The Un-Americans

**The Un-Americans** were formed on *SmackDown!* in June 2002 by the Canadian Lance Storm. Storm claimed that World Wrestling Entertainment had discriminated against Canadians for years, citing the Montreal Screwjob as an example. Christian (who had teamed with Storm regularly since the fall of the WCW/ECW Alliance) and Test, 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 opponent Billy 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 began feuding with wrestlers such as Rikishi, fellow Canadian Edge and Hollywood Hulk Hogan. At Vengeance on July 21, Storm and Christian defeated Edge and Hogan to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. They were assisted by Chris Jericho, another Canadian, who both proposed the match to Mr. 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.

The Anti-Americans then jumped from *SmackDown!* to *Raw* on July 29, and immediately began a feud with The 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 a second tag team championship. This was when Jim Ross started referring to the group as "**The Un-Americans**". They went on to feud with Booker T and Goldust, who Storm and Christian defeated to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam on August 25. Later that night, Undertaker defeated Test in a singles match.

In late August and early September, The Un-Americans attempted on several occasions to burn the American flag, but were thwarted on each occasion by Booker, Goldust, Kane and Bradshaw. In mid-September, the English William Regal joined the stable. At Unforgiven on September 22, The Un-Americans lost to Booker, Goldust, Kane and Bubba Ray Dudley in an eight-man tag team match.

Storm and Christian lost the WWE Tag Team Championship on the September 23 episode of *Raw* to Kane and The 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 to Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer. The series of losses divided The Un-Americans, and the stable split in brawling fashion.

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. Meanwhile, Test took on Stacy Keibler as a manager, and turned face. Christian went on to team with Jericho and serve as Jericho's side-kick and partner.

Both Regal and Storm split up in March 2003 after Regal became sick while WWE was on tour (thus permanently disbanding the team).