When wrestling fans think of the WWF/E, they think of the monolithic behemoth, the sole victor at the top of the hill. And while much of this is based in truth, the WWF has a surprisingly rich history of working with other promotions in one capacity or another. While their original alliance with New Japan Pro Wrestling and the “working relationship” with ECW during the 90s were beneficial to both parties, they also have more than a few….not so great partnerships during the years. At the start of 1997, the WWF tried to expand into Mexico with their Super Astros show, teaming with AAA, using their talent on both the new show and the WWF’s new Light Heavyweight Division (I’ll get that at some point, believe me). This relationship was short lived, partly because the WWF style didn’t translate south of the border and partly because they wanted Rey Misterio but got Pierroth (a HUGE difference).

But there was yet another co-promotional relationship that WWF would try during the Attitude era, one that was shorter and was even less successful than the Super Astros experiment. That was the acknowledgment and actual use of the NWA name and titles on WWF programming. The WWF came from a split with the NWA all the way back in 1963, and while the elder McMahon still served on the NWA board for many years after and maintained the agreed upon territory boundaries, as far as WWF was concerned, the NWA didn’t exist. So when Vince McMahon agreed to have an actual NWA stable appear weekly on WWF Raw in early 1998, this was a stark departure. So let’s take a look at the NWA-WWF “alliance”, for lack of a better word, what happened, what went wrong, and what impact (if any) that it made.

The NWA-WWF relationship started simple enough. On the December 30, 1997 Raw is War, Jim Cornette appeared in the ring with NWA member Dennis Coralluzzo (of “Shane Douglas bashed me to my face” fame) and NWA President Howard Brody. The segment saw the announcement that Blackjack (Barry) Windham would face the recently returned Jeff Jarrett in a match for the vacant NWA North American Heavyweight Championship. Jarrett would win the subsequent match and the title after Jim Cornette interfered on his behalf. In short order, Jeff Jarrett won an NWA title on WWF programming, a unique situation to be sure. As the new year came, perennial NWA stalwarts and mullet growing professionals the Rock n’ Roll Express joined the burgeoning NWA stable, which included Jarrett and Cornette. Gibson and Morton were awarded the NWA World Tag Team Championships (alright) and successfully defended the belts against world class challengers. I’m kidding, they lost to the Disciples of Apocalypse by DQ. Truly the beginning of a new era.

At the 1998 Royal Rumble, NWA North American Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett entered the Royal Rumble match and gloriously…got eliminated in a minute. At this point, Coralluzzo was begging for Douglas to shoot on him again). The next night, Jarrett would successfully defend the NWA Arbitrary Geographic Location Title against another blockbuster challenger, Blackjack Bradshaw. Yes, John Bradshaw Leyfield would go on to tag team success with Ron Simmons and later a world champion, but this was what I refer to as “the dark ages” of his career, just past “proto-Stan Hansen” and just before “greasy hair Undertaker minion”.

The biggest part of this match was what happened after it (it was a Jeff Jarrett match, after all) when Blackjack Bradshaw’s partner Blackjack Windham (don’t ask, ok?) turned on him and joined the NWA stable. Which was….ok, I guess? Honestly, no one really cared and the turn came off as gratuitous. But it did put a bullet into the New Blackjacks, so that was good. Silver linings and all that.

From there, Jarrett and Windham, who just went back to good ol’ Barry Windham, feuded with the newly single Bradshaw. Same ridiculous mustache, no one to share it with. These were truly dark times. The Rock n’ Roll Express feuded with the Headbangers, which proved to be a clash of styles in both aesthetics and work rate the world hadn’t seen since Dynamite Kid once wrestled a Christmas tree and beat it into submission. The Rock n’ Roll would lose the NWA Tag Team Titles to the Headbangers and when they failed to win them back, they were kicked out of a group no one in their right mind would want to be part of in the first place and replaced with The New Midnight Express, Bombastic Bob (Holly) and Bodacious Bart (Gunn).

To top off this low-drawing experiment in “screw it”, this was also a weird time in Holly and Gunn’s careers. Bob Holly was in between “terrible NASCAR driver” and “blond-haired badass” while Gunn was completely finished with “90s cowboy” and heading straight for “being knocked out by a fat man in under a minute”. The New Midnight Express would go onto underwhelm like any team with “New” in front of their name, but were able to defeat the Headbangers to win the NWA Tag Titles (yay?). Following this match, actual NWA Heavyweight Champion Dan “The Beast” Severn would debut and beat the holy hell out of the Headbangers. As he should. Severn effectively joined the group that night, a minor bright spot in what was otherwise a lone lightbulb that was beginning to flicker.

But what happened to Jeff Jarrett, the original member of this stable? Well, after returning to the WWF (the second time), Jarrett came out and did a work-shoot promo (ugh, it was the 90’s) talking about all the ways the WWF did him wrong, teaming him up with a drug addict (Scott Hall) and someone who couldn’t even speak English (Ahmed Johnson), and how he was portrayed as a country music singer.

So what did he do after the NWA experiment? He…went back to being a country music singer. Wait, what? Yes, Jeff Jarrett, Mr. Work-Shoot, NWA born and bred himself  went right back to the country music crooner gimmick, once again calling himself Double J Jeff Jarrett, complete with annoying spelling and crappy laugh. Only now he was joined by Robert Fuller as (and I’m not making this up one bit) Tennessee Lee and a light-up ring jacket/glasses combo that makes Jericho’s LED jacket look straight by comparison.

After taking on his new/old persona, Jarrett voluntary relinquished the NWA North American title, I guess.

Cornette awarded the title to Barry Windham, but the actual NWA stripped him of it the next day because they’re the NWA and they still like to throw their non-weight around now and then. Like a retired mall cop trying to stop kids throwing pennies into the fountain.

The New Midnight Express would feud with the original Rock n’ Roll Express that had all the excitement you would expect….and I just got bored writing that sentence. Bombed Out Bob and Battitude Bart would face the New Age Outlaws for the WWF Tag Team Titles at King of the Ring 1998…and lose. After that, they lost the NWA Tag Team Titles to The Border Patrol (who?) at an actual NWA event before Vince McMahon pulled the plug and it was never mentioned again under threat of torture or being sent to Memphis. Bob and Bart, while still teaming, would face each other in the first round of the much-maligned Brawl For All, effectively putting an end to their team. Say what you will about the Brawl For All (and I will), but at least it did something right.

So there you have it, the failed 1998 NWA-WWF experiment in all it’s “glory”. It didn’t work. No one bought it. And even fewer enjoyed it. But it happened. After the dust settled, the angle was ended, and Jeff Jarrett went back to being as good as he was going to get, what became of the members of this forgettable stable? Well I’m going to tell you.

Howard Brody and Dennis Coralluzzo would continue to be part of the NWA. They were the real losers here.

Barry Windham left the WWF during the NWA stable’s existence for the greener pastures of WCW, where he turned on Ric Flair, then joined his brother Kendall and fellow cowboys Bobby Duncam Jr. and…Curt Hennig. I’ll explain later.

Jeff Jarrett would get his hair cut at SummerSlam 1998, shedding the Double J character and preferring to spend the next year calling everyone “Slapnuts” and occasionally get really sexist. He would leave the WWF in late 1999 to return to WCW, become a top guy, break no less than 1,354 guitars, and anger Mike Graham. Then he started TNA…

Jim Cornette officially retired from managing after the New Midnight Express debacle. He would stay on the WWF creative team for years after, threatening to assault Kevin Dunn along the way. He would be sent to Louisville Kentucky to run Ohio Valley Wrestling…until he was fired for slapping a trainee for laughing at a grown man who eats worms. He would join Ring of Honor and TNA at different points, threaten to kill Vince Russo, then retire to the quiet solitude of doing a shoot interview every 2 days.

Bob Holly would keep the blond hair and join Al Snow’s aptly-named JOB Squad, joining such light counting luminaries as Too Cold Scorpio, the Blue Meanie, and the feared Gillberg. Before long, Holly cut his hair, change his first name to Hardcore, and become a badass character that would probably knock the S$%# out of someone named Bombastic Bob.

Bart Gunn entered the Brawl For All as the odds on “who’s that again?” and surprisingly went on to win the whole thing. He was rewarded with the honor of being publicly knocked out in a boxing match against Jabba the Hutt’s stunt double at WrestleMania XV. Not every story is a happy ending.

The Rock n’ Roll Express continue wrestling to this day, being the beacon of not only the NWA, but elderly mulleted rock stars everywhere. Brett Michaels, meet your new idols.

Dan Severn was in the group about as long as it took to write this blog. His role in the stable was inconsequential, only rivaled by his impact on the WWF as a whole. He would spend another year in the company before quietly fading into the background then getting released. He would go on to keep the NWA title for a while longer because no one dared to ask for it back.