Wrestling has changed a lot since the 1990s, when WWE’s infamous Attitude Era was at its peak and seemingly upsetting networks and advertisers on a weekly basis. Back then, it wasn’t uncommon to see WWE pushing the envelope in regards to good taste and politically correct content, as storylines regularly addressed some of the most hot-button topics to ever grace the cultural conversation.
One of those storylines involved a faction known as the Nation of Domination — a posse of militant activists who were reminiscent of the Black Panthers. One of the members of the legendary faction was D’lo Brown, who recently appeared on Voc Nation , as reported by Wrestling Inc. , to discuss how they’d be received in today’s WWE.
“I don’t think today’s culture would allow a group of militants like we were to exist and not be struck down by different parents groups or whatever. It was controversial then, and in today’s politically correct climate I don’t think it would work today,” Brown said.
Brown is right in saying that the group would be controversial in the modern world, especially since race-related conversations still make headlines on a regular basis. The former WWE superstar believes a new group with a similar purpose would be interesting, though he doesn’t think it’d be worth the inevitable outrage.
“I wish it could; it would be amazing to see a new version of it, but I don’t think it would fly today. The backlash would be so severe right now, so it wouldn’t be worth the effort,” the former WWE superstar explained.
At the same time, movies and TV shows often depict controversial characters for entertainment purposes. According to Brown, however, there’s a double standard when it comes to pro wrestling, and he believes that it’s “not fair” that other mediums of entertainment get to push some buttons, while wrestling remains “swimming upstream.”
D’Lo Brown Discusses Why The Nation Of Domination Would Not Work Today https://t.co/DDl7lmjKbl pic.twitter.com/pPaW4uU0D5
— WrestlingINC.com (@WrestlingInc) August 17, 2019
However, he does believe that the recent appointments of Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff, and Bruce Pritchard to create roles will help WWE find some of its old spark. Maybe that won’t involve depictions of militant activist characters on television, but there are other ways to add edgy excitement to the product.
At the time of this writing, Brown is working for Impact Wrestling as a producer, a company that he’s often been affiliated with since its inception. He hasn’t been seen in WWE since 2009, but it’s clear that he’s still a fan of the product and has some strong thoughts on its current creative direction.
