Latino World Order

The LWO was formed in late 1998 after Eddie Guerrero's spat with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) head Eric Bischoff in a real-life conflict that was turned into a storyline.[2] The group was the idea of Jason Hervey, an actor and friend of Bischoff who was working in a creative position in WCW.[3] The stable was originally supposed to revolve around Konnan, but it was given to Guerrero after Konnan joined the nWo Wolfpac.[3]

On August 17, Guerrero cut a shoot interview, where he claimed to want out of his WCW contract.[2] After being taken off television for several weeks, Guerrero returned on the October 5 edition of Monday Nitro, forming the LWO with several other Mexican wrestlers.[3][4] The group consisted of the majority of the Mexican roster, as well as Guerrero's friend Art Flores, who played the role of a bodyguard named Spyder.[5]

The group consisted of almost every major Mexican wrestler on the WCW roster including Psychosis, La Parka, Hector Garza, and Juventud Guerrera. Their main feud lay with Rey Mysterio, Jr., after he refused to join the group.[5] They also feuded with Billy Kidman, Mysterio's on-and-off American tag team partner. Mysterio was forced to become a member after losing a match to Eddie Guerrero. Chavo Guerrero, Jr., Eddie's nephew, wasn't included in the stable as he was deemed "mentally unstable" by the group and rejected as a member.

A car accident suffered by Guerrero on January 1, 1999 would help bring a premature end to the LWO.[6] Three days later, the two factions of the New World Order reunited, and before long, various members of the LWO were found lying unconscious backstage. The nWo approached the LWO and demanded they immediately disband or face further consequences. The next week, Ric Flair also asked the LWO to disband and fight for WCW, promising he would treat them better than Bischoff did and also promising them money, women and limousines. Every member except Mysterio agreed, removing their LWO shirts and exiting the ring. Mysterio, who was not originally a willing member of the group, proved himself the most loyal when he refused to remove his LWO colors. The nWo beat him down and forcibly tore off his LWO shirt, leading to a feud between Mysterio and The Outsiders.

The reunited nWo also betrayed their only Latino member, Konnan, who objected to the brutality used against Mysterio, leading them to form a team against The Outsiders. As Eddie Guerrero healed and made his in-ring return, he and Mysterio formed a popular new group, which included Konnan, known as the Filthy Animals.

In 2001, the World Wrestling Federation (renamed to WWE in 2002) acquired certain assets and television footage of WCW, including the LWO trademarks.[7] Rey Mysterio, who was contracted under its parent AOL Time Warner, would not join the company until later in 2002. Over 20 years later on the March 31, 2023, episode of SmackDown, Rey, who was set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2023 later that night, and was scheduled to wrestle his son, Dominik Mysterio, at WrestleMania 39 that weekend, revived the LWO and gifted LWO shirts to Legado Del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, Cruz Del Toro, and Zelina Vega) as the group had aided Rey in his fight against The Judgment Day (Dominik Mysterio, Finn Bálor, Damian Priest, and Rhea Ripley) for several weeks prior.[8][9]

On Night 1 of WrestleMania 39, Escobar, Wilde, Del Toro, and Bad Bunny assisted Rey in his match against Dominik, who was assisted by his Judgement Day teammates Finn Bálor and Damian Priest. Rey went on to win his match against Dominik and celebrated with his wife, Angie, and his daughter, Aalyah, in the ring.[10] On the April 7 episode of SmackDown, the LWO lost their first match as a team with Rey and Escobar losing to The Judgment Day's Dominik and Priest.[11] On the April 17 episode of Raw, Mysterio lost to The Bloodline's Solo Sikoa. Later that night, the LWO assisted Matt Riddle, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn in their brawl against The Judgment Day and The Bloodline.[12] The LWO earned their first victory on the April 24 episode of Raw with Rey defeating Priest by disqualification when Priest threw a steel chair at Rey. The LWO also debut a new entrance music, which paid tribute to the original founder and leader of the stable, Eddie Guerrero.[13][14] On the May 5 episode of SmackDown, Bad Bunny helped the LWO save Rey Mysterio from an attack from The Judgement Day, leading to Mysterio giving Bunny an LWO shirt, signifying his addition to the group.[15][1] At Backlash, Vega failed to win the SmackDown Women's Championship from Ripley and Bad Bunny defeated Priest with the assistance of Savio Vega and Carlito, who were both wearing LWO shirts.[16]

Vega defeated Lacey Evans to qualify for the 2023 women's Money in the Bank ladder match on the June 2 episode of SmackDown.[17] Escobar defeated Mustafa Ali to qualify for the 2023 men's Money in the Bank ladder match on the June 9 episode of SmackDown.[18] However, Vega and Escobar failed to win their respective Money in the Bank ladder matches in the namesake event.[19] Escobar and Rey then faced each other in the United States Championship Invitational tournament finals on the July 28 episode of SmackDown,[20][21] where Escobar went on to face Austin Theory for the United States Championship after Rey suffered a kayfabe injury and was therefore unable to continue.[22] On the August 11 episode of SmackDown, Escobar was taken out by Theory before the match started. Due to Escobar's injury, WWE Official Adam Pearce allowed Rey to take Escobar's place for the title match and defeated Theory to become the new United States Champion. This marks the first title win in the stable's history.[23]

On the September 9 episode of SmackDown, Escobar requested Rey for a dream match for the United States Championship.[24] Two weeks later on SmackDown, Rey defeated Escobar to retain the title. After the match, the pair were attacked by The Street Profits and Bobby Lashley.[25] A six-man tag team match between the LWO against Lashley and The Street Profits at Fastlane was made official the next day on SmackDown LowDown.[26] On the following week's episode of SmackDown, Lashley and The Street Profits took out Wilde and Del Toro, leaving the LWO a man short for Fastlane.[27] At Fastlane, Carlito returned to team up with the LWO to defeat Lashley and The Street Profits.[28]