Rating the top ten WWE stables of all time (Part II)

Continuing from where we left off in the previous article let us now look at the stables of WWE that have made it to the top 5.

5. Ministry of Darkness

Members: Undertaker, The Acolytes (Farooq and Bradshaw), Mideon, Viscera and The Brood.

Storyline: The faction represented the satanic-cult and was formed by The Undertaker in the beginning of 1999. After being buried alive by Stone Cold at In Your House: Rock Bottom, The Undertaker had disappeared for several weeks. He made a sudden return with Paul Bearer to shock the world and then started taking in fresh wrestlers such as The Acolytes, Viscera and The Brood as recruits.

In the beginning the main aim of the group was to take control of the WWE and overthrow Vince McMahon. There were several incidents that the Ministry did to make them stick to their gimmick and one of the most feared rituals they performed were the hanging of The Big Boss Man and crucifixion of Stone Cold Steve Austin.

The Ministry seemed to be quite feared in the beginning and later on with The Brood the Ministry kind of seemed lost. They lost their focus, which initially was to take over the WWE. After a few months of dominance The Undertaker mentioned a higher voice commanding the Ministry and in the most anti-climatic announcement made in the history of WWE, The Undertaker mentioned that it to be Vince McMahon. This announcement made the Ministry lose a lot of fans as the formation of the faction itself became meaningless. However WWF came up with reasons telling Vince had ordered everything to happen accordingly in order to overthrow Stone Cold.

The Ministry now publicly under the control of Vince joined hand with his other faction The Corporation to form the Corporate Ministry which then couldn’t carry on due to the large number of wrestlers that it had. Despite a much feared group the Ministry unfortunately had to meet a very disappointing end.

4. The Corporation

Members: Vince McMahon, The Corporate Stooges (Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson), The Rock, Commissioner Slaughter, The Big Boss Man and Ken Shamrock.

Storyline: This stable was created by Vince McMahon in the late 1990s to ensure that he had control over the WWE against the rebels that arose during that time. Some common rebels included the DX, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mankind.

This faction came into existence in November 1998 when Shane, Vince, Sgt Slaughter, Big Boss Man, Corporate Stooges considered themselves the crown jewels of the corporation. They joined hands with The Rock and helped him out a great deal in winning the WWF title from Stone Cold Steve Austin.

The group had a three main enemies, namely the DX, Stone Cold and Mankind. DX always felt its principles offended by The Corporation, resulting in Triple H constantly challenging The Rock for the title. In most of the matches we saw Triple H lose, thanks to interference by Corporation members.

The Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon feud was without doubt the resurrection period of the then WWF. Vince felt that Stone Cold did not behave the way the WWF Champion should and hence always was at loggerheads with him, who on the other hand never budged an inch. The Corporate and Stone Cold often ended up giving fans spectacular matches that still remains etched in the history books.

Mankind and Vince were bitter rivals and this rivalry reached its peak when Vince screwed Mankind when he faced The Rock in Survivor Series for the WWF Title. Vince rang the bell early when Rock put the Sharpshooter on him and declared Rock the winner despite Mankind having not tapped. This incident led to Mankind always posing as a threat to the Corporation.

The Corporation dominated the entire period of 1999 and later split when Shane turned a rebel from within and ousted old members like Vince, Stooges, Shamrock and Sgt Slaughter. Rock was thrown out for losing to the Stone Cold in Backlash and this trend continued, and The Corporation weakened in number and felt it wise to join hands with The Ministry of Darkness to form the Corporate Ministry.

3. D-Generation X

Members: Triple-H, Rick Rude, Shawn Michaels, Stephanie McMahon, Chyna, Tori, X-Pac, New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn & Road Dogg)

Storyline: D-Generation X is without doubt the most famous and one of the most successful stables in the WWE till date. Their time of prominence was the 1997-2000 period also known as the attitude era, where they literally did everything that a stable could do. The group initially had four members and later on expanded with the inclusion of X-Pac, New Age Outlaws and Tori. The stable disbanded in the year 2000 but was later formed again in 2002, 2006 and 2010 for a short period of time.

They were known for their three important eras namely the Degenerate era, the DX army era and the McMahon-Helmsley era. In all these three eras, the DX gained a lot of prominence.

Their very first feud was with The Hart Foundation, and it is at this time that the WWF fans experienced one of the greatest real-life turn of events namely The Montreal Screwjob which made Bret Hart, British Bulldog and Jim Niedhart to leave WWF and join WCW.

They then went on to become quite popular during 1999 where they went on a legendary battle against the WCW. With DX representing WWF the faction went into WCW arena’s and insulted the company leading to a lot of altercations. Also this was the time when DX faced other stables such as The Corporation and The Ministry of Darkness.

Later on during the 2000s the DX saw several members going against each other and this trend continued for sometime. This was also the time when Shawn Michaels was a part of The Corporation. Chyna then turned against Triple H and plenty other similar events followed.

The DX was also known for their feud against the Nation of Domination which was lead by the then heel Rock. The group was known for its parodies of the rivals, where they mimicked their rivals and made it look absolutely hilarious. Victims of these parodies were largely the Nation and Corporation.

DX then made small appearances during 2002, 2006 and 2010 with Triple H and Shawn Michaels largely representing the group.

2. The Four Horsemen

Members: Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, Tully Blanchard, JJ Dillon

Storyline: This stable is without doubt one of the longest running stables in the history of pro-wrestling. Originally formed in NWA in 1986 this stable went on to wreak havoc for another 13 years until the ending stages of WCW in 1999.

Most of their memorable feuds happened in the NWA and this is the main reason why many refrain from considering it a WWE stable. But however since it was a part of WCW, I considered including it.

The group was mainly involved in a feud with Hulk Hogan in WCW and this happened especially after Hogan went against WCW fans to join hands with the nWo. The Horsemen became faces and always tried to be a spoil sport in nWo’s plans. The WCW version of The Four Horsemen however consisted of Flair, Arn, Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit.

The Four Horsemen were considered to be one of the all time greats in WWE history. According to Jim Ross The Four Horsemen were the ones responsible for the creation of nWo, DX and any other stable that has been successful in this company.

Recent versions of the Horsemen include the Evolution and Fortune. Evolution formed in 2003 was considered to be a modified version of The Four Horsemen but with Triple H as the head. The stable was formed amidst rumors of Ric Flair bringing back the Horsemen. Fortune is a very recent stable formed in TNA by Flair and he called it the newest version of the Horsemen with wrestlers such as AJ Styles, Desmond Waynes, Inc and Beer Money.

1. nW0 (New World Order)

Members: Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Big Show, Vicent, Syxx, Buff Bagwell, Curt Hennig.

Storyline: After Scott Hall and Kevin Nash’s WWF contract expired they were recruited by WCW. Eric Bischoff then created a storyline revolving these two wrestlers where they interrupted matches in WCW and threatened to take over it. They challenged Eric to ready three wrestlers representing WCW and face them in a match with the result of it deciding their fate in WCW.

When asked about their third wrestler, the team which was then called The Outsiders did not feel it necessary to disclose a name. The WCW representatives were Sting, Lex Luger and Randy Savage. The match, held in the PPV Bash at the Beach, was commonly known as Hostile Take-Over match. During the match as team WCW started taking control, the world witnessed one of the biggest turn of events. Hulk Hogan who was the face of WCW turned his back on the company and joined hands with the Outsiders to form the nWo. This sudden heel turn of Hogan caused the fans to become so heated that they started throwing garbage into the ring.

It was only after this that the era of nWo in WCW began. After rechristening his name to ‘Hollywood’ Hogan, Hogan, Hall and Nash then ran wild in every Monday Nitro. They started their period of dominance when Hogan defeated The Giant and took over as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion at Hog Wild.

Later on, the nWo started its greatest feud with Sting, who took over the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Hogan. Despite Hogan’s clean victory over Sting, Bret Hart came out and re-ordered the match to restart where Hogan was defeated. Despite the victory, the nWo did not seem to lose its greatness.

It was during this time that the rest of the members of the nWo joined in and this increase in the stable members then forced the WCW to split the nWO into two, namely the nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac.

However, after Starrcade, the nWo never managed to rise to its former best and was present until its disbandment in 2000. They also appeared in WWE for a short time but were unable to make any sort of impact. There were also rumours lately about the regrouping of nWo but with the present condition of Scott Hall it doesn’t seem to be a possibility.

Special Mention

The Brood

Members: Gangrel, Christian and Edge.

Storyline: This faction headed by Gangrel was formed to represent the vampire gimmick. With each of the members of this group sporting long blond hair, they did very good justice to the gimmick given to them. Started in the year 1998, the group came into prominence when Edge joined the group after the head Gangrel supported by Christian faced Edge for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship.

The Brood was known for their scary entrance and often entered the stage by rising from underground. Since they represented vampires, Gangrel always carried a chalice of blood from which he took a drink from and spat towards the crowd. They were also well known for the blood bath which they gave to their opponents.

The Brood was mainly known for its feud with The Ministry of Darkness. After a short feud they merged with the Ministry to serve for The Undertaker. One of the most memorable works of The Brood was when they lowered a noose into the cell when The Undertaker and The Big Boss Man faced off at Wrestlemania XV. The noose was used to hang the Big Boss Man in the center of the cell terrifying several fans in the arena. The Ministry mainly used The Brood to punish and take beatings in order it proved allegiance to The Undertaker. Later on The Brood saw itself separated from The Ministry.

This faction finally split when Edge & Christian started gaining popularity as one of the best tag teams in the company. They feuded with the Hardy Boyz. This somehow caused Gangrel to go against Edge, and Christian favoured the latter leading to the split in the group. However a new Brood was later formed between Gangrel and Michael Hayes, who was ousted by the Hardy Boyz.

This faction, though not very popular were extremely stylish, and were responsible for the growth of Edge and Christian, who went on to form one of the greatest tag-teams the WWE has witnessed.