Nation of Domination

The Nation of Domination (NOD) was a professional wrestling stable in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from November 18, 1996 to November 28, 1998.

The group was formed by newcomer Faarooq in 1996 and remained an influencing faction in the company. While in the group, The Rock was a one-time Intercontinental Champion^[2] and D'Lo Brown was a two-time European Champion.^[3]

Rock emerged as a popular star in WWF due to his association with the group, which made him a multiple-time world champion and one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, even earning him stardom in Hollywood.

History

United States Wrestling Association (1996)

The original Nation of Domination was formed in 1996 in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA). The group was led by PG-13, (a tag team consisting of J.C. Ice and Wolfie D). The group also consisted of Kareem Olajuwon, Sir Mohammad, Elijah, Brakkus, Shaquille Ali, Randy X, and Queen Moisha. This group never really got off the ground in the USWA, but they saw greater success in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).^[1]

World Wrestling Federation

First NOD in WWF (1996–1997)

The most well-known Nation of Domination faction with this name was the heel group formed in the WWF when wrestler Faarooq was joined by manager Clarence Mason. The two men were also accompanied by three unnamed actors, Albert Armstrong, Charles Hines, and Richard Beach, who were supposed to represent other members of the Nation. The group was based loosely on the Nation of Islam (with group members adopting Islamic names and wearing Muslim headgear) and the Black Panther Party. The extremism of the group's pro-black theme at times including the "Nation Salute" and Faarooq's angry tirades on the microphone garnered them an excessive amount of heat from fans in arenas. Many wrestlers joined the heel stable over time including PG-13 (J.C. Ice and Wolfie D), Crush, D'Lo Brown, and Savio Vega. Their first feud was with Ahmed Johnson, who had a rivalry with Faarooq since SummerSlam. At the Royal Rumble, the Nation assisted Faarooq during his match against Johnson. Faarooq lost by disqualification after Crush interfered and attacked Johnson.^[4][5]

Faarooq, Crush, and Vega were the members of Nation of Domination who wrestled while others supported them during their matches. These three men often teamed up together in six-man tag team matches such as one at In Your House 13: Final Four against Bart Gunn, Goldust, and Flash Funk^[6] and most notably in a Chicago Street Fight at WrestleMania 13 against the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) and Ahmed Johnson.^[1][7] At A Cold Day In Hell, the Nation faced Johnson in a Gauntlet match. Johnson defeated Crush and Vega in the Gauntlet before losing to Faarooq.^[1][8]

This lineup of the group remained intact until Faarooq became angry with them and fired the entire group with the exception of Brown^[1] after Faarooq's loss to The Undertaker at King of the Ring, where Faarooq lost the match partly because of the distraction caused when Vega and Crush were arguing at ringside.^[9]

Black Supremacy and The Gang Warz (1997–1998)

On the June 16 episode of Raw Is War, Faarooq promised that he would deliver a "Bigger, Badder, Better and Blacker" version of the Nation, after "firing" Crush, Mason, and Savio Vega, retaining only Brown.^[10] This led to the induction of Kama Mustafa and Ahmed Johnson into the group after Johnson turned on then WWF Champion The Undertaker during a tag team match against Faarooq and Kama.^[10] Johnson would be forced out of the group due to a legit injury. He was replaced by Rocky Maivia.^[1] Meanwhile, former Nation members Vega and Crush formed their own rival factions, Los Boricuas (made up entirely of Puerto Rican wrestlers), and The Disciples of Apocalypse (made up entirely of biker wrestlers) respectively. This led to a WWF style "gang war".^[1]

In the following months, the Nation feuded with Los Boricuas and the Disciples of Apocalypse. This feud culminated in a triple threat match between Faarooq, Vega, and Crush who were the leaders of Nation, Los Boricuas, and DOA respectively at Ground Zero, which Vega won.^[11] They restarted their feud with the Legion of Doom, whom the Nation defeated at Badd Blood: In Your House in a 3-on-2 handicap match.^[12] As part of his heel turn, Rocky Maivia shortened and changed his ring name to The Rock. Around this time, Ahmed Johnson restarted the feud with the Nation as well and joined the Legion of Doom and Ken Shamrock. This led to a Survivor Series match at Survivor Series, which the Nation lost to the Legion of Doom, Johnson, and Shamrock.^[13] At D-Generation X: In Your House, The Rock got a shot at the Intercontinental Championship against Stone Cold Steve Austin. In the closing minutes of the match, Austin performed a Stone Cold Stunner on the referee. A second referee came down to count a pin for Austin, although the first referee intended to disqualify Austin.^[14]

As a result of this controversy,^[14] Austin was forced to defend the title against The Rock the next night on Raw Is War. Rock was awarded the Intercontinental Championship, however, after Austin forfeited him the title instead of defending the title in a rematch, delivering a stunner on Rock and took the championship belt back afterward. Austin appeared the next week on Raw is War, taunting Rock and eventually throwing the Intercontinental Championship belt over a bridge, into a river.^[15][16] Ken Shamrock, who was already a rival of the Nation, began feuding with The Rock for the Intercontinental Championship. On the January 12, 1998 episode of Raw Is War, Mark Henry turned heel and joined the Nation, by assaulting his tag team partner, Ken Shamrock, in a tag team match against The Rock and D'Lo Brown.^[17]

Leadership of The Rock and Owen Hart (1998)

On the March 30, 1998 episode of Raw Is War, the night after WrestleMania XIV, The Rock went on to usurp leadership of the Nation from Faarooq, at which point the group permanently dropped "of Domination" from its name and its militant focus.^[1][18] Instead, The Rock's gimmick spread throughout the faction with Nation members taking on considerably more hip characters, the most notable being Kama Mustafa's transformation into The Godfather, D'Lo Brown's "bobble-head" and strut, and a new hip version of the group's entrance theme, that would become associated with The Rock's character and be remixed over and over during the years to become his current theme. The Nation's primary focus by now was that The Rock retained the Intercontinental title "by any means necessary", which was the group's motto. They mainly feuded with Faarooq, who had just been kicked out of the stable. At Mayhem in Manchester, The Rock and D'Lo Brown lost to Ken Shamrock and Owen Hart.^[19] At Unforgiven: In Your House, The Nation lost to Shamrock, Faarooq, and Steve Blackman in a six-man tag team match.^[20] On the April 27 episode of Raw Is War, The Rock and Mark Henry faced Shamrock and Hart in a tag team match that saw Hart attacking Shamrock and joining the Nation as well as being co-leader with The Rock.^[21]

The group then engaged in a rivalry with D-Generation X (DX), which saw the infamous parody DX performed in which they spoofed Nation members; Rock thoroughly humiliating Chyna by alluding to a possible romantic encounter between the two while the rest of DX were held at bay in their locker room by a forklift; a street fight between the two groups that wound up in Triple H being, in particular, singled out by the rest of the group and being beaten down with a ladder after Southern Justice interfered with the match on the Nation's behalf; the ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship between the two at SummerSlam; and X-Pac and Brown trading back and forth the European Championship.^[22][23] The Nation and DX also wrestled in a six-man tag team match at Over the Edge: In Your House, which the Nation won.^[24]

Fall of Nation (1998)

Toward the end of the year, the group showed signs of dissension as Rock's mannerisms and swagger began to catch on with fans. This would lead the WWF to turn The Rock face. Hart left the group when he "injured" Dan Severn following a botched reverse piledriver on Raw Is War the day after Breakdown. The incident was a mimicry of the legit incident in which Hart injured Stone Cold Steve Austin using the same move a year earlier. The guilt from the injury to Severn led Hart to "retire", but then re-surface as The Blue Blazer, effectively ending his affiliation with the Nation. The Godfather would venture out on his own as a fan favorite, bringing with him a bevy of beauties to the ring before his match with any wrestler. Rock would later be assaulted by Brown and Henry in October 1998 which would ultimately be the end of the Nation as a faction. After kicking Godfather out of the group on the Sunday Night Heat episode before Judgment Day: In Your House, Brown and Henry briefly continued using the Nation name, a modified titantron, and music until dropping all three by year's end as they moved on to the tag team division without the Nation moniker.

Aftermath

Shortly after the Nation was disbanded, The Rock decided to run solo, riding his immense rise in popularity. He won the WWF Championship at Survivor Series^[25] and turned heel again by joining Mr. McMahon's Corporation faction.^[26] He would later become one of the greatest superstars in WWF history and he would subsequently enjoy several years of success, not just in the world of wrestling, but also in Hollywood.^[27] Owen Hart would go on to form a successful tag team with Jeff Jarrett, and later revive his Blue Blazer character before his death in May 1999.^[28]

D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry would remain a tag team following the dissolution of the Nation, enjoying moderate success. After Brown attempted to help Henry lose weight, Henry turned on Brown in the summer of 1999, ending the final remnants of the Nation of Domination. Brown would eventually hold both the Intercontinental and European titles at the height of his popularity. Henry would form his "Sexual Chocolate" character and be involved in some angles of questionable quality until the development of his "Silverback" gimmick. The Nation had something of a reunion in late 1999 when D'Lo realigned himself with The Godfather, imitating his pimp gimmick. This alliance lasted all the way into early 2000, when D'Lo turned on The Godfather, thus ending the tag team.

As of now, The Rock and Henry are the only former members still employed by the WWE. Rock is signed on a part-time basis while Henry later held the ECW Championship in 2008 and he won the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011. Godfather was released in 2002 and retired to manage a gentleman's club while occasionally making guest appearances over the years since with his "Ho Train". Faarooq quietly retired after an angle which saw him fired from the SmackDown! brand and subsequently abandoned by his Acolytes Protection Agency (APA) tag team partner John "Bradshaw" Layfield, making occasional appearances since then under his real name of Ron Simmons. Simmons and Brown, who had been released already from WWE in March 2003 and returned in 2008, were officially released (again, in Brown's case) in early January 2009 due to budget cuts. In 2012, Ron Simmons was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame while The Rock headlined WrestleMania XXVIII the following night and WrestleMania 29 one year later. In 2016, The Godfather was also inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Simmons and Layfield.

Members

USWA

• PG-13 (J.C. Ice and Wolfie D)^[1]
• Kareem Olajuwon^[1]
• Sir Mohammad^[1]
• Akeem Mohammad^[1]
• Elijah^[1]
• Shaquille Ali^[1]
• Queen Moisha^[1]
• Randy X^[1]

WWF

• Faarooq (November 18, 1996 – March 30, 1998)^[1]
• Clarence Mason (November 18, 1996 – June 9, 1997)^[1]
• J.C. Ice (November 18, 1996 – March 30, 1997)^[1]
• Wolfie D (November 18, 1996 – March 30, 1997)^[1]
• Crush (December 30, 1996 – June 9, 1997)^[1]
• D'Lo Brown (January 4, 1997 – November 28, 1998)^[1]
• Savio Vega (January 25, 1997 – June 9, 1997)^[1]
• Kama Mustafa/The Godfather (June 16, 1997 – October 18, 1998)^[1]
• Ahmed Johnson (June 16, 1997 – August 4, 1997)^[1]
• Rocky Maivia/The Rock (August 11, 1997 – October 12, 1998)^[1]
• Mark Henry (January 12, 1998 – November 28, 1998)^[1]
• Owen Hart (April 27, 1998 – October 5, 1998)^[1]

Incarnations

• First incarnation (heel): The Nation of Domination
  • Type: stable
  • Active: November 18, 1996 – June 9, 1997
  • Members: Faarooq, Crush, Savio Vega, D'Lo Brown, J.C. Ice, Wolfie D, Clarence Mason^[1]
• Second incarnation (heel): The Nation of Domination
  • Type: stable
  • Active: June 9, 1997 – March 30, 1998
  • Members: Faarooq, Rocky Maivia/The Rock, Kama Mustafa, D'Lo Brown, Ahmed Johnson, Mark Henry^[1]
• Third incarnation (heel): The Nation
  • Type: stable
  • Active: March 30, 1998 – October 18, 1998
  • Members: The Rock, Owen Hart, D'Lo Brown, The Godfather, Mark Henry^[1]
• Fourth Incarnation (heel): The Nation
  • Type: tag team
  • Active: October 18, 1998 – November 28, 1998 ("The Nation" name was dropped; Brown and Henry continued on as a team without it)
  • Members: D'Lo Brown, Mark Henry

In wrestling

• Entrance themes
  • World Wrestling Federation
    • "We Are the Nation (Rap Version)" by Jim Johnston & PG-13 (November 1996–March 1997)
    • "We Are The Nation 97" by Jim Johnston (March 1997–March 1998)
    • "Nation (Know Your Role Quote)" by Jim Johnston (April 1998–November 1998)

Championships and accomplishments

• World Wrestling Federation
  • WWF European Championship (2 times) – D'Lo Brown^[3][22][23]
  • WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 time) – The Rock^[2][16]

References

External links

• Nation of Domination's OWW Profile
• Brian Adams' (Crush) OWW Profile
• The Rock's WWE Profile
• Ron Simmons' (Faarooq) WWE Profile
• Mark Henry's WWE Profile
• Owen Hart's OWW Profile
• Ahmed Johnson's OWW Profile
• D'Lo Brown's OWW Profile
• Savio Vega's OWW Profile
• Godfather's (Kama Mustafa) OWW Profile
• Clarence Mason's OWW Profile
• PG-13's OWW Profile