10 Times WWE Asked You To Blindly Hate Foreigners
5. The Hart Foundation
Bret Hart's 1997 heel turn was one of the most celebrated runs in company history, but WWE effectively stirred up a border war as a result.
Lashing out on the United States fanbase that had abandoned him in favour of Stone Cold Steve Austin, 'The Hitman' reunited his entire family around a Canadian value system he felt countered the anti-authority vitriol of the American audience.
Audiences on both sides of the divide lapped it up, with many fans north of the border feeling vindicated by their national hero expressing feelings they'd long held, whilst crowds across the US had a new icon in Austin without the need for aggressively pushing a pro-America stance. A ten-man tag war between The Hart Foundation and Stone Cold's squad held in Calgary, Alberta bore the results, with a partisan crowd exploding for everything the pro-Canadian 'heels' did.
Stateside crowds were beautifully worked by the story without the need to drape a nobody in 'Old Glory' and play the national anthem every five minutes. Until they did exactly that.
Del 'The Patriot' Wilkes wore a flag-adorned mask that apparently represented the face of every US citizen, and earned a WWE Championship match against 'The Hitman' by the virtue of a fluke victory on Monday Night Raw just before Hart snared his fifth title.
He lost the match handily, right as fans began to move on from what had been a unnecessarily tense affair.