Evolution, where do you rate them?

[RKO Evolution]

This talk about Orton becoming the next WWE Champ and the return of Triple H got me thinking. The has been some great "tag teams" / stables in the WWE, nWo, four hourse men and so on.
Where would you rate Evolution? The best ever? They held all the championships in Raw at one point. And considering that it produced Orton and Batista to Championship level in the "tutoring" of Flair and Triple H.

I think they were one of the best, and I think it was great to watch Raw when they dominated. And I actually wouldn't mind to see them reunite before Flair retires. The WWE needs some huge feud that would involve some of the best wrestlers in the WWE, no mather what the brand is.

 

[a7xoff]

When I first started watching WWE it was dead in the middle of the "Evolution Era" All I have to say about Evolution was that it pretty much was the reason I became a fan of WWE. They had some great feuds including one against Goldberg that actually bought Batista onto Evoultion. From then they won all the belts, which was insane seeing how Orton won the IC from RVD very good match. Also Evoultion was always backing HHH. No matter the match, or rules they found a way to ringside and caused problems. Not to mention they all (minus Batista) could cut good promos and split the Evo. promos between eachother. I definatly have to say Evolution in my books was one of the greatest stables

 

[Ticked Off Texan]

Evolution was definitely one of the best stables in wrestling, we all loved to hate them when they were a faction and the turn on Randy got him over with the crowd, and the same thing went with Batista. I wouldn't put them in the class of the nWo tho because the nWo was the biggest stable there's ever been, in number and controversy. But the way Evolution was set up was great, two "mentors" (HHH and Flair) and two "prodigies" (Orton and Batista) and I thought that was pretty damn cool. Not to mention I actually liked to see Batista dominate as a heel, I didn't think he was a good wrestler but as a heel it was fun to watch.

And the way it's looking right now with HHH returning and Orton being a heel again those two might have a fued for a while and reunite as a team next year.

 

[Southwind]

I started watching wwe when I was young and ever since then I have off and on watched it when I started watching again these guys evolution were the dominant faction and were entertaining to watch they got me hooked again I have always liked a dominant group prefereably heel because that usually leads to more success and more possible feuds a great heel faction is the one thing I miss most in wrestling

the setup was great as some have mentioned before two mentors and two proteges the wwe really did a good job with these guys and there is no doubt they are one of the top wrestling factions of all time

 

[Shocky]

Being a long time fan of the business, Evolution is far from the best stable in the history of wrestling, i don't even think I would put them in my top five.

I would take several Incarnations of the Horesmen over Evolution.

I would take the first Incarnation of the New World Order over Evolution.

I would take the first incarnation of DX (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Rick Rude, and Chyna) over Evolution.

Hell I would take the Triple Threat with Douglas, Bigelow and Candido over Evolution.

For me, Evolution is what became the problem with the Raw scene. Triple H, on a power trip, trying to keep the main spot by ripping off his "mentor" Ric Flair. The same Ric Flair that 4 years earlier in 1998 that was rumored to jump to the WWF, but Trips didn't want him their because he was afraid he wouldn't get his main event spot if Flair was feuding with Austin, yes that Triple H.

What exactly did Evolution contribute to the world of wrestling, zero. We have Randy Orton, that has failed multiple wellness test, destroyed hotel rooms, defecated in a Diva's bag, and at 24 was handed the world title to spite Brock Lesnar.

We have Dave Batista, who hasn't been able to work a good singles match in years, and only then were they marginally good with Triple H carrying his ass. He is a sloth that has lived off of a feud with Triple H for the last 2 plus years, which really, wasn't that good to begin with. Their Hell in a Cell was a desperation move because of the success of ECW one Night Stand, and neither Triple H or Batista could live with the fact that ECW was more Hardcore then the WWE.

Ric Flair, as much as I respect, hasn't contributed shit to the wrestling business since giving us a great fairwell to WCW on the last nitro. I can't even call the man a former shadow of himself, because that would be disrespectful to his shadow.

Triple H. It was merely a power move to keep him on top of Raw after his run with the WHC was becoming extremely stale. Triple H ushered in one of the worst years for the WWE ratings wise in 2003, why, because he is stale. I know I get heat for bashing Triple H, and probably only slyfox agrees, but the man hasn't been innovative in years. He has the same old stale matches week in and week out. i'm not going to deny he was great, but he hasn't been good since 2002. It's the same routine with this guy week in and week out, and it's sickening to me how so many people are getting to overjoyed with him coming back.

Who exactly benefited form Evolution? No one. These heel stables are made to help put over younger guys, make stars out of people. The Horseman made Dusty Rhodes, The Road Warriors, Sting, Luger into legendary faces because they were so bad. The NWO made Sting into a legit mega star, while putting the Steiners into the superstar echelon, and making Goldberg into a huge star. DX helped make Stone Cold Steve Austin into freakign Stone Cold Steve Austin. Hell the Triple Threat made Taz, RVD and Sabu that much better in ECW.

Who did Evolution benefit, 3 guys, Randy Orton, Triple H, and Dave Batista, good riddance to bad rubbish.

 

[j-rem]

I think Evolution was one of the best stables in wwe. When evolution was around raw was actually exciting & not as predictable as it is now. The only reason Randy Orton & Batista are main event level now is because of evolution. Imagine the crowd reaction if they re united evolution. I doubt that will happen but who knows.

 

[mentalsynapse]

I have to agree with shockmaster on this one. Evolution were fun to watch but they weren't brilliant. They didn't really help the business in any way imo. I still think that Orton and Batista would be where they are today even if they weren't in evolution because they are those type of wrestlers.
Orton is a solid worker that can cut good promos and Batista is huge and gets an anal servicing from HHH on a daily basis.

These heel groups are in place to make push the younger talents into bigger stars, but who did they produce? Who had a memorable fued with Evolution and is still with the company and are huge stars (Except Orton and Batista but they dont count)?

It would be good to see a nice heel group to form in the WWE to not only help younger guys shine, but to shake up what we're seeing on tv. The New Breed was wasted on ECW with guys that we didn't know/care about. They should have a heel stable come in to Smackdown! because god knows that since the draft and Edge getting injured, its been as fun to watch as a Bobby Lashley reading Shakespear.....

 

[The not-so Great Khali]

These heel groups are in place to make push the younger talents into bigger stars, but who did they produce? Who had a memorable fued with Evolution and is still with the company and are huge stars (Except Orton and Batista but they dont count)?

I agree, the only people who faced Triple H for the title when he had Evolution were Shawn Michaels, Goldberg and Scott Steiner. Michaels and Goldberg did win the title off Triple H but i'm sure they only held it for a month each before Triple H got it back. Back then Raw was boring, it would always start with Triple H coming into the ring wearing a suit, sunglasses and a fricking doctors note stating that he couldn't wrestle tonight. Seriously I hated Triple H being the champ more than I hate Cena being the champ and I don't care what anyone says.

It would be good to see a nice heel group to form in the WWE to not only help younger guys shine, but to shake up what we're seeing on tv. The New Breed was wasted on ECW with guys that we didn't know/care about. They should have a heel stable come in to Smackdown! because god knows that since the draft and Edge getting injured, its been as fun to watch as a Bobby Lashley reading Shakespear.....

Actually, the ECW Original group was the ones who were meant to put over the New Breed and it has worked to a certain degree as people now see Burke, Cor Von, Thorn and Striker as main eventers on ECW and mid-carders on Smackdown or Raw. As for a heel stable on Smackdown, they had one recently with Booker, Finlay & Regal. Although it didn't last long it did help put over Lashley and it also helped to push Finlay as a credible main eventer.

Evolution wasn't great, they were good but they weren't even exciting to watch as everyone knew what was going to happen. Their are only 2 reasons why people are excited that he's returning.
1. Because they hate Cena for doing exactly what Triple H was doing when he was the champ.
2. Because it's the only thing being advertised on WWE products, I mean where's the hype for Rey Mysterio's return nowhere because Trips and Nips run the WWE website and all they do is promote themselves.

 

[Batistabomb10]

I enjoyed watching Evolution. That stable made Raw worth watching. They gave a sense of unpredictability, and made it feel as if anyone could be their next victim. I wouldn't mind having them reunite.

The only problem this could present is the return of Shawn Michaels. If the WWE reunited Evolution, everyone knows that they would posses every title again, just like before; thus causing the Shawn Michaels return to be semi-sour because he won't come back in the title picture, which is contradictory to what everyone expects. They could reunite after the Shawn Michaels' return, but that would mean that they wouldn't be around but a few months because of Ric Flair due to retire immediately after Wrestle-Mania. If given a chance for the storyline to play out, perhaps the WWE could do what they did with the DX stable; as in, create a separate team to come after Evolution, like when they formed Rated-RKO!

This could pose another problem, seeing as how it was a DX/Rated-RKO match that injured HHH, tearing his quadriceps. If Triple H and Orton could coexist then so be it, but HHH had a violent feud with all three of his former Evolution members', so it could be argued that reuniting them could look suspicious in the fans' eyes, though I would love to see it!!!

 

[JoshK1985]

Evoloution was a damn good group of guys. I like all them except for Batista.. I have been a Flair fan since I started watching wrestling and that was bout 15 years ago. But the problem with Evoloution was that to me they were nothing more then a Four Horsemen rip-off. I agree with Shock when he says he would put a bunch of diffrent verions of the Horsemen in front of them and NWO and DX.. But I don't agree about Triple Threat.. Maybe thats becasue I hate Douglas. So Evoloution was marginal at best as a stable

 

[RVDgurl]

I also agreed with Shocky on this one. I think Evolution was solid and filled a void for the time, but they were not in the same league as the Horsemen, NWO, DX, and Triple Threat. I think alot of this has to do with the fact that they were not given the proper amount of time to be great. Stables in wrestling are broken up much more quickly than they were 10 or 20 years ago due to the lack of depth in talent. It is more common in the WWE to push the hell out of a stable just to work the break up angle. Even though Batista was a weak link, I think Evolution fell victim to a rushed storyline more than anything else.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Great question. I cannot, in good conscience, consider Evolution in the pantheon of "all-time great stables." Reason? Longevity.

Yes, Evolution was a great concept, almost Horsemen-esque, that allowed the old star (Flair) and the current star (HHH) to turn the young stars (Orton and Batista) into what they are now. But Evolution wasn't there for its own sake. As soon as Orton and Batista were ready to be their own thing, it crumbled.

Had Evolution survived with some new members, I would certainly be changing my tune right now.

 

[tap-out]

I think Evolution was solid and filled a void for the time, but they were not in the same league as the Horsemen, NWO, DX, and Triple Threat. I think alot of this has to do with the fact that they were not given the proper amount of time to be great. Stables in wrestling are broken up much more quickly than they were 10 or 20 years ago due to the lack of depth in talent. It is more common in the WWE to push the hell out of a stable just to work the break up angle. Even though Batista was a weak link, I think Evolution fell victim to a rushed storyline more than anything else.

Totally agree. it seems that the wwe comes up with stable and gives them to us for about 4-6months or whatever it is and then...POOF! The stable is gone. The success of a stable or tag team grows along with the time. I think the last stable i really enjoyed in wwe was the corporate ministry. Evolution just seemed like it through 4 guys into a stable. We already had an established triple H, ric flair and two guys who we already saw that were just put into a stable to hopefully help them grow in popularity. So where do i rate evolution....mid to upper fo the pack. I think it really helped out orton more than anyone. The win over benoit for the title was huge for him and for the stables future.

 

[Skrilla]

Evolution was great! I loved it. They were played off as rich, young(flair thinks he is), and cocky. And they all wrestled good and in the big matches didnt even need each other sometimes like alot of heals have other stables do. I dont think they were the greatest group ever, though in my mind they were. They were my favirote. I never watched WCW, not going to lie so I cant tell you about the ones over there. I have watched plenty of videos from nWo on youtube and all but I know it wont do justice to watching it at the time and I know the four hrsemen are legendary, but Evolution has always been my favirote.

 

[mattg0728]

I thought that Evolution was a decent faction, but I wouldn't put it up there with the NwO,the horsemen,or the DX. I wouldn't even put them up there with The Nation of Domination. But I do feel that this is a good time to bring some factions back to the WWE. An easy way to get a new up and coming wrestler over as a heel or face is to put them in a group/faction with someone that's already over. The Rock never got over til he became a heel with the Nation. The New Age Outlaws were forgettable til they became members of DX. The WWE could really use some factions now. But not just one, they need rival factions.

I think they should bring Evolution back, but with RKO as the leader. Get some of the younger members of the roster to be a part. Maybe Carlito, Cody Rhodes, whoever. I would also like to see the Nation come back and have Ron Simmons be the manager/leader and stop saying "Damn" all the time. They could have Lashley, Shelton Benjamin and maybe even Cryme Tyme.

 

[Da Vinci's Nightmare]

I didn't really rate Evolution. I just thought they were there to help feed triple H's ego, to see if he could take a no-talent muscle bound baboon(batista) and a cocky arrogant snot nosed tit(orton) and make them into stars, which he did. shame really. It also made a change as to how he won his match's.

WWE are missing some good stables though. Just not evolution, they were boring in the first place, and they will be boring again

 

[sincade20]

I agreed with Josh Evolution was a 2nd rate Horsemen. They was okay to get heat but that all. Evolution was a way to build heat for Randy Orton and Bastisa. I knew they wasn't going to last long because of Triple H. If you look at his track record who destroy DX? Triple H, who dismantle the Power Trip. Triple H, who Broke up Evolution?........Triple H. So during the Era Evolution was good, But I wouldn't classfied them better than the Horsemen

 

[BooCocky]

The NWO made Sting into a legit mega star, while putting the Steiners into the superstar echelon, and making Goldberg into a huge star. DX helped make Stone Cold Steve Austin into freakign Stone Cold Steve Austin. Hell the Triple Threat made Taz, RVD and Sabu that much better in ECW.

Who did Evolution benefit, 3 guys, Randy Orton, Triple H, and Dave Batista, good riddance to bad rubbish.

I AGREE I believe evolution didnt benefit anyone... batista is a horrible wrestler Randy orton has been in so much trouble and Ric flair was old and washed up....also in that year they were just used for television rating because that was a horrible year for the world heavyweight championship....it was used to make triple H look like the most dominating man in sports entertaining. Evolution wouldnt even be in the top 3....Nwo is number 1

 

[HeartbreakKid_Hart_HHH]

When I first started watching WWE it was dead in the middle of the "Evolution Era"

Same here. I watched during the Hart/HBK era, but came back this era. Actually I remember the week too. It was the week leading up to the week of Armageddon 2004. Randy beat RVD then too.

Next to DX, NWO, and Four Horseman, also possibly the Hart Foundation they are up there.

 

[a7xoff]

I thought of an easy way to clarify Evolution. In my opinion that is. I wasn't watching WWE or WCW back in the day of the Four Horsemen, or NWO, or the original DX. Evolution was the main stable when I started watching. From what I've seen so far is that Evolution was certainly the most dominant faction. The New Breed was stupid, King Booker's Court didn't last long. The closest thing to Evolution in recent memory is probably Rated RKO. They actually did do some similar things that Evolution did. So as a faction I will probably always rate Evolution realitivly high just based on the fact that I "grew up watching in that era"