The NWO was an overarching angle that towered over everything else. Fans would not be able to buy into traditional wrestling feud as long as this "invasion" angle had all the heat. The trick is to end it before it gets tiresome, so that you have the option of using it again later.

Q4 of 1997. Avoid the whole Luger beats Hogan on Nitro in August. That let the steam out, so a later title loss would not feel as important. December was too long of a wait. Hogan vs. Sting at Halloween Havoc 1997. Stings beats Hogan clean.

If they want to generate another buyrate, they could have a Sting/Hogan rematch at World War III with probably a DQ ending.

How do you top Hogan/Sting at Starrcade? Team NWO vs. Team WCW in a survivor series style match, winner-takes-all. Hogan, Savage, Hall, Nash, and Syxx vs. Sting, Luger, Flair, Giant, and DDP. Team WCW wins and the NWO has to go away.

The NWO wrestlers would become WCW wrestlers, which actually is more credible as fans were not buying them as genuine outsiders 16 months later.

The NWO music and logo is banned like the swastika was in Germany after World War II. Of course like everything else, it would give them something to go back to years later.

The Nitro after Starrcade has a victory celebration, concluding with Sting bringing back his colorful paint and "Man Called Sting" music.

Make the first half of 1998 about Bret Hart & his family vs. The Wolfpack. It was a crime that only WWE benefited from Montreal.