In the spring of 1999, WCW (World Championship Wrestling), which had been overtaken in the "Monday Night Wars" by the then-World Wrestling Federation, needed something to lure the viewers back in, despite the fact that the stable that powered their ratings rise in 1996-8, the New World Order, was sl-o-o-o-wly fading away.
Some genius came up with the idea of bringing in rapper Master P for an appearance on WCW Monday Nitro, and sparking a feud with veteran wrestler Curt Hennig, late of the NWO, and before that, the Four Horsemen. While the No Limit Soldiers, named for Master P's rap label, were supposed to be fan favorites, the thug style didn't play very well with the Atlanta-based WCW, and while Hennig was supposed to be the bad guy, the fans embraced him and his new crew, fellow second generation grapplers Barry & Kendall Windham and Bobby Duncum, Jr., who would wind up being billed as the West Texas Rednecks (nee Outlaws).
Master P made only the one appearance, and the damage was cleaned up before the end of the summer. In that time, Jimmy Hart wrote a pair of songs for the Rednecks. The first, "Rap is Crap", was a slow, drawling rant against hip-hop. Next came a more up-tempo country rave, "The Good Ol' Boys"......
Eric Bischoff would subsequently bring in heavy metal legends KISS and Megadeth, and signed ex-MTV VJ Ricki Rachtman (ex-Headbanger's Ball) to join the announce team. Unfortunately, the Rednecks, who'd add a 5th man, "Curly Bill" (Mike Jones, formerly Virgil in WWF and Vincent in WCW/NWO), would disband in October, before the human poison pill, Vince Russo, arrived on the scene. The irony, of course, was that Hennig was from Minnesota, but was very adaptable.
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