Formation in WWF (1996–1997) On the October 28, 1996 edition of Monday Night Raw, announcer Jim Ross revealed that
Faarooq had taken
Clarence Mason as his new
manager after Ross recommended Mason's services for a lawsuit against Ahmed Johnson. Ross noted the duo would appear on WWF Livewire that Saturday with "big changes" in store for Faarooq, meaning the dropping of his "Roman gladiator" gimmick. The Nation of Domination
heel faction would make its debut at
Survivor Series, where Faarooq would be accompanied to the ring by Mason and
PG-13 (
J.C. Ice and
Wolfie D). The four men were also accompanied by three actors, Albert Armstrong, Charles Hines, and Richard Beach, whose names were unacknowledged on screen and were supposed to represent other members of the Nation. Faarooq would team with
Vader,
Fake Diesel, and
Fake Razor Ramon in a 4-on-4
Survivor Series elimination match against
Flash Funk,
Jimmy Snuka,
Savio Vega and
Yokozuna, where it ended in a no contest. Many wrestlers joined the heel stable over time including
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. 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 and most notably in a
Chicago Street Fight at
WrestleMania 13 against the
Legion of Doom (
Hawk and
Animal) and Ahmed Johnson. 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. The next night on
Raw, JC Ice and Wolfie D would be removed from the Nation after a loss to the Legion of Doom, the Nation effectively abandoning them to their fate. After losing JC Ice and Wolfie D, Faarooq began challenging
The Undertaker for the
WWF Championship at
King of the Ring, after Faarooq lost the match, he blamed Crush and Vega for the loss. The next night on Raw, Faarooq went to the ring with only Mason, Brown and three bodyguards and announced that due to too much arguing in the group he fired Crush and Vega, he then fired Mason and the bodyguards for not getting involved in the matches In reality, Clarence Mason requested to be taken out of the group because he was feeling uncomfortable with the Nation of Domination storyline and with Faarooq using racist comments in promos. The other reason was because
Vince McMahon wanted more managers to start taking more bumps and getting involved in the matches.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. As a result of this controversy,
Leadership of The Rock (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. 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. At
Unforgiven: In Your House, The Nation lost to Shamrock, Faarooq, and
Steve Blackman in a six-man tag team match. 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. 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.
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 night 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 ==