The Un-Americans

The Un-Americans
Lance Storm (left) and Christian (right) asWWE Tag Team Champions
Stable
Members	Christian Lance Storm Test William Regal
Name(s)	The Un-Americans The Anti-American Mob The Anti-Americans C-4
Debut	June 20, 2002
Years active	2002-2003

The Un-Americans(originally known asThe Anti-Americans) were avillainousprofessional wrestlingstableinWorld Wrestling Entertainment(WWE) who were active from 2002 to 2003. The stable was originally composed of threeCanadianwrestlers:Lance Storm,ChristianandTest.Towards the end of the Un-Americans' existence, the trio was joined byBritishwrestlerWilliam Regal.The group won theWorld Tag Team Championshipthree times.

As indicated by the name, the Anti-Americans differed from previous incarnations ofTeam Canada,a stable that Storm was part of, in that they were anti-American rather thanpro-Canadian.As a result of this, the emblem of the stable was not theCanadian flag,but an American flagflown upside down.

History

The Un-Americans were formed onSmackDown!in June 2002 by the CanadianLance Storm,who had led a similarstableknown asTeam CanadainWorld Championship Wrestling(WCW). Storm claimed thatWorld Wrestling Entertainment(WWE) had discriminated against Canadians for years, citing theMontreal Screwjobas an example.Christian(who hadteamedwith Storm regularly since the fall of theWCW/ECW Alliance) andTest,also Canadian, joined the burgeoning stable later that month. The stable was named "The Anti-Americans" shortly thereafter.

In the lead-up to the formation of the group, each member had suffered a televised loss, decided by the ineptitude of the referee calling the match. Storm lost a tag team match when he used a Bridging German Suplex to pin his opponentBilly Kidman.Storm inadvertently put his own shoulders on the mat, forcing the referee to count a pinfall on both men. Storm managed to raise his shoulder off the mat before Kidman did, but the referee did not see this, and awarded the victory to Kidman's team. In the following weeks, Christian and Test were pinned by their opponents in matches, and the referee failed to see that they were touching the ring-ropes (thus invalidating the pin attempt).

In July, The Anti-Americans beganfeudingwith wrestlers such asRikishi,fellow CanadianEdgeandHollywood Hulk Hogan.AtVengeanceon July 21, Storm and Christian defeated Edge and Hogan to win theWWE Tag Team Championship.They were assisted byChris Jericho,another Canadian, who both proposed the match toMr. McMahon,and helped them win it after striking Edge with one of the belts. However, Jericho did not formally join the stable and had only helped due to an ongoing feud with Edge. Original plans, according to Storm, were to have the four Canadians form a group called "C-4", but plans were scrapped before many details could be worked out. In fact, Jericho had jumped toRawon the same day as the stable, but still did not join them, though he was sometimes regarded as an associate (especially with Christian).

The Anti-Americans then jumped fromSmackDown!toRawon July 29, and immediately began a feud withThe Undertaker.Up until this night, the WWE Tag Team Championship was only active on the SmackDown! brand. But when the stable moved to Raw, the titles moved too, forcing the creation of asecond tag team championship.This was whenJim Rossstarted referring to the group as "The Un-Americans". They went on to feud withBooker TandGoldust,who Storm and Christian defeated to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship atSummerSlamon August 25. Later that night, The Undertaker defeated Test in a singles match.

In late August and early September, The Un-Americans attempted on several occasions toburntheAmerican flag,but were thwarted on each occasion by Booker T, Goldust,KaneandBradshaw.In mid-September, theEnglishWilliam Regaljoined the stable. AtUnforgivenon September 22, The Un-Americans lost to Booker T, Goldust, Kane andBubba Ray Dudleyin an eight-man tag team match.

The Un-Americans used an upside-down American flag, like the one seen here, as a logo

Storm and Christian lost the WWE Tag Team Championship on the September 23 episode ofRawto Kane andThe Hurricane.Following the match, both Storm and Christian blamed one another for the loss. One week later, Storm and Christian were both defeated in singles matches (by the same man,Randy Orton), and Test and Regal lost a tag team match toRob Van DamandTommy Dreamer.The series of losses divided The Un-Americans, and the stable split in brawling fashion.

Post-split

The stable continued as a tag team featuring Regal and Storm, retaining their anti-American sentiments, although with an emphasis on their respective English and Canadian heritage, regaining the (renamed) World Tag Team Championship on two occasions.

Both Regal and Storm split up in March 2003 after Regal got a heart parasite inIndiawhile WWE was on tour (thus permanently disbanding the team). They were still champions when Regal got sick and the titles were vacated. He was replaced byChief Morleywho declared himself and Storm the new World Tag Team Champions. They dropped the titles to Kane and Rob Van Dam on the March 31 episode ofRaw.Morley was never a member of the Un-Americans, even though Morley is Canadian.

Meanwhile, Test took onStacy Keibleras amanager,and turnedface.Christian went on to team with Jericho and serve as Jericho's side-kick and partner. On the June 23, 2003 episode ofRawThe Un-Americans (Christian and Test) reunited for one night only to take on Booker T andScott Steinerin a winning effort.

It was commented byMichael Hayesduring a segment of "The Legends of Wrestling" - Patriotism, that everyone in the Un-Americans were afraid of the "heat"brought on by the angle. Regal was remarked to be the only one who was not and due to that, the angle was short-lived. Storm later denied this claim.

Storm worked for the company until retiring from professional wrestling in April 2004 and became a trainer for a wrestling school in Calgary. He returned to WWE for two appearances in May 2005 and fought against Chris Jericho atECW One Night Stand.Storm once again retired in 2007 and returned to the sport in 2009 until his last match in 2016. In 2019 he returned to WWE as a producer and was released by WWE on April 15, 2020, due to budget cuts from theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Test would stay with WWE until November 2004. He went to wrestle for other promotions in the United States, Nu-Wrestling inItaly,and World Series Wrestling inAustralia.He returned to WWE in March 2006 and was released less than a year later in February 2007. He would afterwards continue to wrestle for other wrestling promotions. He died on March 13, 2009, of a drug overdose.

Christian became a four-timeIntercontinental Championwinning his second (he won his first atUnforgivenin September 2001, nine months before the stable's formation) atJudgment Dayin May 2003. He stayed with the company until November 2005 when he went toTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling(TNA) and became a main eventer winning theNWA World Heavyweight Championshipon two occasions in 2006 and 2007. He left TNA in January 2009 after his contract expired and returned to WWE a month later. He won theECW Championshipand theWorld Heavyweight Championshipon two occasions each in 2009 and 2011 respectively. He retired from professional wrestling in 2014 after years of concussions. However, he signed withAll Elite Wrestling(AEW) in 2021.

Regal returned to professional wrestling in April 2004 and was the general manager of Raw from August 2007 until May 2008. He retired from professional wrestling in December 2013 then he took up the role inNXTfrom July 2014 until his departure in January 2022. He would sign with AEW soon afterwards before returning to the WWE a year later.

Championships and accomplishments

• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • World Tag Team Championship(3 times) -ChristianandLance Storm(1),William Regaland Lance Storm (2)

External links

• Lance Storm's Official Website
• Lance Storm's WWE Alumni profile
• Christian's WWE profile
• William Regal's WWE profile