Wrestling’s Greatest Factions of All Time

wwe.com

10. The Nation of Domination

Key Members: The Rock, Faarooq, The Godfather, Mark Henry & D-Lo Brown

Years Active: 1996-1998

After a string of poor gimmicks in the WWF, Faarooq finally adopted a serious character and attitude. Aligning himself with Clarence Mason, Faarooq formed the Nation of Domination. The group was strongly based around the Nation of Islam and The Black Panthers. The early group consisted of PG-13, Crush and Savio Vega. This formation of the group was around up until WrestleMania 13, when Faarooq decided to make a “Bigger, Badder and Blacker” group.

In the spring of 1997, the group consisted of Faarooq, D-Lo Brown and The Godfather and a young up and comer, Rocky Maivia, who would soon become The Rock. This seemed to be the most iconic version of the group as later the group would also add a young Mark Henry into the fold.

During this time, the group would enter the gang wars feud that consisted of Crush, the D.O.A., Savio Vega and Los Boricuas. Also during this time, The Rock would go on to win the Intercontinental Championship. Along with the Hart Foundation, the group became the most hated faction in the WWF.

This formation of the group stayed intact until after WrestleMania 14. At this point, The Rock was starting to emerge as the star of the group, slowly trying to take control from Faarooq. The Rock continued to undermine Faarooq until the night after WrestleMania when the former, along with the rest of group, attacked Faarooq and kicked him out of the group.

The Rock would rename the group the New Nation and quickly added Owen Hart to the stable. The New Nation would spend the spring and summer of 1998 feuding with another rising star, Triple H, and his group, D-Generation X. During this feud, Triple H and The Rock would start showing signs of becoming future stars. The rivalry would culminate with the two having an iconic Ladder Match in Madison Square Garden at SummerSlam 1998, which Triple H won. Shortly after, The Rock began to shift away from The Nation — starting his quest as a singles star and ending the New Nation’s run.

The Nation were a vital shift from cookie cutter characters to bringing real characters and real issues to the wrestling world. They were a major part of the Attitude Era and they were poised to take over the wrestling world by any means necessary!

Next: Free as a Bird