As much as wrestling is serious business as far as intense storylines and bitter rivalries, there’s always room for a gaggle of goofballs. For example, fans of the influential 1990s promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling look back fondly on the Blue World Order, a parody faction of WCW’s New World Order composed of Stevie Richards, The Blue Meanie, and Nova.
However, the bWo only had the briefest of runs in WWE, where many ECW stars landed up, so fans likely don’t know a whole lot about this very entertaining group. Let’s take a look at the group’s entire run, including their origins and their random Japanese offshoot.
10 Started As Stevie Richards’ Lackeys
While the Blue World Order eventually became an entity unto itself, the group originally formed as part of the ECW heel faction Raven’s Nest. Stevie Richards was there first, as he was initially Raven’s sidekick. But soon enough Richards would get his own personal backup. First would be The Blue Meanie, who Raven and Richards discovered at a local indie show in Pennsylvania. Then came Nova, who initially appeared in ECW with a superhero gimmick and then found himself grouped with the Nest as Stevie Richards’ other lackey.
9 Intended As A One-Off
It may surprise some modern fans to find out that the Blue World Order was actually only meant to be a one-off joke. Once Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie became on-screen buds, the two started doing a parody gimmick where they’d imitate various recognizable musicians, pop culture figures, and wrestlers from WWE and WCW. Once they added Nova to the mix, the three struck gold by doing a parody of WCW’s New World Order as the Blue World Order. The parody proved popular enough to be repeated, and soon became the trio’s whole gimmick.
8 Raven Helped Make Them Popular
Given that the three were part of the Nest, Raven was also crucial to their parody gimmick. Typically, Stevie Richards, Blue Meanie, and Nova would come out before Raven and do their goofy parody thing to the delight of the crowds, only for Raven to show up and thrash them with a Singapore cane.
That bit did a lot to endear the trio to the crowds, and when they struck gold with the bWo concept it only made sense for the three to turn babyface and distance themselves from Raven.
7 bWo Japan
As the nWo was the hottest thing around and ever-growing in size and popularity, the bWo had a lot to work with in terms of keeping their parody act fresh. Part of nWo’s thing was constantly adding and subtracting members, so bWo did the same, going as far as introducing several roster members of the Japanese promotion Michinoku Pro — Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo, and Terry Boy — as “bWo Japan,” a parody of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s nWo Japan. As bWo Japan, the trio made an amazing impression on American audiences in a classic six-man tag team match at the landmark Barely Legal in 1997.
6 Stevie Richards Retired While He Was A Member
Thanks to his role in the Blue World Order, Stevie Richards ended up getting some pretty big opportunities in ECW, including taking part in a three-way #1 Contender match at the aforementioned Barely Legal ‘97. While he was unsuccessful, Richards got another shot at the belt in a four-way match, during which he turned on Raven after Raven interfered in the match on his behalf. Stevie Richards was once again unsuccessful in his pursuit, but even worse, he managed to sustain a neck injury in the course of his match, leading to him announcing what was ultimately a temporary retirement.
5 Signed To WWE At Different Points
Eventually, each member of the Blue World Order ended up signing to WWE at different points in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Blue Meanie would be the first to sign to the company in 1998, first joining up with the J.O.B. Squad and later aligning with Goldust, becoming Bluedust in the process. Stevie Richards signed the following year, working a variety of gimmicks from doing his signature parody gimmick to leading the faction Right to Censor. Then there’s Nova, who signed in 2002 and had a short run in the mid-2000s as the fitness guru Simon Dean.
4 Debuted In WWE In 2005
While all three members of the Blue World Order ended up signing to WWE, the bWo itself never appeared in the company until WWE’s first ECW reunion show, One Night Stand, in June of 2005. There, Stevie Richards, Nova, and The Blue Meanie came out for a bit of a nostalgia rush before the main event tag team match.
The bWo also had a role in the post-match segment, which devolved into a brawl between ECW originals and WWE stars.
3 Feuded With JBL
That 2005 One Night Stand offered a little more than just nostalgia when it came to the Blue World Order. During the ECW vs. WWE brawl, JBL decided to shoot on the Blue Meanie over some comments he made online outing JBL as a bully, delivering legitimate strikes and opening up a recent wound on Meanie’s head in the process. To make up for it, WWE booked a match between the two the following month on SmackDown, during which Stevie Richards delivered a notoriously stiff chair shot to JBL’s head and Blue Meanie got the win thanks to interference from Batista.
2 Feuded With The Mexicools
Coming off of the JBL feud, the Blue World Order had one last storyline during their brief run in WWE as the trio turned their attention to another trio in WWE: The Mexicools. Claiming that they invented the Mexicools’ gimmick of interfering in matches and “rising up against the gringos,” the bWo challenged Juventud Guerrera, Super Crazy, and Psicosis to a six-man tag at The Great American Bash 2005, which resulted in the Mexicools getting the win after a series of aerial maneuvers on Stevie Richards.
1 Had Reunions Outside of WWE
Following the Mexicools rivalry, the bWo basically dissolved, with Blue Meanie returning to the indies, Nova returning to his Simon Dean gimmick, and Stevie Richards becoming a part of the revived ECW. While fans have yet to see them reunite in WWE, they’ve done it on the indie scene as well as in Impact Wrestling. The latter instance was at Hardcore Justice in 2010, with Nova and a fake Blue Meanie called Blue Tilly accompanying Stevie Richards for a match against Justin Credible. One of their more recent outings was in the 2015 Chikara King of Trios tournament, where they ended up getting knocked out of the first round by the Devastation Corporation.
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