The different faces of The Rock

#2 The Nation of Domination (1997-1998)

The Rock returned to the ring in August 1997 as part of an already established stable, Nation of Domination

In 1997, fans started booing Rocky Maivia out of the arena before WWF realized that it was just damaging his brand and thus decided to use that resentment to turn him heel. After being on the sidelines for four months due to a legitimate injury, The Rock returned to the ring in August 1997 as part of an already established stable, The Nation of Domination.

He finally got to play the character that he was comfortable in and started showing his charismatic side with his signature style of delivering promos.

The turn worked wonders for him and he went on to have amazing feuds with Ken Shamrock, Triple H, and D-Generation X. He even overthrew Faarooq as the Nation’s leader to establish his dominance.

No one was safe from his promos as he started insulting everyone from the crowd to interviewers without holding anything back. He deliberately turned babyface over time and for the first time in his career had the crowd support behind him.

He became The Rock and Rocky Maivia character was a forgotten part of history. From a lower card comedy act, he took himself to the main event scene in just two years. But it was just a teaser for what was to come.

The Nation gimmick also helped strengthen the careers of Farooq, D'Lo Brown and The Godfather. It was a time in the WWE where factions were plenty in number and it helped gain more screentime for all members involved.