10 Ideas WWE Blatantly Stole From THEMSELVES
8. Un-Americans = Hart Foundation
Reportedly, the Un-Americans didn't feel comfortable with being anti-American.
Bruce Prichard has revealed, via his podcast, that the gimmick was doomed to fail from the get-go due to reservations from members like Christian and Lance Storm. WWE ended up cutting the Un-American faction short before it really got going, which is a shame.
Their anti-"Old Glory" banter lifted heavily from work Bret Hart and family had done around five years before. WWE's 2002 rework was basically the Hart Foundation from 1997, or at least an attempt to tap into that same patriotic hatred for anybody who questions the good ol' USA.
It would've been interesting to find out just how far creative fancied taking this. Keep in mind, '02 was a wild year creatively (Katie Vick, HLA, publicity stunt same-sex weddings etc etc), so things might've got out of hand rather quickly.
Nobody would ever find out though - the guys working this gig didn't want to be Hart Foundation 2.0.