Bruce Prichard Talks The Idea Of WWE Bringing Back Nation Of Domination
On a recent episode of Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard took questions from fans in a "Ask Bruce Anything" episode. One question was in regards to where Prichard sees the future of the business and when he thinks fans will return to live shows.
"I sure hope so," Prichard expressed. "I think that everything gets better once we get back to some normalcy and time will only tell on that. So, yeah, who the hell knows? I don't think anyone has that answer."
Prichard Executive Director of SmackDown and RAW, and it was reported about a month ago that WWE had plans for a revamped Nation of Domination. Those plans were reportedly scrapped, but Prichard gave his thoughts on whether the Nation of Domination could exist today.
"I don't know if something like that could exist now, I mean you never know, but it was a unique way to put Ron Simmons in a prominent spot and be able to protect Ron in the ring because Ron was injured at the time, and we wanted to protect him and keep him healthy as long as we possibly could," Prichard explained. "And I think it was a strong group.
"Don't know if you could do that today. I do know, you probably couldn't do that today, you're not the same form, but I thought it was a pretty damn cool group. You know, I thought it was a great avenue for Ron Simmons and The Rock."
Also, WWE introduced a new design for the United States Championship last month. Prichard have his quick thoughts on the re-design of the belt.
"Subjective, I thought it would make it pop, and if I was doing it, I probably would have done that, but I like it," Prichard said. "I like the three-dimensional aspect of it."
When asked how the creative teams have changed from each era, Prichard talked about how the world evolves and changes and the audience changes with it. He explained how WWE had to adapt to each era in accordance to the audience.
"It's the world! You know the world changes," Prichard stated. "Taste change and what the audience is looking for changes over time, and you adapt and you try to adapt to your audience and change. Change is good. If you look at any programming, it's all for the audience more than anything else, and I think during the time when you go back and you look at the change from the WWF: The New Generation to the Attitude Era, that was during the time that people had a lot more attitude.
"Our society had more attitude. So, in looking at that, that helped changed the product, and look at Ruthless Aggression, that was a shoot. That was during a time of you know, 'who wants to step up and take it?' And over time, s–t changes. So, you got to change its times."
Another question Prichard was asked was in regards to what match he thinks is overrated. Prichard said that some King of the Ring matches didn't live up to the hype and names Roddy Piper vs. Jerry Lawler as a match that didn't live up to the hype.
"Well, I go back to the Pay-Per-View concept of King of the Ring, and I've always kind of been a fan of tournaments and things like that, but I think that some of those didn't really like up to the hype as far as matchups," Prichard said. "And that match field that just kind of never really lived up to the hype. I'll give you one that stumped the joint out. God bless his soul, Roddy Piper and Jerry Lawler. Because they're both so great on the mic, I thought that they would old school tear it down in an old school way and instead, it was just kind of old."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Something To Wrestle with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.