THIS weekend WWE announced the return of Evolution – Triple H, Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Batista – to reunite at the 1000 th episode of SmackDown on October 16.
It marks the first time Batista has appeared in WWE since 2014 – during which he’s become a major Hollywood star, under real name Dave Bautista.
The reunion puts to rest rumours about heat between big Dave and WWE. Though it’s not yet confirmed whether Batista will wrestle on show.
But where does Evolution rank on the list of all-time greatest wrestling factions?
The foursome was a major part of WWE’s Ruthless Aggression Era and each member is a multi-time world champion. But Evolution is up against some tough competition.
The purpose of a truly great faction is to create stars and open up the creative possibilities.
And professional wrestling history is stacked with powerful groups who have defined eras and changed the business. Here SunSport ranks 15 of the most famous factions in wrestling.
15. The Million Dollar Corporation
When a back injury forced Ted DiBiase into retirement, he returned to WWE as the mouthpiece for a faction of mid-card heels.
Bam Bam Bigelow was the only decent member, with the likes of Tatanka, IRS, King Kong Bundy, Nikolai Volkoff, and Kama making up the numbers.
Ted’s gang did the opposite of what a faction should do – it didn’t get anybody over, thanks to poor feuds (they were constantly stealing the Undertaker’s urn) and losing almost every PPV match.
(The defining image of the of the Corporation is DiBiase screaming like a cartoon villain at ringside, because his team has lost yet another match.)
The group’s highlight was Bigelow’s main event match WrestleMania XI against NFL superstar Lawrence Taylor.
14. Nexus
The graduates from the first season of NXT got off to a strong start, invading Raw in June 2010 to assault John Cena and destroy the ringside area.
(This was the infamous angle that got Daniel Bryan fired, when he choked out ring announcer Justin Roberts with his own tie.)
But the gang was soon relegated to jobber status after being trounced by John Cena’s Superman routine.
The Nexus later split into two warring factions – the CM Punk-led New Nexus and Barrett led The Corre.
Both were equally dreadful and booked like losers – a damning indication of how WWE was handling young talent at the time.
EVOLUTION How to watch and travel to the WWE PPV plus match card
13. The Wyatt Family
The Wyatts were a brilliant new act in 2013 – a cult-like faction with shades of The Undertaker’s creative brilliance.
But their strong booking was undone by Bray Wyatt’s embarrassing losses to – yes, you guessed it – John Cena.
The Wyatts are proof that a new act can only lose so many times before fans stop caring.
Instead of brainwashing and recruiting new members – which could have been the key to their success – they were hampered by multiple break-ups and reunions.
With the Bludgeon Brothers out of action and Bray in need of a reboot, don’t rule out yet another family reunion somewhere down the line.
Bray even a teased a reunion on Twitter several weeks ago.
12. The Ministry of Darkness
Undertaker was given a satanic redesign to lead this faction, which included a mixed bag of talent.
The Acolytes/APA got their start here, while newbies The Brood also signed up.
But the Deadman’s lumbering devotees Viscera and Mideon brought the average down.
Their most memorable moment came when Taker kidnapped Stephanie McMahon and tried to marry her in the notorious “black wedding” angle.
The Ministry later merged with Shane McMahon’s Corporation to form the Corporate Ministry, adding Triple H, Chyna, and Big Boss Man to Taker’s devilish ranks.
The storyline peaked when Vince McMahon revealed himself as the Ministry’s Higher Power, like a true pantomime villain.
11. The Undisputed Era
The original trio of Adam Cole (bay-bay!), Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly formed in NXT last year, and later added Roderick Strong to their numbers.
WWE Superstars take over the streets of New York City ahead of WWE SummerSlam 2018The unspoken idea behind the faction is Ring of Honor wrestlers taking over NXT.
All four members were long-time competitors on ROH, each holding championships in the celebrated indie promotion.
As the Undisputed Era, the gang has dominated NXT storylines in the past year, with thrilling feuds against Moustache Mountain and Ricochet.
They’ve come to define the ‘cool heel’ in current WWE.
But the real question is, will they continue to dominate when they get to the main roster, or flounder like other NXT call-ups?
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10. The Dangerous Alliance
Often forgotten by WWE history, the Alliance was led by mobile phone-wielding Paul E. Dangerously AKA Paul Heyman in WCW between 1991-92.
(Paul E. also led a previous incarnation in AWA and a later one in ECW, but the WCW version is the definitive version.)
The team’s star player was Rick Rude, alongside other members Steve Austin, Madusa, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbyszko, and Arn Anderson.
They snagged the US, Television, and Tag Team Championships, but disbanded soon after a loss to “Sting’s Squadron” in a WarGames match.
The Alliance was a highlight of WCW in the pre-Monday Night War era.
9. The Corporation
Also known as the Corporate Team, Vince’s entourage was the perfect foil to Stone Cold Steve Austin in 1998-99.
It had muscle (Big Boss Man, Ken Shamrock, Test), comedy stooges (Pat Patterson and Gerald Briscoe) and the bona fide superstar in WWE Champion The Rock.
The Corporation’s real purpose was to give Stone Cold some fodder to beat up each week while WWE built towards the real match everyone wanted to see: Austin v McMahon.
(The match finally happened at St Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1999, which also saw the debut of the Corporation’s resident giant, The Big Show.)
Triple H, Chyna, and Kane were also members, using the faction to develop their characters and climb the ranks in WWE.
8. The Nation of Domination
The original Nation – created and by Farooq in late 1996 – was a militant/criminal/rapper entourage that eventually split into rival factions.
Savio Vega formed Latino crew Los Boricuas and Crush formed the biker gang Disciples of the Apocalypse for the never-ending gang wars of 1997.
There’s plenty of retrospective fan love for Farooq’s subsequent line-up – D-Lo Brown, The Godfather, and “Sexual Chocolate” Mark Henry – but they were mid-card players.
The Nation was at its best when riding the popularity of newest member, The Rock.
The ultra-charismatic Rocky ousted Farooq and led the Nation into a feud against DX. It culminated in a belting Rock v Triple H ladder match at SummerSlam 1998.
7. Evolution
The Triple H-led foursome ran roughshod over Raw between 2003 and 2005.
Aptly named for representing an evolution of the business – Trips (the present), Ric Flair (the past), Randy Orton and Batista (the future) – it was essentially an update of the Four Horsemen.
Evolution existed during creative low point for Raw, when Triple H’s ego-driven reign on terror was in full force.
But Evolution did what all great factions should; turned up the heel heat and got new talents (in this case, Orton and Batista) over as main eventers.
Batista’s split – turning babyface by giving Trips the “thumbs down” – is one of the all-time great Raw moments – and their surprise reunion in 2014 saw a blistering feud with The Shield.
6. The Bullet Club
Formed in 2013, NJPW’s notorious group was originally led by Prince Devitt (now Finn Balor) with Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale, and Tama Tonga.
Essentially a 21st Century twist on the NWO, the concept was an all-foreigner (or “gaijin”) crew dominating the Japanese promotion and snapping up its titles.
Titus O'neil trips under the ring as he enters the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia(Another riff on the NWO was the Mexican gang Los Perros Del Mal, who competed in promotions CMLL and AAA.)
The Bullet Club has continued to add the coolest wrestlers on the planet – including AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, and Cody Rhodes – making it the coolest faction in modern wrestling.
With the Bullet Club and its various sub-groups appearing in ROH and other promotions, the faction hasn’t just elevated its members but the entire non-WWE wrestling landscape.
It’s been crucial in making NJPW a legitimate rival to WWE and giving indie performers a platform to make shows like All In possible.
5. The Hart Foundation
The five-man crew – Bret Hart, Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart, and Brian Pillman – formed after Bret’s heel turn at WrestleMania 13.
The team were hated heels in the US and babyface heroes everywhere else – a dynamic that has never replicated ever since.
The group hogged the championship gold and had sizzling, reality-busting feuds with Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels, making 1997 the best year of Bret’s career.
(Check out the ten-man tag from Canadian Stampede – an exciting barnstormer with one of the hottest crowds in the history of WWE pay-per-view.)
DX stole their heel heat when they formed in late ’97, and the Hart Foundation disbanded after he Montreal Screwjob. Tragically, Bret is now the only surviving member.
4. The Shield
The Shield had a major impact when they invaded November 2012, originally aligned with CM Punk and later playing enforcers for The Authority.
Booked like mega-stars from the start, they were the antithesis to the stop-start booking that had dogged new talents for years.
The trio was so over that WWE was forced to turn them babyface in 2014.
By the time they split – thanks to Rollins’ infamous double-cross – all three members were made men in WWE.
The reunion last year was an anti-climax when Reigns and Ambrose were put down with injury and illness. But they’re now back to being WWE’s biggest act.
3. D-Generation X
WWE’s revisionist history can overstate their importance (no, DX didn’t win the Monday Night War) but they really were a revolutionary force in WWE.
The original DX – Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Chyna, and Rick Rude – helped usher in the Attitude Era with frat humour and heelish irreverence for the business.
But the DX Army – Trips, Chyna, X-Pac, and New Age Outlaws – remains the group’s best incarnation. Both super cool babyfaces and super over with the fans
Triple H later turned on his own gang, then reformed them as a heel faction in the “McMahon-Helmsley era” of 1999-2000. But they were never quite as good.
The 2006 HBK and Triple H reunion – two men in their forties running around making willy and poop jokes – was an embarrassment for everyone.
2. The NWO
The New World Order really did change wrestling – WCW’s greatest weapon in the Monday night ratings war against WWE.
When Scott Hall and Kevin Nash jumped ship – portrayed as WWE superstars invading WCW – it blurred the lines of reality.
Hulk Hogan joined them – a heel turn sent shockwaves through the business and made the NWO’s hostile takeover of WCW was the hottest story in wrestling.
But the addition of countless low-card goons – Vincent and the Disciple, anyone? – never- ending run-ins, faction splits, and nonsensical storylines diluted the formula.
The gang’s three-year dominance on-screen – which mirrored the real-life politics off-screen – stopped fresh talents getting over and ultimately sank WCW.
Regardless, the original members – Hogan, Nash, and Hall – remain the most iconic trio of wrestling’s hottest ever period.
1.The Four Horsemen
The group that set the template for the wrestling faction were the top heels in Jim Crockett Promotions and later WCW during the 1980s.
The original gang – Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, Tully Blanchard, and manager JJ Dillon – formed after an infamous beat-down on Dusty Rhodes inside a steel cage.
They were famous for their heel tactics and savage attacks of plucky babyface heroes such as Rhodes, Sam Houston, and Magnum TA.
Ric, Arn and Tully were also among of best pure wrestlers of their generation and lived the gimmick as “limousine riding, jet flying, kiss stealing”… well, you know the rest.
Other members would join the group throughout the 1980s and 90s – such as Barry Windham, Curt Hennig, Lex Luger, Sid, Jeff Jarrett, and Steve McMichael – to diminishing returns.
But Flair and Arn Anderson were always the backbone of the gang and the prestige of the Horsemen name never faltered – even in the dying days of WCW.
John Cena makes WWE return and reveals shocking new LIGHTNING FIST finishing moveYou can watch WWE Super Show-Down live on the WWE Network this Saturday for 9am.
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