7 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE King Of The Ring 2002

Backstage, we are “treated” to the birth of the Un-Americans: Lance Storm’s anti-America/pro-Canada stable (BTdubs: spoilers on where Test goes from his loss to Brock). Storm and Christian rant about how America is intolerant of Canadians, and... this is just so, so lame.

Now, obviously, there’s no actual tension between American and Canadians, so this angle is much less uncomfortable than current storylines such as Jinder Mahal’s title reign, which plays on very real feelings of xenophobia and racism toward brown people. One could interpret the Un-Americans angle as being a tongue-in-cheek sendup of America vs. the world storylines, laughing as Storm and Christian try to keep a straight face and talk about how Canada is so much better than America.

Still, in 2002, not even a year after 9/11, it’s groan-inducing to see such cheap tactics employed to rile up the American crowds. It’s pure hackery, plain and simple.