15 MORE Incredible WWE Attitude Era Moments Nobody Ever Talks About
9. Owen Hart = Co-Leader Of The Nation
"Enough is enough and it's time for a change". That couldn't possibly have been more true for Owen Hart in mid-1998. He went from unsuccessfully avenging his brother Bret as the 'Black Hart' to becoming a key figure in the revamped Nation Of Domination. Talk about a left turn out of nowhere - this was that and then some.
No-one really suspected Owen was about to turn heel either. He did it on the 27 April 1998 Raw. There, Hart teamed with Ken Shamrock vs. The Rock and Mark Henry, but attacked Shamrock and joined the Nation out of nowhere. Not many bring up Owen's lofty status in the faction nowadays.
He was cast as a co-leader alongside Rocky, who had successfully ousted Faarooq from the group. Admittedly, this was an odd decision, especially coming so soon after Rock was established as the main man. The writing team ran the very real risk of diluting Maivia's importance to other Nation members by throwing a big name like Owen into the mix.
Hart's time in the group lasted longer than some might've thought it would when that plan was scribbled down with pen and paper, but it was never going to be a long-term strategy for him. In fact, it's amazing that it ever happened in the first place. If you'd told anyone in 1997 that Hart Foundation linchpin Owen was going to be in the NOD by the following year, then they'd have laughed you out of the room.