Hogan during a match with Vicious and aligned himself with Vicious and Rick Steiner. Over the next few weeks, Hogan and Nash, along with Vicious and Steiner (on Nash's side) and Sting and a returning Goldberg (on Hogan's side) feuded with each other, culminating in a match at Road Wild where Hogan put his title and career on the line against Nash's career. Hogan returned to his red and yellow attire on "Nitro" shortly before the event and won the match, thus forcing Nash to retire. Nash did continue to make appearances afterward, usually stirring up trouble backstage with Hall as his cohort.


text: In late December 1999, Nash, Hall, Jeff Jarrett, and Bret Hart reformed the nWo, this time with the colors black and silver. Jeff Jarrett was often accompanied by the nWo girls (Midajah, Tylene Buck, April Hunter and Pamela Paulshock). Hall, Nash and Jarrett interfered on Hart's behalf in his match with Goldberg, causing Hart to win the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship. After Goldberg accidentally injured himself breaking the nWo's limousine windshield, Sid Vicious, Chris Benoit and Terry Funk were left to feud with the nWo. Scott Steiner returned and rejoined the group after attacking Vicious. He later would be accompanied by the nWo girls. The Harris Brothers acted as the nWo's bodyguards before joining the group themselves. As nWo members, The Harris brothers would become WCW Tag Team Champions twice. Hart was forced to vacate the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and went on hiatus from WCW in mid January due to an injury suffered in a match with Goldberg at Starrcade 1999. At the following pay-per view Souled Out, Nash defeated Funk to become WCW commissioner, but his reign was cut short after he suffered a broken ankle and had to withdraw from WCW for a while. Jarrett won a title shot facing new WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sid Vicious at SuperBrawl 2000. However, Jarrett also feuded with fellow nWo member Scott Hall after Hall attempted to defeat Vicious and win the title himself. The match at Superbrawl was changed to a triple threat match between Hall, Jarrett and Vicious. Vicious won the match and Hall left WCW for good. Jarrett faced Vicious for the title again at Uncensored but lost. With the return of Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo in April, the nWo completely dismantled and Jarrett, Steiner and the Harris brothers joined The New Blood while the returning Nash joined The Millionaire's Club.


text: After the WWF bought the WCW video library and trademarks in 2001, Vince McMahon brought in Hogan, Hall and Nash, the original nWo, at No Way Out as hired thugs in an attempt to "kill" the WWF so that McMahon would not have to share power with new WWF kayfabe co-owner Ric Flair. They began by targeting the company's two biggest stars, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. This rivalry led up to Scott Hall going against Austin and Hogan going against The Rock at WrestleMania X8 (in matches which Hall and Hogan both lost). As a result of Hogan shaking hands with The Rock and getting a positive response from the crowd after his match at WrestleMania, he turned face and began feuding with Hall and Nash, with The Rock and Kane at his side on occasion. Hall and Nash then brought in former nWo member X-Pac on the March 21, 2002 episode of "SmackDown!" in Ottawa, Ontario.


text: On March 25, the nWo (now consisting of Nash, Hall, and X-Pac) was drafted by Ric Flair to the Raw brand despite rivaling against them. For the next two weeks, the nWo feuded with Kane until he was lured backstage by X-Pac and was put out of action by having his head smashed with a chair. Following this, Nash was suspended for attacking Kane in storyline to recover on his injured biceps. X-Pac would begin wearing Kane's mask, taunting him on the fact that he put him out of action. Bradshaw, who had come to Kane's aid, fought Hall at Backlash, which Hall won with help from X-Pac. Big Show rejoined the nWo on the April 22 episode of "Raw" when Flair teamed him up with Austin, whom Big Show chokeslammed.


text: The nWo was shortly joined by Flair when he attacked Austin with a chair and Hall was ejected out of the group and fired from Raw for "repeatedly dropping the ball" on Austin. In actuality, Hall had asked for his release for personal reasons. Lacking members, Ric Flair would recruit Booker T and continued his feud with Austin. Austin defeated Big Show and Flair in a Handicap match at Judgment Day.


text: Booker T was now in the group, his sidekick Goldust attempted and failed many times to get in, with the rest of the members (X-Pac and Big Show) becoming frustrated at Booker T. With Nash returning and attempting to rebuild the nWo, he brought Shawn Michaels into the faction on the June 3 episode of "Raw". Michaels then literally "kicked" Booker T out of the nWo a week later. Michaels, then in the midst of a four-year retirement from professional wrestling, became the first nWo member who had never wrestled in WCW.


text: On July 8, Nash returned to action on "Raw", teaming up with Eddie Guerrero, X-Pac, Big Show, and Chris Benoit to take on Booker T, Goldust, Bubba Ray Dudley, Spike Dudley, and Rob Van Dam. Seconds after tagging in for the first time, Nash tore his quadriceps after delivering a big boot onto Booker T, immediately putting him back on the injured list. On the following "Raw" on July 15, Vince McMahon came out to the ring to the entrance of the nWo and made the announcement that the group was officially disbanded as Eric Bischoff became Raw General Manager. Afterwards, the nWo storyline was stopped and the remaining members drifted apart. Michaels returned to active competition within weeks, Big Show was eventually traded to the SmackDown! brand and X-Pac was released from his contract.


text: The August 11, 2014 episode of "Raw", which aired on Hulk Hogan's 61st birthday, featured Scott Hall and Kevin Nash as guests. The two shared a moment with Hogan, revealing an nWo shirt hidden under his "Hulk Rules" shirt. They were interrupted by Brock Lesnar, who told Hogan, "Party's over, grandpa". Lesnar backed out of the ring when confronted by John Cena, his opponent at SummerSlam.


text: On the January 19, 2015 episode of "Raw", X-Pac, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash came out for a survey segment. They were interrupted by The Ascension, who were beaten down by the nWo, The APA, and The New Age Outlaws. On March 29 at WrestleMania 31, Hogan, Nash, and Hall returned to assist their long-time rival Sting in his WrestleMania debut match against Triple H. The nWo helped to fight off D-Generation X (X-Pac, Billy Gunn and Road Dogg), who had interfered on behalf of Triple H. Shawn Michaels later joined Triple H's side, turning the match in his favor, and Triple H would go on to win the match.


text: On April 7, 2019 at WrestleMania 35, Nash and Hall appeared as doctors during a backstage segment with Alexa Bliss, Michael Che, and Colin Jost. On July 22, 2019, during WWE Raw Reunion, Hall and Nash appeared as an aid to Seth Rollins and D-Generation X to confront A.J. Styles and The Good Brothers. Hogan, Hall, Nash, and X-Pac then appeared at WrestleMania 37 (the night after the group's induction into the WWE Hall of Fame) in a backstage segment with Bayley and Titus O'Neil.


text: The nWo appeared in a Heavy on Wrestling (HOW) show on August 18, 2018 during a match between X-Pac and Arik Cannon vs. Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz. Near the end of the match, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash inducted Cannon as a first new member of the nWo in nearly a decade with Eric Bischoff appearing at the event. On October 19, 2018, the nWo (Buff Bagwell, Scott Norton and Syxx) competed against the No New Friends at the Glory Pro Wrestling #Unsanctioned event. The original nWo (Hall, Hogan and Nash) reunited in the 2Sweet nWo Reunion Tour in Orlando on October 27, 2018. In Uncasville, Connecticut, the NWO held its reunion show at the Mohegan Sun Arena on March 2, 2019.


text: In 1997, the nWo had their own pay-per-view called Souled Out. It was practice for WCW events to have co-brand naming (see WCW/nWo Starrcade) from January 24, 1998 to March 14, 1999. The WCW World Heavyweight Championship occasionally received this co-branding as well, particularly in ring introductions performed by Michael Buffer.


text: The nWo has inspired many parody factions like Stevie Richards' bWo, Eddie Guerrero's lWo and the dMp (for Demon Making Plant) in the Japanese manga "Kinnikuman". During his time in Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW), Hall, along with Corporal Robinson and the Insane Clown Posse formed the Juggalo World Order at JCW's Evansville Invasion on October 6, 2007. To date, fellow nWo alumni Sean Waltman and Kevin Nash have joined this faction for occasional matches.


text: The group's main logo has been parodied in various WWE merchandise for various wrestlers and groups, such as rKo, nXt: next generation, and Santos Escobar's LdF.


text: The nWo had major crossover appeal in its heyday. Football teams such as the New York Jets and the Jacksonville Jaguars were selling jWo ("Jets World Order" and "Jaguar World Order" respectively) shirts at NFL games in 1998. In that same year, Sin City Productions released a pornographic film called "Nude World Order".


text: When Hulk Hogan joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in January 2010, Hall, Nash and Waltman (all of whom had been with the company previously) began to appear as The Band, a group whose name was a reference to the 2000 incarnation of the nWo's "the band is back together" slogan. The group used a version of the Wolfpac theme as its entrance music. It disbanded within the year.


text: Current New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) stable Bullet Club takes some of its gestures from the nWo like the "too sweet" hand gesture and have been considered the stable that most closely resembles the nWo since its inception.


text: The nWo logo has even made an appearance in college football. When Jacob Peeler was hired as receivers coach at the University of Mississippi (also known as Ole Miss) before the 2017 season, he sought an identity for his group and came up with "Nasty Wide Outs", creating a wrestling-style championship belt with the original nWo logo affixed to it. Ever since, the Ole Miss nWo belt has been displayed on the sidelines by every receiver who has caught a touchdown pass and awarded after each game to a receiver seen by Peeler as deserving of the title belt.


text: On December 9, 2019, WWE announced that the nWo, consisting of Hogan, Hall, Nash, and Waltman, would be inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2020. On the January 29, 2020 edition of Chris Jericho's podcast "Talk Is Jericho", Scott Hall stated that he felt Eric Bischoff should also be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the nWo. Jericho agreed, noting Bischoff's vital on-and-off screen role with the group, and suggested that he was not being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as an nWo member was due to ongoing "residual heat".


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, with a long shoreline on the Indian Ocean and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho. Its capital is Pietermaritzburg, and its largest city is Durban. It is the second-most populous province in South Africa, with slightly fewer residents than Gauteng.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: Two areas in KwaZulu-Natal have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. These areas are extremely scenic as well as important to the surrounding ecosystems.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: During the 1830s and early 1840s, the northern part of what is now KwaZulu-Natal was established as the Zulu Kingdom while the southern part was, briefly, the Boer Natalia Republic before becoming the British Colony of Natal in 1843. The Zulu Kingdom remained independent until 1879.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: KwaZulu-Natal is the birthplace of many notable figures in South Africa's history, such as Albert Luthuli, the first non-white and the first person from outside Europe and the Americas to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1960); Pixley ka Isaka Seme, the founder of the African National Congress (ANC) and South Africa's first black lawyer; John Langalibalele Dube, the ANC's founding president; Harry Gwala, ANC member and anti-apartheid activist; Mac Maharaj, grammy award winning group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, grammy award winning DJ Black Coffee, ANC member, anti-apartheid activist and Little Rivonia Trial defendant; Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the founder of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP); Anton Lembede, the founding president of the ANC Youth League; Jacob Zuma, the former President of South Africa; Bhambatha, a 19th-century Zulu chief who became an anti-apartheid icon; and Shaka Zulu.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: At around in area, KwaZulu-Natal is roughly the size of Portugal. It has three different geographic areas and is the eastern most province in the country. The lowland region along the Indian Ocean coast is extremely narrow in the south, widening in the northern part of the province, while the central Natal Midlands consists of an undulating hilly plateau rising toward the west. Two mountainous areas, the western Drakensberg Mountains and northern Lebombo Mountains form, respectively, a solid basalt wall rising over beside Lesotho border and low parallel ranges of ancient granite running southward from Eswatini. The area's largest river, the Tugela, flows west to east across the center of the province.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The coastal regions typically have subtropical thickets and deeper ravines; steep slopes host some Afromontane Forest. The midlands have moist grasslands and isolated pockets of Afromontane Forest. The north has a primarily moist savanna habitat, whilst the Drakensberg region hosts mostly alpine grassland.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The province contains rich areas of biodiversity of a range of flora and fauna. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park, along with uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park and Ndumo, are wetlands of international importance for migratory species, and are designated as Ramsar sites. South Africa signed the 1971 Ramsar Convention to try to conserve and protect important wetlands because of their importance to habitats and numerous species.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The former Eastern Cape enclave of the town of Umzimkulu and its hinterland have been incorporated into KwaZulu-Natal following the 12th amendment of the Constitution of South Africa. The amendment also made other changes to the southern border of the province.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The northwesterly line of equal latitude and longitude traverses the province from the coast at Hibberdene () to northeast Lesotho.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The province became the first to include a portion of road that is made of partial plastic, the equivalent of nearly 40,000 recycled milk cartons.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: KwaZulu-Natal has a varied yet verdant climate thanks to diverse, complex topography. Generally, the coast is subtropical with inland regions becoming progressively colder. Durban on the south coast has an annual rainfall of 1009 mm, with daytime maxima peaking from January to March at with a minimum of , dropping to daytime highs from June to August of with a minimum of . Temperature drops towards the hinterland, with Pietermaritzburg being similar in the summer, but much cooler in the winter. Ladysmith in the Tugela River Valley reaches in the summer, but may drop below freezing point on winter evenings. The Drakensberg can experience heavy winter snow, with light snow occasionally experienced on the highest peaks in summer. The Zululand north coast has the warmest climate and highest humidity, supporting many sugar cane farms around Pongola.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The KwaZulu-Natal Province is divided into one metropolitan municipality and ten district municipalities. The district municipalities are in turn divided into 44 local municipalities. The local seat of each district municipality is given in parentheses:


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: In 2012, the Ingonyama Trust owns 32% of the land in KwaZulu-Natal, in many municipalities. This amounts to about three million hectares, occupied by over 4 million people. The Zulu king is the chairman of the Trust.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The coastline is dotted with small towns, many of which serve as seasonal recreational hubs. The climate of the coastal areas is humid and subtropical, comparable to southern Florida in the United States, but not quite as hot and rainy in the summer. As one moves further north up the coast towards the border of Mozambique, the climate becomes almost purely tropical. North of Durban is locally referred to as "The North Coast", while south is "The South Coast". The Kwazulu-Natal Tourist board includes towns such as Margate, Port Shepstone, Scottburgh and Port Edward in its definition of the South Coast, while Ballito, Umhlanga and Salt Rock are North Coast resort towns.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: Beaches of world-class quality are to be found along virtually every part of South Africa's eastern seaboard, with some of the least-developed gems found in the far southern and far northern ends of the province. Marina Beach (and its adjoining resort San Lameer) was recognised in 2002 as a Blue Flag beach.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: Some visitors come for the annual late autumn or early winter phenomenon on the KwaZulu-Natal coast of the "sardine run". Referred to as "the greatest shoal on earth", the sardine run occurs when millions of sardines migrate from their spawning grounds south of the southern tip of Africa northward along the Eastern Cape coastline toward KwaZulu-Natal. They follow a route close inshore, often resulting in many fish washing up on beaches. The huge shoal of tiny fish can stretch for many kilometres; it is preyed upon by thousands of predators, including game fish, sharks, dolphins and seabirds. Usually the shoals break up and the fish disappear into deeper water around Durban. Scientists have been unable to answer many questions surrounding this exceptional seasonal event.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The interior of the province consists largely of rolling hills from the Valley of a Thousand Hills to the Midlands. Their beauty has inspired literature. Alan Paton, in the novel "Cry, the Beloved Country", wrote:


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: On Christmas Day 1497, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama saw the coast of Natal and named the site after the Portuguese word for Christmas, "Natal". The Nguni branch of the Bantu occupied this area from the early 1300s


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The first European settlers, mostly British, established Port Natal, a trading post. They made almost no attempt to develop the interior, whose inhabitants had been decimated by the Zulu king, Shaka. The Afrikaner Voortrekkers entered the area via the Drakensberg passes in 1837. These Afrikaners defeated the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in 1838 and thereafter established the Republic of Natal. Thus, the territory was once part of a short-lived Boer republic between 1839 and 1843 until its annexation by Britain. Many Afrikaner inhabitants left for the interior after the annexation and were replaced by immigrants, mainly from Britain.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: From 1860 onwards, increasing numbers of Indians, mainly Tamils, were brought in by the British mainly to work in the sugar plantations on the coast. The colony acquired Zululand (the area north of the Tugela River) after the Zulu War of 1879. The lands north of the Buffalo River were added in 1902. Boer forces entered the area during the South African War (1899 to 1902)also known as the second Boer Warand laid siege to Ladysmith. They failed to build on their initial advantage and for three months the line between the opposing forces followed the course of the Tugela River. In 1910, the colony became a province of the Union of South Africa and in 1961 of the Republic of South Africa.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: When the homeland of KwaZulu, which means "Place of the Zulu" was re-incorporated into the Natal province after the end of apartheid in 1994, the province of Natal, which had existed between 1910 and 1994, was renamed KwaZulu-Natal. The province is home to the Zulu monarchy; the majority population and language of the province is Zulu. It is the only province in South Africa that has the name of its dominant ethnic group as part of its name. As with Eastern Cape, most White South Africans in KwaZulu-Natal are of British descent and less than a quarter of whites in the province are of Boer/Afrikaner descent.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The lion and wildebeest supporters are symbols of, respectively, KwaZulu and Natal, the regions joined to create KwaZulu-Natal. Besides its importance as a symbol of the Zulu monarchy, the lion is also featured in the state emblems of the India and the United Kingdom which together represent the three largest people groups in KwaZulu-Natal and also represents the unity between them. The zig-zag stripe represents the Drakensberg which is green in summer but snow capped in winter and the star represents the Star of Bethlehem, due to Vasco da Gama naming the region “Natalia” (a reference to the birth of Christ) on Christmas Day in 1497. The strelitzia flower on the shield symbolizes the province's beauty, while the assegai and knobkierrie behind the shield represent protection and peace. The base of the crown element is a type of headdress traditionally worn by Zulu elders that represents wisdom and maturity; the element itself is a Zulu-style grass hut. The motto is "Masisukume Sakhe", Zulu for "Let us stand up and build".


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: KwaZulu-Natal's provincial government sits in Pietermaritzburg. The foundation stone of the new legislative building was laid on 21 June 1887, to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The building was completed two years later. On 25 April 1889, the Governor of Natal, Sir Arthur Havelock, opened the first Legislative Council session in the new building.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: This was the former site of St Mary's Church, built in the 1860s. The congregation built a new church in 1884 at the corner of Burger Street and Commercial Road. The old building was demolished in 1887 to provide space for the legislative complex.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: When governance was granted to Natal in 1893, the new Legislative Assembly took over the chamber used by the Legislative Council since 1889. Further extensions to the parliamentary building were made. The building was unoccupied until 1902, when it was used without being officially opened, due to the country's being engulfed in the Anglo-Boer war. The war forced the Legislative Assembly to move the venue of its sittings, as its chamber was used as a military hospital.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council buildings have both been protected as provincial landmarks. They formed a colonial Parliament of two houses: a Council of 11 nominated members and an Assembly of 37 elected members. The Natal Parliament was disbanded in 1910 when the Union of South Africa was formed, and the Assembly became the meeting place of the Natal Provincial Council. The council was disbanded in 1986.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The African National Congress (ANC) holds power in the provincial legislature, winning the province with a convincing overall majority in South Africa's 2019 elections. After the election, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) regained the title of the official opposition in the province.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: KwaZulu-Natal is the home to the Zulu monarch, currently King Misuzulu Zulu kaZwelithini. Although not holding any direct political power, he holds considerable influence among the more traditionalist Zulu people in the province. , The king is provided a stipend of 54 million South African rands by the provincial government. He is also the chairman of the Ingonyama Trust, which controls 32% of the area of the province.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: KwaZulu-Natal has the second largest regional economy in the country after Gauteng. Durban is a rapidly growing urban area and is by most measures the busiest port in Africa. A good railway network links the city to other areas of Southern Africa. Sugar refining is Durban's main industry. Sheep, cattle, dairy, citrus fruits, corn, sorghum, cotton, bananas, and pineapples are also raised. There is an embryonic KwaZulu-Natal wine industry. Other industries (located mainly in and around Durban) include textile, clothing, chemicals, rubber, fertiliser, paper, vehicle assembly and food-processing plants, tanneries, and oil refineries. There are large aluminium-smelting plants at Richards Bay, on the north coast.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: To the north, Newcastle is the province's industrial powerhouse, with Mittal Steel South Africa (previously ISPAT/ISCOR) and the Karbochem synthetic rubber plant dominating the economy. In 2002, Newcastle became the largest producer of chrome chemicals in Africa with the completion of a chrome-chemical plant, a joint-venture project between Karbochem and German manufacturing giant Bayer. Other large operations include a diamond-cutting works, various heavy engineering concerns, the Natal Portland Cement (NPC) slagment cement factory, and the Newcastle Cogeneration Plant (old Ingagane Power Station). This was recommissioned as Africa's first gas-fired power station by Independent Power Southern Africa (IPSA), and it supplies the Karbochem Plant with electricity. The textile industry is a major employer in the Newcastle area, with over 100 factories belonging to ethnic Taiwanese and Chinese industrialists. Maize, livestock and dairy farmers operate on the outskirts of the city. Coal is also mined in the Newcastle area. The province as a whole produces considerable amounts of coal (especially coke) and timber.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: Offshore mining of heavy mineral sands including minerals with a concentration of significant economic importance at several locations, such as rutile, ilmenite and zircon are threatening the marine ecology of KwaZulu-Natal's coast, including the Tugela Banks; the fishing economy of the prawn and nurse fisheries are also threatened.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: About 86% of the population is Black African. During apartheid, a large percentage of native blacks was forced to live in Bantu homelands (Bantustans), which had a subsistence economy based on cattle raising and corn growing.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: Ecology tourism is increasingly important to the economy of KwaZulu-Natal. The area's rich biodiversity and efforts at conservation have been recognised. Tourists have come to see the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These two major parks and that of Ndumo have wetlands of international importance listed as Ramsar sites for conservation. Tourists pay up to $10,000 for safaris on which they might see lions, elephants and giraffes. Others come to hike in the mountains or explore the wetlands with guides.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: Prominent civil society organisations based in the province of KwaZulu-Natal include: Abahlali baseMjondolo (shackdwellers') movement, the Diakonia Council of Churches, the Right2Know campaign, and the Unemployed People's Movement.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The government in KwaZulu Natal has been under sustained controversy for their eviction of shackdwellers and mistreatment by provincial police structures that has resulted in more than 200 arrests of Abahlali members in the first last three years of its existence and repeated police brutality in people's homes, in the streets and in detention.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The attack on Kennedy Road informal settlement by an armed mob in 2009 in [Durban] put local and provincial government under sustained scrutiny. It was reported by members of the Abahlali baseMjondolo movement that the attackers were affiliated with the local branch of the African National Congress and it was claimed that the attack was carefully planned and sanctioned by the provincial police department. Academic research seems to confirm that the attackers self-identified as ANC members and that ANC leaders at Municipal and Provincial level later provided public sanction for the attack.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: Despite a court interdict, the eThekwini municipality, with the support of the provincial SAPS, repeatedly evicted shackdwellers in Durban's Cato Crest. The General Council of the Bar has also expressed concern over the evictions.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: There are various game reserves found in the province; one notable example is Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park, where the southern white rhinoceros was saved from extinction.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: In many of these larger reserves, large animals ranging from several antelope species to elephant, Cape buffalo and hippopotamus can be found. Predators include lions, leopards, and Cape wild dogs.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The scaly yellowfish ("Labeobarbus natalensis") is a fish found in the Tugela River system as well as in the Umzimkulu, Umfolozi and the Mgeni. It is a common endemic species in KwaZulu-Natal Province and it lives in different habitats between the Drakensberg foothills and the coastal lowlands.


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: "Carissa macrocarpa" (Natal plum) is a shrub native to South Africa, where it is commonly called the "large num-num". In the Zulu language or isiZulu, as well as in the Bantu tribes of Uganda, it is known as the "Amathungulu or umThungulu oBomvu". In Afrikaans, the fruit is called "noem-noem".


title: KwaZulu-Natal

text: The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) has five campuses in the province. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville. Other universities are :


title: Lebanese people

text: The Lebanese people ( / ALA-LC: "", ) are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The term may also include those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state. The major religious groups among the Lebanese people within Lebanon are Shia Muslims (27%), Sunni Muslims (27%), Maronite Christians (21%), Greek Orthodox Christians (8%), Melkite Christians (5%), Druze (5.2%), Protestant Christians (1%). The largest contingent of Lebanese, however, comprise a diaspora in North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Africa, which is predominantly Maronite Christian.


title: Lebanese people

text: As the relative proportion of the various sects is politically sensitive, Lebanon has not collected official census data on ethnic background since 1932 under the French Mandate. It is therefore difficult to have an exact demographic analysis of Lebanese society.


title: Lebanese people

text: The largest concentration of people of Lebanese ancestry may be in Brazil having an estimated population of 5.8 to 7 million, but it may be an exaggeration, given that an official survey conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed that less than 1 million Brazilians claimed any Middle-Eastern origin. The Lebanese have always traveled the world, many of them settling permanently, most notably in the last two centuries.


title: Lebanese people

text: Estimated to have lost their status as the majority in Lebanon itself, with their reduction in numbers largely as a result of their emigration, Christians still remain one of the principal religious groups in the country. Descendants of Lebanese Christians make up the majority of Lebanese people worldwide, appearing principally in the diaspora.


title: Lebanese people

text: Immediately prior to the introduction of Arabic, the people residing in Lebanon—both those who would become Muslim and the vast majority who would remain Christian, along with the tiny Jewish minority—spoke Aramaic, or more precisely, a Western Aramaic language. However, since at least the 15th century, the majority of people of all faiths living in what is now Lebanon have been Arabic-speaking, or more specifically, speakers of Lebanese Arabic, although as late as the 17th century, travellers in Lebanon still reported on several Aramaic-speaking villages where the language was the community's vernacular and not merely liturgical.


title: Lebanese people

text: Among Lebanese Maronites, Aramaic still remains the liturgical language of the Maronite Church, although in an Eastern Aramaic form (the Syriac language, in which early Christianity was disseminated throughout the Middle East), distinct from the spoken Aramaic of Lebanon, which was a Western Aramaic language. As the second of two liturgical languages of Judaism, Aramaic was also retained as a language in the sphere of religion (in the Talmud) among Lebanese Jews, although here too in an Eastern Aramaic form (the Talmud was composed in Babylonia in Babylonian Aramaic). Among Lebanese Muslims, however, Aramaic was lost twice, once in the shift to Arabic in the vernacular (Lebanese Arabic) and again in the religious sphere, since Arabic (Qur'anic Arabic) is the liturgical language of Islam.


title: Lebanese people

text: Some Lebanese Christians, particularly Maronites, identify themselves as Lebanese rather than Arab, seeking to draw "on the Phoenician past to try to forge an identity separate from the prevailing Arab culture". They argue that Arabization merely represented a shift to the Arabic language as the vernacular of the Lebanese people, and that, according to them, no actual shift of ethnic identity, much less ancestral origins, occurred. Certain portions of Lebanon's Christian population in particular tend to stress aspects of Lebanon's non-Arab prior history to encompass all of Lebanon's historical stages, instead of considering the beginning of Lebanese history being with the Arab conquests.


title: Lebanese people

text: In light of this "old controversy about identity", some Lebanese prefer to see Lebanon, Lebanese culture and themselves as part of "Mediterranean" and "Levantine" civilization, in a concession to their various layers of heritage.


title: Lebanese people

text: The total Lebanese population is estimated at 8 to 18 million. Of these, the vast majority, or 4- 14 million, constitute part of the Lebanese diaspora (residing outside of Lebanon), with approximately 4.7 million citizens residing in Lebanon itself.


title: Lebanese people

text: In addition to this figure, there are an additional 1 million foreign workers (mainly Syrians), and about 470,000 Palestinian refugees in the nation.


title: Lebanese people

text: Lebanon is also a home to various ethnic minorities found refuge in the country over the centuries. Prominent ethnic minorities in the country include the Armenians, the Kurds, the Turks, the Assyrians, the Iranians and some European ethnicities (Greeks, Italians, French).


title: Lebanese people

text: There are also a small number of nomadic Dom Gypsies (part of the Roma people of South Asian, particularly, Indian descent)


title: Lebanese people

text: The Lebanese diaspora consists of approximately 4- 14 million, both Lebanese-born living abroad and those born-abroad of Lebanese descent. The majority of the Lebanese in the diaspora are Christians, disproportionately so in the Americas where the vast majority reside. An estimate figure show that they represent about 75% of the Lebanese in total. Lebanese abroad are considered "rich, educated and influential" and over the course of time immigration has yielded Lebanese "commercial networks" throughout the world.


title: Lebanese people

text: The largest number of Lebanese is to be found in Brazil, where according to the Brazilian and Lebanese governments claim, there are 7 million Brazilians of Lebanese descent. These figures, however, may be an exaggeration given that, according to a 2008 survey conducted by IBGE, in 2008, covering only the states of Amazonas, Paraíba, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso and Distrito Federal, 0.9% of white Brazilian respondents said they had family origins in the Middle East


title: Lebanese people

text: Large numbers also reside elsewhere in North America, most notably in the United States (489,702) and in Canada, the people of full or partial Lebanese descent are between 190,275 (by ancestry, 2011 Census) to 250,000 based on estimates. In the rest of the Americas, significant communities are found in Argentina, Mexico (400,000); Chile, Colombia and Venezuela, with almost every other Latin American country having at least a small presence.


title: Lebanese people

text: In Africa, Ghana and the Ivory Coast are home to over 100,000 Lebanese. There are significant Lebanese populations in other countries throughout Western and Central Africa. Australia hosts over 180,000 and Canada 250,000. In the Arab world, around 400,000 Lebanese live in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. More than 2,500 ex-SLA members remain in Israel.


title: Lebanese people

text: Currently, Lebanon provides no automatic right to Lebanese citizenship for emigrants who lost their citizenship upon acquiring the citizenship of their host country, nor for the descendants of emigrants born abroad. This situation disproportionately affects Christians. Recently, the Maronite Institution of Emigrants called for the establishment of an avenue by which emigrants who lost their citizenship may regain it, or their overseas-born descendants (if they so wish) may acquire it.


title: Lebanese people

text: The list below contains approximate figures for people of Lebanese descent by country of residence, largely taken from the iLoubnan diaspora map. Additional reliable cites have been provided where possible. Additional estimates have been included where they can be cited; where applicable, these are used in place of the iLoubnan figures. The Figure below uses the data from the list and calculates the amount of Lebanese residents as a percentage of the total population of the respective country.


title: Lebanese people

text: Note: An important percentage of Arabs in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Portugal and Spain are of Lebanese ancestry. They are denoted ** for this purpose.


title: Lebanese people

text: Lebanon has several different main religions. The country has the most religiously diverse society in the Middle East, encompassing 17 recognized religious sects. The main two religions among the Lebanese people are Christianity (the Maronite Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Melkite, the Protestant Church) and Islam (Shia and Sunni). The third-largest religion is Druze.


title: Lebanese people

text: There are other non-Lebanese Christian minorities such as Armenians (Armenian Apostolic Church and Armenian Catholic Church), French-Italians (Latin Catholic Church), Assyrians (Assyrian Church of the East, Syriac Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Chaldean Catholic Church) and Copts (Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria), who immigrated to Lebanon over the years.


title: Lebanese people

text: No official census has been taken since 1932, reflecting the political sensitivity in Lebanon over confessional (i.e. religious) balance.


title: Lebanese people

text: A study conducted by Statistics Lebanon, a Beirut-based research firm, cited by the United States Department of State found that of Lebanon's population of approximately 4.3 million is estimated to be:


title: Lebanese people

text: There are also very small numbers of other religions such as Judaism, Mormons, Baháʼí Faith, and also religions practiced by foreigner workers like Buddhism and Hinduism.