[1997-10-27-WWF-Raw] The Nation, DX and Hart Foundation

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The Nation are out to talk about the locker room vandalism. Vince apologizes on behalf of the WWF, but Faarooq isn't happy with that. The Rock gets mic time. The Nation wants the Harts in the ring next week. The Hart Foundation come out, and Bret accepts the challenge but also explains that there is no racial prejudice in Canada. Bret points out that it's obvious Shawn and Hunter are the ones behind this, which prompts a Titantron run-in from DX. Shawn calls Bret the Grand Wizard and a racist. HHH says their first choice for outfits was white sheets. DX accuses the Harts of using the n-word, which creates a brawl in Tulsa. Crazy scene with tons of heat, but I really, really hate this. It feels like a way to personally smear Bret on the way out the door.

[Kevin Ridge]

Vince tries to apologize on behalf of the WWF for the locker room vandalism. Faarooq ain’t have it. McMahon doesn’t want to talk about the past and goes to interview The Rock. Nice segway! I don’t care for the racism angle itself but Rock is getting comfortable on the mic. Bret refers to the NOD as brothers. Harts will accept any type of match. The fans boos a country that has no racial prejudice. Wow, Bret is the Grand Wizard and the rest of the Harts are the Klan according to Michaels. So the NOD is the faces. Harts are tweeners for looking so stupid. DX is the clear heels in all this. I hate Shawn.

[soup23]

Still a lot of factions going at it two weeks out from Survivor Series. DX manipulating the Nation into attacking the Harts shows them getting one over on everyone again. This is probably Rocky's best promo to date.

[Robert S]

This whole angle makes the Nation look really stupid. I mean how could they have believed that someone vandalizing their locker room would leave clues like "Canada rulz"?

 

This is the first time I noticed that the Nation trying to use "By any means necessary" as a catchphrase. Was this a one-time-only thing or did they use that before and/or after as well?

[PeteF3]

More than the smearing of Bret and the Hart Foundation, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of Faarooq being vociferously booed for stating facts about 400 years of racial discrimination in the U.S. I mean, all the great villains tend to be "right" to some degree, but this seems more hamfisted than the Gangstas' SMW stuff. Rock gets some mic time, and is quickly becoming an equal to Faarooq in the NOD pecking order. Faarooq challenges the Harts to a match for "next week"--after 18 years of "tonight, in this very ring..." that was a slight jolt. But they were still sticking to a semblance of a predetermined show format until the Austin-Vince stuff really ramped up. This all gets great heat but I don't quite get the idea of having 3 hated factions all warring with each other.

[Exposer]

The Nation come out to discuss the hate crime last week. Faarooq cuts an awesome promo again about racism in the WWF. He challenges the Hart Foundation to a match next on behalf of The Nation. The HF come out & accept the challenge. Bret says in Canada there is no racism & defends HF saying it's obvious DX are the ones who vandalized their locker room & are trying to cause dissension between the groups. DX show up on the tron. Shawn & Hunter make KKK jokes & say the Hart Foundation are clan members. This actually happened. They then claim HF used the n word which angers The Nation & they run up the aisle & brawl with HF. Hot segment, but the clan stuff is stupid as hell.