Forever Heel: How is Vince McMahon Avoiding a Chicago Mark Riot Without CM Punk? And We Talk Early Nation of Domination

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Okay today has some good news. Well if you like CH Punk its good news. I am now free from work and will be checking my comments on Sundays and Thursdays. So if you need to leave me a pipe bomb, and call me Twinkie tits, I’m here. Remember, I’m the Punk that thinks every wrestler is great. We are going to jokingly cover this Monday’s Raw in Chicago nonsense, and then take a serious look at the early years of the Nation of Domination.

Chicago Will Riot If CM Punk Doesn’t Show:

This riot will be much worse than the Steve Blackman massacre, where the police had to fire upon thousands of Steve Blackman fans. The fans had demanded be given a WWE title run, but upon seeing the belt on Kurt Angle, the angry fans turned into a dangerous mob. Vince had to finally send Al Snow to Blackman’s home, and end his career. See this is what I’m concerned will happen in Chicago. I’ve decided to send WWE some suggestions that will appease the Chicago crowd.

-First have Mike Adamle host Raw from Chicago. He’s a local hero.

1) Daniel Bryan VS Dolph Ziggler in a wedding gown match.

2)Randy Orton VS Big Show in a 90 minute iron man match.

3) Hire AJ Styles to lose to AJ Lee.

4) The Shield VS The Wyatts in an over the top rope battle royale that takes place in The Elimination Chamber.

5) Have Triple H give a long promo about Triple H.

6) Have Brock take on Undertaker in a 30 minute iron man…dance off.

7) Induct Vince Russo into the WWE Hall of Fame.

8) Close the show by telling fans that CM Punk will be stripped of all title reigns. The record books will now say that John Cena held the belt for 434 days.

Speaking of what’s best for business, how about that Ahmed Johnson? Well at one point Ahmed was both chosen by WWE to be their Big Man, and the fans loved him. He was given the friendship rub by HBK, and beat Goldust for the Intercontinental Title. Ahmed and HBK even tagged together a few times (on TV and with the babes). The feeling in WWE was that Ahmed needed his own personal rival. So the plan was for Ahmed and HBK to get a Tag Title shot against the Smokin Gunns. During the match Ahmed’s customized enemy would début, and attack Johnson.

The New Enemy:  The new enemy was Ron Simmons now called Farooq Asad. At this point Farooq was said to have been brought in by Sunny. Honestly Farooq’s goofy gladiator gear wasn’t too far off his late WCW and ECW appearances. Simmons had always gone for a badass Super Fly look, and by 1996 he evolved into a blue gladiator. Farooq was created to make Ahmed to have a serious rivalry, and something to fight.  Farooq was going to face Ahmed for the IC belt at Summerslam, and lose. Farooq would then return with The Nation of Domination at his side and win the IC Championship. What actually happened was that Ahmed Johnson had a real medical problem and was removed from the active roster for months. This left The Nation of Domination and Farooq without their mortal enemy. Ahmed ended up giving up the IC belt, and the title was put into a tournament for a new intercontinental Champ. The new champ ended up being Marc Mero. It would be decided that The Nation of Domination would début at Survivor Series 1996, and wait for Ahmed to return while Farooq would egg on Johnson into a match.

Birth of a Nation: The funny thing about The Nation of Domination was that its first mention was on the USWA TV show. PG-13 would announce that The NOD is coming to Survivor Series ’96. PG-13 would mention the group being run by their new leader, Farooq. They warned that The Nation would win “by any means necessary”, they then gave a Nation Salute (Black Power Fist). The next night at WWE Survivor Series, Farooq debuted The Nation. It consisted of Farooq, Clarence Mason, Crush, PG-13, and a trillion black guys in bow ties. It was awesome. Still Ahmed’s return was about two months away, so Farooq was put into a classic Survivor Series match which ended in everyone being disqualified. The Nation matches were great to. One member would face his opponent while the rest of The Nation would surround the ring. They ringside members would distract and quietly cheat to help their fellow Nation member. This is actually a real tactic used by certain radical groups in real life, and can really intimidate someone’s political enemies, so this was a great way to get heat.

The Bulldog and Owen: At the time Clarence Mason managed Farooq and The Nation, Mason was also managing the Tag Team Champions of British Bulldog and Owen Hart. These two groups never really interacted on purpose, and by WrestleMania 13, Bulldog, and Owen were on their own.

The First Farooq VS Ahmed Match: Finally Ahmed returned to take on Farooq in a match at Royal Rumble 1997. This match was pretty bad even by my standards, and Johnson hadn’t shed his ring rust, despite what JR tells us. The match ended in a DQ for Farooq because Crush decide to enter the ring and attack Ahmed right in front of the ref. Farooq would later rant in the locker room and throw-out the only female NOD member, and another nameless black Nation follower. I’m pretty sure after this match Vince gave up on Ahmed Johnson, but still wanted to be sure.

USWA Nation: The Tag Team of PG-13 ran the USWA version of the Nation, this faction included Jacqueline, Randy Hales (known as Randy X now), Sir Mo (now Sir Mohammed) , Brakkus, and of course Tracy Smothers. Despite what Wikipedia says this was a dominate heel faction in Memphis, and fans hated them. They lasted until Spring of ’97, when The WWE Nation threw out PG-13. PG-13 had lost a squash match against the Legion of Doom. Which was bullshit because PG-13 was a solid team.

Nation of Flounderingation: When the Ahmed match happened people were left underwhelmed. So in the swearve of the century Savio Vega turned on Ahmed Johnson and joined the Nation of Domination. This led to the nation’s new gimmick of being involved in endless 6-man tag team matches. That scenario would continue in all incarnations of the Nation of Domination. We didn’t get Ahmed Johnson VS Farooq for Farooq’s IC belt that Ahmed had chased since 1996 at Mania. We got Savio, Farooq, and Crush VS LOD, and Ahmed Johnson in a Chicago Street Fight at WrestleMania 13. For some reason we all expected a ECW style death match, but we got the Playskool version from WWE.

The Farooq VS Undertaker: King of the Ring 1997’s main event was WWE Champion, Undertaker versus Farooq. The problem for the Nation here was that The Nation was an after thought. The fans cared more about Steve Austin VS The Hart Foundation, and it seemed that Vince cared more about pushing an Undertaker storyline where Paul Bearer had forced Undertaker to be his client. Taker beat Farooq ,but then Bearer ordered Undertaker to keep attacking Farooq. Of all people, Ahmed Johnson would come to Farooq’s aid, setting up Ahmed against Undertaker for the WWE Title at Canadian Stampede in July. By July Ahmed had hurt himself again, and Farooq had fired the whole Nation and replaced them with bigger blacker guys. The Canadian Stampede main event spot would go to Vader, but no one cared because the real main event was Team Austin VS The Hart Foundation, and Bruce Hart in a 10 man tag match. Still The Nation of Domination will always be CH Punk’s favorite faction. By any means necessary !!!

 

 

CH Punk comes from Beverly Hills, California; but considers himself a citizen of the World. Punk also turned heel at age 5, after receiving a LJN Iron Sheik figure for Christmas. On that day he vowed he would stuff his Sheik figure up Hulk Hogan's nose, to ruin Hulkamania. By 1995 Hogan had already ruined it without CH's help.