Greatest Heel Stable

[Ubermensch]

Looking at each stable in terms of their entertainment factor, talent, but also what the stable did for overall story lines and contributions to the company while they were around, what heel stable do you feel like is the greatest of all time?

I think I will have to go with the 4 Horsemen. The original incarnation of Flair, the Andersons, and Tully is unsurpassed. Their promos were great as well with their wealthy southern gentleman snobbishness, they got great heat from NWA's southern audience.Not only were they innovative and defined what we see from heel stables today, but their contribution to the NWA and WCW is also tremendous and throughout their history.

For those reasons I think they barely etch out over the NWO. Mainly because the Horsemen were innovative, but also due to their longer tenure and stronger reincarnations (NWO Silver, and the WWE versions of the NWO were bad).

The Hart foundation was strong, but the anti American gimmic was not sustainable in the long run, and their tenure was short.

By virtue of shear entertainment, I think the Ministry of Darkness did a superb job. They were like the Dungeon of Doom on steroids and their pseudo satanic gimmics made for great TV. I remember them trying to embalm Austin alive, and sacrifice Stephanie McMahon. Had Kane joined sides with them it would have been an ominous group indeed.

Feel free to add you own honorable mentions.

 

[Lowdown]

I'll have to go with the Horsemen as well. NWO in its initial stage was effective but it basically turned into a fraternity of wrestlers where anybody could join. The Horsemen in the beginning were the cream of the crop. They had it all from in ring ability to charisma to the jet setting personas that fans wanted to emulate. They were the first heel stable to my knowledge that was hated and yet cool at the same time. While I watched stables like the Harts and Heenan Family, not every member of those stables were effective on the mic, which was why they had guys like Heenan an Jimmy Hart. Even though JJ Dillon gave the Horseman added heat, he could easily fade into the background while the boys gave golden promos.

 

[thewreckingcrew]

The 4 horsemen in my opinion was greatest stable of all time even though i wasnt around for the original group ive gone back and seen footage of them and they had awesome chemistry together. me personaly i was a fan of the flock they were a awesome heel stable when i was a kid.

 

[relentless1]

nWo hands down, the initial angle was so huge it put WCW on top for 2 years, the original run was phenomenal and most importantly the nWo directly influenced the Attitude Era in the WWF

 

[CM Steel]

The NWO. Why even ask? They weren't a faction or stable. They were a gang! A straight-up gang in pro wrestling. Guys walking around with baseball bats, wearing all black, sporting ray-ban shades spray painting walls and people. If it wasn't for the fact that it was wrestling, I would have thought that was a real-life street gang on my TV screen each monday night on Nitro.

And where is the Nation of Domination on this list? They came off like a gang too in that sence.

 

[GameOver]

The McMahons they have done shit to almost everyone that matters in the sport, they are above the business in that respect.

as for within the realm of Sports/Entertainment for me it comes down to 3 categories, 1) Most evil 2) Biggest impact 3) Awesomeness
1) The Ministry/Corporate Ministry IMO portrayed the most haneous and evil of actions, openly praised the devil and tho some of the stuff was ripped directly from ECW segments they still did it. Don't remember the nwo every crucifying or hanging someone, stabbing pens into someone's head to sign a contract in blood.

2) The nWo angle obviously had the biggest effect on the business tho and was the largest 2 stables in history at one point. but that fizzled quickly into stupidity other then the 3 primary members.

3) Four Horseman were the pioneers of awesomeness and lasted the test of time for decades plus as someone else said they like Evolution years later were the cream of the crop not just a gang.

Winner: nWo only by size and they did run the business essentially no other faction ever had that much "control in storyline".

 

[boozinjedi]

The four horsemen set the standard for ALL heel stables.
nWo was hot for a time but it became too big,too bloated
There was no sustained back and forth with any good guy groups,
They just got on top and stayed there..
A good heel stable has to have suitable enemies to battle..
anytime anyone new came along to fight them...they eventually joined them,
It became a running joke.....
A New "Face"to fight nWo.....wait...new member of black & white...

 

[Kris Benwa]

How can you have Nexus on here but not Evolution c'mon son. Evolution would receive my vote but I'll vocally say Four Horsmen because of their influence on all the other heel stables however I won't vote on the poll because the lack of some heel stables and the inclusion of others

 

[Rhodes2TheFuture3313]

The only one that's in the Hall of Fame...cough 4-Horsemen. They had the chemistry, the look, the pedigree, and the Hardware. How can anyone else really compete? Evolution was pretty awesome considering all are/were WORLD CHAMPIONS.

 

[tak161]

It's the Horsemen, it will always be the Horsemen. No other stable in wrestling had the impact that the Horsemen had. In fact, if not for them, there would be no NWO, DX, Ministry, Nexus, Evolution, and so on. The Horsemen were the catalyst for every other stable in wrestling. The original incarnation set the standard, but subsequent editions added to the history. There were a few misfits over the years, Roma and Mongo, to name a couple, but all in all they continued the legacy begun by by the originals.

The NWO, while huge and impactful during their run, cannot live up to the standards set by the Horsemen. Horsemen were an elite group that not just anyone could join, you either had to be chosen, or earn it. The NWO eventually became a free for all, where anyone could be a member.

No disrespect to any of the other groups, they were all great in their on way, but nothing can hold a candle to the Horsemen. Seeing someone walk out with those four fingers displayed meant they were the cream of the crop, the very best there was to offer. And the interviews they gave are among the very best in history. They each said their part, and then Double A would drive home the point in a way where you couldn't turn away.

 

[LODemolition]

It's the Horsemen all the way. They were the originators who paved the way for a group of heels to be cool and cheered by the crowd. Obviously the NWO comes to mind when this subject comes up, but they're a distant second imo. The original is always better than the sequel.

 

[yourdamnluck]

never saw 4 horsemen......
would have to go with evolution even though it is not in the list....
they were exclusive had a horseman.......
dominant,talanted and fairly good over mike .
more importantly they had faces like bemwah nash shawn goldy......and SCSA
to kick their asses

 

[relentless1]

oohhh yeah, the horsemen was soo exclusive, thats why guys like mongo, roma, jarrett and sid were a part of the group right, ill even go as far as to say that malenko didn't fit the group at all either. best lineup was flair, double a, tully and barry windham. and I'm tired of hearing that "if it wasn't for the horsemen there wouldn't be any other stables" blah blah blah. like somebody else wouldn't have come up with a stable like that?? nWo was the more progressive and frankly had more of an impact than the horsemen did.

 

[GameOver]

4 Horseman originals were what we were all talking about not the reincarnations tho most of the additions were perfect up and comers or main event quality very much like the idea of The Main Event Mafia, all guys that were or could've been Main Eventers

Unlike the nWo that had alot of filler characters that were never anything but were there just to make up the numbers.

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

The nWo by faaaaaaaaaaaar.

The four hoursemen is one of the most overrated stables ever.

nWo were responsible for the 90s pro wrestling boom, what made the horsemen special is how much they stayed together and that they were first but nWo were originals and innovative in many ways as well.

nWo >>>>>>> horsemen

 

[Ubermensch]

I didn't get include Evolution because I think by most accounts they would say Evolution was Vince's attempt at the 4 Horsemen.

Despite the poll being tied between the NWO and the Horsemen, I see there aren't too many explanations for why the NWO is better in this thread

The NWO can be credited with wrestling's revival in the mid 90's. However, much of what you see with the NWO was inspired by the Horsemen.

If you compare the two eras, the Horsemen were jumping Dusty Rhodes and breaking his hand at the gas pump while the WWF trying to find more fat guys for Hogan to Body Slam. The WWF at that time was extremely cartoonish and remained that way until the Attitude era. Yes WCW had their cartoonish eras with the Dungeon of Doom etc. However, the on air product was better in the NWA in my opinion than the WWF when they were going against one another. This was largerly attributed to the Horsemen.

Part of comparing the stables is looking at each individual wrestler. The Horsemen individually were far better in caliber than individual NWO members. You can use this measure for every member that ever came through as well.

The NWO was a great stable and certainly gets the number 2 slot. My 3 is the Hart Foundation.

 

[FlairFan2003]

The Four Horsemen werent the original heel stable, they were pre dated by the likes of Paul Ellering's group that featured the early days of Jake Roberts & Road Warriors, as well as The Freebirds who were often billed as a tag team but functioned very much like traditional stables did/do.

What made The Horsemen stand out was the idea that they featured the top talent, Ole Anderson was a legend and formed a powerful tag team with up and coming Arn, Blanchard & Flair were the top 2 wrestlers as heels in the company, Flair was clearly #1 company wide and Blanchard was easily Top 5. They had one of the best known and effective mgrs all time in JJ Dillon, all of them were great promo guys and all could work in the ring. They each carried major angles on their own, proving their importance to the product and enhancing the significance of the group. This remained in effect through their incarnations with Lex Luger & Barry Whyndam.

The significant success of the company during this time (85-88) with so much basically running through The H-Men separates them from stables such as the short lived anti USA Hart Foundation II, DX (important part of WWE programming but not always the centerpiece with much focus on McMahon-Austin-Rock that didnt involve them), Evolution (they made 2 stars but they were not star studded when they started), Freebirds (M.Hayes was a star but the others were more complimentary than the other H-men were to Flair), Bobby Heenan Family (often a collection of mid carders with an occasional top tier star like Andre or R. Rude in the ranks), and several lesser groups like Dangerous Alliance or Dungeon of Doom.

The Horsemen were the 1st Cool Bad Guys, with their own T-Shirts & posters and large groups of fans who would cheer and often dress like them sitting ringside. The one group I feel truly rivals them is the NWO, although they werent as viable and as good as long as the H-Men peaking out of the gate in 96 but suffering some horrible booking in 98, then being buried by the spring of 99. The NWO definately had star power and definately became the crux and centerpiece of company programming. In my mind they fall short of the early H-Men 1) Work rate: Hogan, Hall & Nash didnt wrestle as often or as well as Flair, Blanchard & Arn, each group the cornerstone of their stable. The NWO core didnt do as many house shows as the H-Men, Hogan didnt even do the majority of PPVs, and Hall's alchol & drug issues limited his appearances and performances. That was also true of Curt Henning, who's brief run was productive but cut short due to out of ring issues. 2) Supporting Cast: Typically the H-Men had three core guys and one additional member plus their manager. The NWO very quickly started adding a lengthy list of mid carders & jobbers who never fit with the core 3. Of the 2nd teamers brought in only Marcus Bagwell in his "Buff" persona saw his stock elevated although he didnt reach comparable status with what The H-Men did for Luger and Arn. Scott Steiner was the only member to reach legit main event status alongside the core 3. The NWO had twice as many members and didnt elevate any more people than the H-Men did.

The NWO woefully under used manager Ted DiBiase during his brief stay but got very effective work from Eric Bischoff, maybe the top heel mgr of the 90s. In an era of legendary mgrs in the 80s (Blassie, Albano, Paul E Dangerously, Paul Ellering, Akbar, Mr Fuji, Hart) JJ Dillon ranks alongside Bobby Heenan and Jim Cornette as the best in the business during his time.

 

[Ubermensch]

By my definition I always considered a stable to be two or more wrestlers. I always considered anything with two wrestlers a tag team and not a stable.

As an aside, I always thought Demolition had a ton of potential in the WWF once they got Crush.

 

[relentless1]

the top tier players of the nWo out match the tops of the Horsemen any day. Hogan, Hall, Nash, Macho, DiBiase, Scott Steiner, The Giant, Curt Hennig, Syxx... these were top flight performers and personalities in the wrestling industry known world wide. The Horsemen had Flair Tully and Arn. Very good wrestlers but only Flair himself had been know world wide. 4H was first but nWo had way more impact.

 

[Ubermensch]

The NWO also had bagwell, norton, vincent, and other no names and never was wrestlers.

I see your logic. However, you can't compare those 3 out of the original 4. None of those wrestlers had their careers launched by the NWO. Now look at who were Horsemen that went on and had their career developed into international names that you were talking about. Sting, Luger, and Benoit were all Horsemen. I was never overly enthralled with Windham, and Sid Vicious was always in the WCW or WWF while they were losing to the competition and was never that marketable.

 

[Ubermensch]

Like I posted earlier. Evolution was the WWE's attempt at the 4 Horsemen. Despite Triple H's New England roots, and status in the company, he doesn't do a good job at selling himself as an old money elitist like Flair when he built his career wearing leather jackets and alluding to his cock.

The Shield does a great job filling the upper midcard matches but they are not and won't be considered the greatest stable. They are the best the WWE has came up with in quite some time though.

Degeneration X may can be thrown around the conversation as greatest stable in wrestling versus the horsemen, but DX flipped back and forth from a face to heel stable several times.

 

[thebarber]

there should only be two options in the poll, nWo or Four Horsemen.
The rest do not even rate a mention in the same breath as these two super factions.
I went with the nWo because of the way there ganmg changed the face of pro wresting.
The 4 Horsemen were a great heel group, but they came and went, and brought back to give Flair a vehicle for a storyline. The nWo changed the face of wrestling in the late 90s, Hall and Nash, then Hogan was the baddest group of mofos going around. Because of their influence on WCW WWE had to change gears to keep up and stole the ECW gimmick of hardcore, racy, edgy tv and bam....the Attitude era was born.

By my definition I always considered a stable to be two or more wrestlers. I always considered anything with two wrestlers a tag team and not a stable.

As an aside, I always thought Demolition had a ton of potential in the WWF once they got Crush.

They had zero potential as a three man group, because Crush was brought in specifically to replace Bill Eadie, who had gotten ill in 1990 and was unable to pass WWE medicals and get cleared to return to action, thus the Summerslam 90 match where he hid under the ring and they dropped the titles to the Harts. Demolition was never meant to be a trio, this was a stop gap move while Axe was unable to perform. Demolition then had Road Warriors enter WWE, which killed off all of their momentum and were buried out of the comany from there on in.

 

[lowandmighty]

Its clearly the nWo.

Only people who are long time wrestling fans know about the 4 horseman and only people familiar with the southern wrestling territories actually saw them do anything good. The whole world witnessed the nWo. So something that is not widely known or remembered can not be the greatest, the whole world just out votes you by default.


You even still see the odd nWo t shirt floating around to this day.

The nWo is kind of like Hulkamania in terms of its fame.

4 life brother.

 

[KingHill]

NWO started the second wrestling boom and was the start of the Attitude Era.

nWo t-shirts are seen to this day.

And dont forget, its 4-life.

 

[Ubermensch]

That looks like the Finger Poke of Doom to me. I wouldn't cite that as an example of how great the NWO is. Most consider that the beginning of the end for WCW.