The Nation of Domination is a Professional Wrestling Power Stable that began in USWA in 1996 before being adopted by the then WWF at the tail end of the New Generation Era during and ended in mid-1998. The USWA version was lead by white rappers PG-13. The WWF version was formed and led by Faarooq, the NOD was a black supremacist-themed group with similar themes to the New Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam.
The original WWF members were Faarooq, Clarence Mason and PG-13, joined later by Crush, Savio Vega and various nameless Mooks, with one devoted disciple standing out by the name of D'Lo Brown.
A loss to The Undertaker, in part due to Crush and Vega's bickering, caused Faarooq to fire the entire group except for D'Lo. Deciding that he wanted a "Bigger, Badder, Better and Blacker" NOD, Faarooq recruited Kama Mustafa, Ahmed Johnson (before getting kicked out due to Faarooq's ego and his own injuries), Rocky Maivia and eventually Mark Henry. Vega and Crush would form their own stables, Los Boricuas and Disciples of Apocalypse respectively, creating the "Gang Wars" storyline.
After WrestleMania XIV, Faarooq's role as leader was usurped by Maivia, now going by "the Rock", and he was attacked and kicked out by the other members. The group dropped the militant attitudes and renamed themselves The Nation. Kama would become The Godfather and Owen Hart would become a member.
Owen would leave the Nation months later and "retire" after he injured Dan Severn in a match. D'Lo and Henry, both jealous of the Rock and the Godfather's popularity with the fans, would kick both of them out a week later. The Nation was no more and D'Lo and Henry's partnership ended with Henry turning Heel on D'Lo months later.
Nation Tropes:
- "Angry Black Man" Stereotype: A whole Power Stable of them. These traits became more downplayed under the Rock's leadership, under which its members became more Lighter and Softer and this trope was wholly subverted after Owen Hart joined.
- Arch-Enemy: Under Faarooq's leadership, it was Ahmed Johnson. Under the Rock's, it was D-Generation X. The Disciples of Apocalypse and the Los Boricuas overall due to the group leaders being former nation members.
- Ascended Extra: D-Lo initially started as one of the nameless suits who followed the Nation around and didn't do anything. Then he started doing physical interference. Then he was added to the stable. Then after spending some time as a jobber-to-the-stars, he was abruptly pushed to the upper midcard.
- Boastful Rap/"Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The theme song of the stable was this at first with PG-13 doing the rapping.
- Call-Back: One of the most famous Nation promos involved this. In one episode of Raw in 1998
, The Rock decides to give Faarooq, Kama, Henry, and D'Lo gifts. Much to their surprise, Rock's gift turns out to be a Rolex watch... except for Faarooq, who got a portrait of The Rock◊ as a gift. This got repeated when Simmons, Godfather, and Henry reunited for a Table For Three segment in 2017. Mid-way during their talk, someone from the WWE crew came to give them gifts that came from "DJ", which Henry correctly assumes it's from The Rock.note Godfather and Henry got yet another Rolex watches, while Simmons got another picture of The Rock. Their reaction when they found out what Simmons got from The Rock is priceless. - Catchphrase: Under Faarooq's leadership - "By any means necessary."
- Defacement Insult: During a storyline in the 90s, the Nation returned to their dressing room after a match to find it ransacked and racial slurs spraypainted all over the walls. The Nation believed that The Hart Foundation were to blame, but, as it turned out, it was actually D-Generation X trying to frame the Harts and thus turn the Nation against them.
- Dragon-in-Chief/The Starscream: The Rock was not only slowly getting over with the fans as Faarooq's Dragon but eventually got into the ear of the other members. He also was the one to bring Mark Henry into the Nation without Faarooq's permission. It was all these factors, along with feeling that Faarooq was holding him back that he decided to betray Faarooq.
- Dragon Ascendant: What the Rock becomes after ousting Faarooq.
- After Owen left, D'Lo and Mark Henry decide to do this to the Rock.
- Evil Costume Switch: For those who ended doing a Face–Heel Turn to join the NOD (Vega, Henry, the Rock), they ditched the bright colored costumes and switched to primarily black.
- Evil Minion: Randy Hales wrestled his fair share of matches, but "Randy X" mostly served as a manager to the group, and not the kind of manager who calls shots or even has much influence over his clients.
- Gang of Hats: Averted at first as the gang was more of a Five-Token Band with sightly different gimmicks. After the Nation became the New Nation, all their members were (at least partially) black men as black supremacists (at least until Faarooq was kicked out).
- He Who Fights Monsters: Ahmed Johnson feuded with Faarooq even before the NOD was formed but he would join the group when Faarooq fired the original members.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: By firing Savio Vega and Crush, Faarooq inadvertently caused the formation of both the Los Boricuas (led by Vega) and the Disciples of Apocalypse (led by Crush), starting the Gang Wars.
- Malcolm Xerox: Faarooq and Clarence Mason both embody traits of the civil rights leader. Mason was a carbon copy of X with a dusting of Johnnie Cochran on top.
- My New Gift Is Lame: The Nation gift segments. Everyone got themselves Rolex watches from The Rock... except Faarooq/Ron Simmons, who always got a picture of The Rock in both instances.
- Non-Action Guy: Mason for the most part, but also PG-13 who were wrestlers who rarely ever wrestled. The black men in nice suits who also followed the Nation around are also heavily implied to be the Nation's non-wrestling members.
- Power Stable
- For the original WWF lineup, Farooq was The Leader, Savio Vega and Crush were The Enforcers, and PG-13 and Clarence Mason were the Hangers On. There was no Heir Apparent.
- For the second, Farooq was again The Leader, Rocky Maivia was the Heir Apparent, Kama was The Enforcer, and Ahmed Johnson was The Muscle. D-Lo started out as The Point Man, and was promoted to Muscle after Johnson left the stable.
- In the Rock's version, The Rock was The Leader, D-Lo and Owen Hart were the Heirs Apparent, Kama was still The Enforcer, and Mark Henry was The Muscle.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: PG-13, half-decent white rappers in a militant pro-black stable.In fact, they were the starters of the so-called militant black stable, not that WWF let anyone know it. Also Shaquille Ali, AKA Tracy Smothers, Elijah, Randy X and Brakkus, the white men who didn't make the jump from USWA.
- Sassy Black Woman: Jacqueline, ahem, "QUEEN MOESHA", in the USWA branch. Though she spent at least as much time feuding with PG-13 as she did as a member of their group.
- Scary Black Man: All of the black wrestlers that were in the stable count, at least until Rocky took over the group. Under him, Kama became the flashy pimp "The Godfather" while D'Lo Brown start bobbing his head.
- Small Role, Big Impact:
- Faarooq inviting in
The Scrappy, Rocky Maivia. The young athlete would undergo a Face–Heel Turn and transform into The Rock, who would a) depose Farooq as leader, b) become one of the two biggest stars of the Attitude Era, c) become a multi-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and (d) transition into an arguably even more successful acting career. - When Rocky added Owen Hart into The Nation, it was to get backup in his feud with D-Generation X. This would lead to one of the biggest and most reoccuring rivalries in WWE history, between The Rock and Triple H.
- Faarooq inviting in
- Spiritual Successor
- The Get Along Gang are one for the USWA group, even though they don't do the Malcolm Xerox parody since it's still a white rapper trying to impress his black friends.
- "Judge" Jeff G. Bailey had an odd mix of the USWA and WWF versions in NWA Wildside centered around Ron Killings but lead of course by himself acting basically as a white Clarence Mason. It was the prototype to the NWA Elite, which ended up being very different from any version of The Nation, but is nonetheless rooted in two.
- In 2020 it was rumoured that WWE was actually considering bringing back the Nation of Domination, which initially appeared to be confirmed when Ron Simmons and Mark Henry appeared on backstage segments talking with the African-American wrestlers on the roster apparenty for no reason, but with the Black Lives Matter controversy that dominated much of the year, at least someone was able to convince Vince that this would be
a really, really bad idea. Instead, after his return to WWE in the Royal Rumble that year, MVP founded The Hurt Business, with himself leading the team of Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander, which was perceived as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for the Nation revival, but also came to be considered one of the best acts in the company.
- Token White: Owen Hart, who joined at a time where the group had all black members.
- Villain Song: We are the nation, a live and in color! Don't dis the man, cause we'll bum rush your mother! Listen to what I'm saying, it's for real not playing! Faarooq is the man, hit your knees and start praying!
- White Gangbangers: The wrestler/rapper duo of PG-13 in the group's first incarnation.
- You Have Failed Me: The reason Faarooq fired most of the Nation's original WWF members.
