10 Successful Gimmicks You Forgot WWE Tried Again

This should've worked.

OK, so the upside down American flag was a controversial touch, but the overall premise of Lance Storm, Christian, William Regal and Test coming together as a stable should've been a license to print money. The Un-Americans had a workhorse tag-team (Storm and Regal), the potential for another (Storm and Christian), two workers who were excellent on the mic (Christian and Regal) and a big hoss who could do the heavy lifting (Test).

The Un-Americans began airing their unhappiness with all things USA in June of 2002, but they'd splinter by September. Yes, the foursome lasted around three months. That wasn't anything close to a fair shake. It was especially annoying to fans hoping for a killer heel group in the same mould as The Hart Foundation. Bret, Owen, Davey Boy Smith, Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman earned rave reviews for their anti-American/pro-Canadian stance in 1997, so a precedent had been set for this sort of thing.

Five years later, poor Storm, Christian, Regal and Test watched their own faction fizzle out without reaching the same heights Bret's crew had. They weren't in main events, but they did get to mix it in the World Tag-Team division. That was something - a morsel The Un-Americans had to make the most of. It wouldn't prove to be enough to sustain them.

It's largely forgotten about now, but these anti-American agitators were supposed to carry the same torch The Harts did before them. You'll rarely find anybody putting them in the same breath these days. Maybe the quartet just needed Christian to tell Pittsburgh that they'd stick the hose in Pennsylvania if the US needed an enema, eh?