How Crews and O'Neil's Storyline Could Lead to a New Nation

[Wildcat66]

Recently, Apollo Crews and Titus O'Neil have been involved in a storyline in which Titus has been seeing Apollo after his matches and congratulating him on his wins in his over the top fashion. Crews as of right now does not seem all that impressed with this newfound attention, whether or not this leads to a one on one match will be determined whenever possible.

This storyline may not seem like much for most of us; but to me, I see some potential. There are many ways you could take this story, you can either...

A. Have Crews reject his advances until he faces O'Neil in a match.
B. Have him be forced to join O'Neil as a tag team or as his protégé.
Or C. The route i'm going to talk about, Crews turning heel; joining Titus O'Neil and starting a new Nation of Domination.

In my opinion, this would be a very interesting route for WWE to take with this storyline. Not only does Titus O'Neil finally get out of his recent run in the doghouse and push him back in the front light; it also gives Crews a change of character, something he has needed for quite some time.

The storyline would be pretty simple, Crews and O'Neil realize that they've been held back by 'the man' because racism and decide to take business into their own hands. The next few weeks, they attack superstars on RAW for no reason, eventually leading to a PPV match in which Crews and O'Neil win and declare that a new Nation of Domination has begun.

So who could be in this new Nation of Domination?: Mark Henry is the only man still in WWE to be a part of the original Nation of Domination, putting him in for a veteran spot would give him one last run in the spotlight before he inevitably retires from the sport.

R-Truth could also fit this spot, as he has been around for many years and has only been seriously pushed from 2009-2011. Some people out of WWE remember Truth once wrestled as one of TNA's biggest heels in their early days. Putting him in the new NoD would give him a chance to push Truth as a serious contender one more time.

Cedric Alexander would take the 'D-Lo Brown' role as a future star of WWE, he is a great athlete with solid charisma and a humble background. Despite a strong performance in the CC, he hasn't been treated with the same respect in his run in WWE; this would fix the problem instantly.

And to round out the new Nation, something the original did not have. A woman in their ranks, be it either Sasha Banks or Nia Jax. Maybe more Sasha than Nia, as Nia seems more like the person who would be happy to fight alone. Sasha would fit 'The Rock' role, the former fan favorite who turned to the dark side when her career started to stagnate.

Let me be clear; i'm not a genius. And this idea is admittedly unlikely, but if this storyline pans out like this; not only would it revitalize careers, but it would also create new stars that will stick around for a very long time to come.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

A Nation of Domination gimmick won't work in WWE today because WWE's too high profile. I'll address the PG aspect in a bit, but first I think it's also important to note that WWE's success can be a double edged sword when it comes to doing particularly edgy storylines. The Nation of Domination in the Attitude Era was essentially a Black Panther inspired faction and it played off of racial tensions; that's something WWE can't remotely get away with doing because everyone from entertainment media, political pundits, dirt sheet writers and generally people who have nothing better to do but complain online would crucify WWE for what many of them would almost certainly consider exploiting racial tensions to make money. WWE is sometimes held to a different standard than traditional TV programming; extreme violence, harsh language, sexual assault, racial slurs, etc. frequently pop up on TV and it's generally viewed as fine and dandy but a lot of people shit a solid gold brick whenever WWE tries to do anything edgy or controversial. Raw and SmackDown Live are scripted, live TV programming and that makes it too different to have the same standards applied to it for some damn reason. Remember the "Real Americans" of Jack Swagger & Zeb Coulter? Remember Punk & Heyman "mocking" Jerry Lawler's heart attack or "disrespecting" Paul Bearer's memory? A Nation of Domination inspired gimmick would work fine on the indy scene, in TNA or in ROH because they don't even register as a blip on the radar when it comes to people outside of wrestling knowing what they're doing.

I mentioned the PG thing earlier and it holds true. There cannot be a PG black power faction because it'll come off as extremely cheesy and watered down. Even still, I've little doubt that there'd be complaints that WWE was trying to milk racial tensions in order to make some money. TV executives at NBC Universal will get nervous, sponsors will withdraw their advertising even if the companies themselves wouldn't see a thing wrong with the angle. In the end, all it'd do is cost WWE a lot of money and bring in undeserved hate from the press and people who're just too damn dumb to recognize that it's just as fake as anything else on television.

 

[The Perfect Max]

Yeah I doubt that's what's happening to be honest. I'd be incredibly shocked if that's the direction they are going in.

I've always found it fascinating how wrestling fans seems so keen to recreate things that have happened before when we should all be about moving forward and doing something new. A reworked version of this and a recreation of that. I understand that The Nation of Domination was a great stable in the 1990s, but it's come and gone and happened. We should all be looking to getting something new on our screens that we haven't seen before. That's what makes things great. I'm not having a go or being sarcastic or trying to be funny, I'm just making an observation. I'm also not mocking your idea either. It's clearly a well thought out concept.

I definitely think some of these guys need some major overhauling though. Creatively all but Sasha Banks are just floating around and doing nothing. I'm not sure if I'm necessarily interested to see where this thing with Apollo Crews and Titus O'Neil is going. But it's obviously for a reason and we shall find that out pretty soon, or it will be dropped like it never happened.

On a side note, with how PC WWE like to be these days, I can't possibly imagine a stable like this working. The Nation worked at the time BECAUSE of the times. Today, it wouldn't pass. At least I can't imagine it would.

 

[Wildcat66]

A Nation of Domination gimmick won't work in WWE today because WWE's too high profile. I'll address the PG aspect in a bit, but first I think it's also important to note that WWE's success can be a double edged sword when it comes to doing particularly edgy storylines. The Nation of Domination in the Attitude Era was essentially a Black Panther inspired faction and it played off of racial tensions; that's something WWE can't remotely get away with doing because everyone from entertainment media, political pundits, dirt sheet writers and generally people who have nothing better to do but complain online would crucify WWE for what many of them would almost certainly consider exploiting racial tensions to make money. WWE is sometimes held to a different standard than traditional TV programming; extreme violence, harsh language, sexual assault, racial slurs, etc. frequently pop up on TV and it's generally viewed as fine and dandy but a lot of people shit a solid gold brick whenever WWE tries to do anything edgy or controversial. Remember the "Real Americans" of Jack Swagger & Zeb Coulter? Remember Punk & Heyman "mocking" Jerry Lawler's heart attack or "disrespecting" Paul Bearer's memory? A Nation of Domination inspired gimmick would work fine on the indy scene, in TNA or in ROH because they don't even register as a blip on the radar when it comes to people outside of wrestling knowing what they're doing.

I mentioned the PG thing earlier and it holds true. There cannot be a PG black power faction because it'll come off as extremely cheesy and watered down. Even still, I've little doubt that there'd be complaints that WWE was trying to milk racial tensions in order to make some money.

That's why I felt that this would be very unlikely. Being PG, you have to remember that you're catering to all ages not just adults. Because of this, some things have to be restricted. This would be one of them. As interesting as this idea sounds, it probably isn't going to happen.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

Simply, no. It would feel forced, especially if they go down the "being held down because of our color" route. last year we had 5 blacks as champion at The same time, which was huge.
They weren't the world champion or in the main event, but lets be serious this group wouldn't be either.

I do like the names you mention though. Personally I would prefer Titus becoming a manager and just managing one or two of the mentioned stars.
Build this storyline with Crews up, eventually ending with Titus becoming his manager. Maybe even give Crews an IC championship reign. After a couple months, the Titus brand begins to expand and get a new agent in the form of Cedrick Alexander.

 

[ISkye]

Honestly have seen the "New Nation of Domination!?" thing quite a bit off and on through the last 2 years or so. I really don't see this happening again considering their current product and an overall glance just at the ups and downs of the last decade entirely. It's a cool idea and all and if it was done right I'm sure I'd get behind the actual execution. At the same time there are plenty of other things I'd rather see that aren't so far away, let alone things that are nothing short of pure fantasy. No real thoughts on who I'd want in it or what I'd want out of them. I just can't picture it in the modern WWE landscape as a fan or from the side of the booking / creative end. I'd take a pretty heavy guess at saying the business side alone is the biggest roadblock to prevent this from happening in any form in the foreseeable future.

I do enjoy the idea of revitalizing Crews, Titus, Henry, and even R-Truth. Looking at New Day reference hip-hop and american black culture consistently on TV might show a little bit of room for a Stable like that. I think if you could partner some of these guys together and have that being the edge instead of a focal point you could push it and it be fine. They're literally doing something similar on the main program with Jinder and The Bollywood Boyz on Smackdown. Even that has being a foreigner as the actual focal point and he is somehow the heel and partnered with other people of Indian descent for it. It's a leap or whatever, but I imagine some group of pro-wrestlers and people booking would like to represent their culture / heritage collectively in a stable. f you could do it, but not make it over the top or racist I guess it could happen. Especially considering New Day, Banks, Titus, etc aren't scared to share their heritage, etc on anything from Press to live TV Promos.

Eh, I don't know. It's whatever. I like the ideas you had, but as stated there is plenty of apparent as well as assumed reason as to why it wouldn't happen any time soon. Would enjoy seeing something like this that is good to guys / women who are kind of displaced or floundering. Would be new, different, and at least be interesting to see whether that be for good or bad.

Didn't grow up seeing anything like Nation or really any wrestler that was not Asian or white for that matter. So I probably have a few gaps in my logic when I think about this that others probably already have instilled. The more I think about it the more I like the idea, but I'm just not sure how or why they would want this at this point in time. Even despite all things I just don't see the idea popping up at a table of guys making a majority of the creative choices. It is a neat thing to think about and discuss though to say the least.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Why? Because they're black? WWE needs to get more creative. Ethnic and race-based gimmicks are old hat.

If you're going to rehash an old race based gimmick, do it with white dudes and make them "The Trump Nation". That would at least be topical.

 

[Navi]

Weren't they going to try something like this with New Day when they first got together and the whole thing sort of fell apart.

Titus O'Neal does nothing for me and they've done nothing for him really. Since the break up of the PTP, what has the guy done? He tried to join New Day, that was lame. That's quite honestly the only thing I can think of....oh other than teaming with another lame team in the Shining Stars for a little while.

Same sort of goes for Apollo Crews. Creative has done nothing for him either since he got called up from NXT. He's one of the only wrestlers on the roster I can think of that has no gimmick to speak of. He's a happy guy and that's about it. He's well built and with the proper gimmick might be okay, but he needs the gimmick first. The NOD is not the gimmick for him, it just doesn't suit him at all.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

That's opening post is really long winded so I didn't read it but this isn't the formation of a new Nation. This is WWE pairing two directionless black people together, be that as a team or enemies.

 

[therockiswwf]

Weren't they going to try something like this with New Day when they first got together and the whole thing sort of fell apart.

The New Day being a version of the Nation was an incorrect rumor. New Day themselves dispelled it. They weren't even put together by creative. They got together themselves and started pitching stuff to Vince.

I have no idea why people want the Nation to return. Rock was really the only good part of it. Otherwise they didn't really do much. I have no idea where people got this notion that the NoD was anything great.

 

[Navi]

The New Day being a version of the Nation was an incorrect rumor. New Day themselves dispelled it. They weren't even put together by creative. They got together themselves and started pitching stuff to Vince.

I have no idea why people want the Nation to return. Rock was really the only good part of it. Otherwise they didn't really do much. I have no idea where people got this notion that the NoD was anything great.

Oh okay I didn't know that they dispelled it. I do remember reading, probably here on some thread they would be a new NOD. That went tits up. Then they were some choir gospel thingy, again tits up. What they ended up being with the Booty's O's not only pleased the audience but must have pleased Vince as well. They made a lot of money for the WWE, if you judge by all the shirts in the audience, but were given the honour of breaking the tag team record.

As for the OP yea haven't changed my mind, Apollo Crews and Titus O'Neal don't fit a NOD blueprint.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I don't see why would you bring back The Nation of Domination really outside it's 1998 Reboot when The Rock too over as the leader, the stable, for the most part, has been more an after thought and a footnote in Wrestling history. Even in the attitude era the stable was more about The Rock than anything. When people say 1997 they don't think of the NOD they think of DX, Bret Hart's anti-USA heel turn, and the rise of Austin.

Plus the other problem is that The Nation really had no identity. When Farooq formed it, it was based on The Nation of Islam, then after a few months it was portrayed as a "gang with a criminal element (according to Shamrock and his promo)", then it changed again when The Rock took over as the leader.

So really is no reason to bring back a stable that really had no common thread throughout it's various phases.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Simply, no. It would feel forced, especially if they go down the "being held down because of our color" route. last year we had 5 blacks as champion at The same time, which was huge.
They weren't the world champion or in the main event, but lets be serious this group wouldn't be either.

Good point, but I think that Roman Reigns could qualify as he was WWE Champion for 77 days in 2016. While Roman Reigns isn't black, at least that I'm aware of, he's not Caucasian either and I think it's important to point out, because we all have a tendency to do this at times, that blacks and Hispanics aren't the only people of color and racial minorities around. They make up most of the non-Caucasian minority population, but not all of it.

But yeah, it's also just not worth the headache that this would almost certainly cause.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

Just because you have a black team, doesn't AUTOMATICALLY mean it should be the Nation of Domination. People (unsurprisingly) said the same thing when the New Day formed, and we mad when they were this new gimmick called the New Day instead of being called the Nation. Eventually, the New Day gimmick evolved. Thanks to the WWE for once giving the wrestlers the freedom to make it their own and keeping their finger on the pulse of the fans, the New Day became one of the hottest acts in the company. It still is.

So yes, I like the idea of every wrestler, even the ones at the very bottom of the card like Titus and Apollo, having a character and being involved in some kind of angle. But that does NOT mean they just have to be the NOD. Make them a team if you want, but allow them to have their own unique identity.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

Just no.

The New Day was originally conceived as a Nation of Domination type stable, but succeeded by just being themselves.

I'd like to see Titus and Crews move into a heel partnership. Unfortunately the current angle seems poised to retread Titus' feud with New Day where they just eventually started beating on him. No one wants to see face Crews vs Titus brand.

I'd like to see Titus O'Neil morph into Apollo's manager. Titus is no spring chicken, he turns 40 this month. imagine him working as a heat magnet for Apollo all while also fulfilling the role of the heavy.

We don't need another tag team, the focus should be on Apollo's incredible ring talents as a singles competitor while Titus can still have a starring role, and even wrestle occasionally.

Don't make Titus a Malcolm X parody. Be black and proud, but don't overuse the race thing for heat. They can drop the Titus Brand thing and make it all about Apollo, his endorsement deals, etc. I'd like to see Titus introduce a tablet computer as a foreign object. He could be making deals at ringside then break it over someone's head to give Apollo the dirty win.

Titus working as an agent for Apollo would be a much more welcome concept then Apollo turning on him, let alone a new NOD.

 

[therockiswwf]

The New Day was originally conceived as a Nation of Domination type stable, but succeeded by just being themselves.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, New Day being a version of the Nation was an incorrect rumor. They got together themselves and pitched stuff to Vince. Vince eventually put them on as preachers (he thought this would get over big, New Day knew it wouldn't work but accepted to get on TV).

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

Today's WWE will never do any angle that even skims the surface of what the Nation represented. Back then, the company embraced controversy. They were in a ratings war with WCW and needed to push the envelope.

Now they're the only game in town, they're sitting pretty putting out harmless (albeit un-entertaining) television, and they basically want to be all things to all people and having a group of militant African-Americans doesn't fit into the "universe" they have created.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, New Day being a version of the Nation was an incorrect rumor. They got together themselves and pitched stuff to Vince. Vince eventually put them on as preachers (he thought this would get over big, New Day knew it wouldn't work but accepted to get on TV).

You're right. A new version of the nation wasn't exactly how they were conceived. Prior to the preacher gimmick, Woods, Kingston, and E appeared on WWE tv as an unnamed faction with heel proclivities.

Woods showed up on Raw in a suit and glasses, looking a bit like Malcolm X. I think they had a match on main event and didn't appear again until a few months later in the vignettes for what would become New Day.

It may have never been intended to be a new Nation, but it had some racially charged undertones before it (rightfully) vanished and came back as New Day.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Just because you have a black team, doesn't AUTOMATICALLY mean it should be the Nation of Domination.

True and the funny part the NOD wasn't even an all black stable. The first NOD had 3 white (PG-13 and Crush) and a Hispanic (Savio Vega) Wrestler. Then when Faarooq reformed the group it all the members were black but eventually took brought in The Rock (who was half Samoan and most people associate him as a Samoan anyways) then when The Rock took over as the leader Owen Hart became the co-Leader with The Rock.

So yeah I agree no reason to for Black wrestlers to reform The Nation considering that wasn't even a consistent identity in the group.

Unless you want Natalya to lead the group

 

[multiverseman.com]

How about the idea that black wrestlers talking to each other or teaming together doesn't have to have anything to do with creating a fake black panther movement to take on "the man"? No more racial gimmickry for the sake of racial gimmickry.

Be done with that crap.

 

[J.D Lethal]

Weren't they going to try something like this with New Day when they first got together and the whole thing sort of fell apart.

Yes actually it was supposed to originally be a New age NOD, but people thought it would be offensive....and once again Yea it wouldnt work. As a black male I would love a NOD but the issues that would have to be tackled by this NOD would bring nothing but controversy and nothing but drama if it was done right or wrong. Add on if the NOD was Jobbed out that could set black fans off... My advice is this as guy older latching on to a young guys fame.

 

[therockiswwf]

Yes actually it was supposed to originally be a New age NOD, but people thought it would be offensive....and once again Yea it wouldnt work. As a black male I would love a NOD but the issues that would have to be tackled by this NOD would bring nothing but controversy and nothing but drama if it was done right or wrong. Add on if the NOD was Jobbed out that could set black fans off... My advice is this as guy older latching on to a young guys fame.

Holy crap. For the 100th time:

New Day was never supposed to be a new age NOD. New Day themselves have confirmed that there was never one mention of NOD and they were never supposed to be anything remotely related to it. Not in their current gimmick. Not in the preacher one. Not in the one where they were on TV for a week.

 

[Glacier]

They would be more like Men On A Mission than NOD.

"Picking Up titles and thats a fact,
Men On A Mission is the ultimate act"

 

[Xemmy]

Okay. I didn't even bother reading. But. Why? Why is it, when black people get together, they're always joining the Black Panther Wrestling Party? People have thought this every time when black guys get together.

Now in fairness, I see the appeal. People miss the old days. The Nation was a good faction with an actual reason for being a thing. But it wouldn't work now. And the "I'm discriminated against because I'm a minority, now hate me for having a valid argument" thing just
...It just makes America look bad every time. I look back at Mohammad Hassan and think "wow, Americans are bad people". This thing needs to stay in fantasy land. Black guys can do shit without being a racist stereotype whether it's The Nation or Crime Time.
Ask the New Day for proof of that.

I admit, I've entertained the idea in my head before, and I like it. Doesn't mean it would work out well. Especially given the situation in our country being highlighted in the last couple of years.