WWE could use stables

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, wrestling is really missing the days when there were stables of wrestlers who would band together to swerve and cheat their way to the gold.

Nowadays, while having some minor alliances, we just don’t have the dominating stables or gangs of wrestlers who used to strike fear into their opposition. Instead, alliances are generally short-lived and involve just two or three people who band together for a short-term goal like Edge and Orton, or even Cena and HBK.

With that being said, and with intent to spark slobber-knocking arguments between my readers, I’m going to give you my top five stables of all time, teams which impacted the direction of professional wrestling and made it the entertainment industry it is today.

First, let me name a couple of honorable mentions that just fell short of making the list like the Dungeon of Doom headed by Kevin Sullivan back in 1996-97 in WCW. His stable was made up of monster heels such as Meng, Vader, One Man Gang, Kamala, Earthquake and the Giant.

His stable made some classic promos, capturing a psychotic-acting Sullivan in a dungeon describing which one of his monsters would destroy Hulk Hogan. It was actually Hogan’s feuds with the Dungeon of Doom which helped cement him as the greatest of all time.

Along the same vein, I need to give mention to the Corporate Ministry and the Ministry of Darkness, which operated in the WWF back in 1999 involving folks like the Undertaker, APA (then the Acolytes with Farooq and Bradshaw) and, of course, their evil leader Vince McMahon.

Now, as to my top five I have to include the Hart Foundation. This included Bret (the Hitman) Hart, the late Owen Hart, Jim (the Anvil) Neidhart and the late Brian Pillman. These guys were the last of the classic heel teams in 1997, becoming watered down when Bret decided he liked being a face rather than a heel.

Number four is what I consider the last true heel stable in wrestling, that being WWE Evolution which hit its peak back in 2003 boasting the past, present and future stars of wrestling. The past was represented by Ric Flair, the present by Triple H and the future by Randy Orton and Batista, all of which now can brag of holding the title, combining for 29 title reigns. The group was an unstoppable force until jealousy caused by Orton winning the title instead of Triple H prompted Evolution to turn on Orton, thereby ending the stable. And, of all the top five stables, it was only one to never add any members other than its original four.

The number three stable of all time is D-Generation X, the original version, not the watered-down, kid-friendly group we saw last summer before the HBK and Triple H injury. This is the stable with the likes of Triple H, HBK, the Road Dogg Jesse James, Billy Gunn and others like Rick Rude and Chyna, which shook up the business by their brashness and disrespect for authority. They were the ones who blurred the line between good and bad as they had a loyal following despite the bad-guy antics.

Without my number two on the list, I have my doubts that stables would have ever had the effect they did on wrestling. The Four Horsemen, originally Ric Flair, Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, later to add the likes of Chris Benoit, Lex Luger and Barry Windham, were the first stable which worked together to keep and secure the gold. They were feared by their competition and often hated by fans due to their tactics. They were the first great heel stable.

While the Four Horsemen were great, my number one skyrocketed ratings and sparked the Monday Night Wars. The New World Order, originally a combination of Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, later joined by a number of heels such as X-Pac took over WCW for a time, its actual life spanning three years from 1996-99 and including numerous wrestlers. Its very birth, in the unimaginable heel turn of Hulk Hogan, brought viewers to their sets for must-see TV every Monday night. And yes, without the nWo there would have been no dX.

They were a combination of great wrestlers and expert talkers, which combined for a group in professional wrestling that will likely never be surpassed.