Which wrestling faction had the most impactful debut?

[CM Steel]

Factions, Stables, groups...are not really seen anymore in wrestling these days. They've come & go from over the years. But which wrestling faction had the most impactful debut? Let's take a look at the list of the top wrestling factions in wrestling history shall we...

1. The 4 Horsemen: They all came together on a NWA/WCW show on TBS saturday due to the fact that all 4 men were champions at that time and things between them would fall in it's place.

2. The New World Order (nWo): Hulk Hogan was revealed to the world as the third man in the nWo with Scott Hall & Kevin Nash at that years "Bash at the Beach" pay per-view. Where that Hulk Hogan heel turn made headlines nationwide!

3. D Generation-X: In 1997 on RAW in the WWF/E locker room sits Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Chyna, and the late Rick Rude talking about being "degenerates", there for creating the faction that would be known as D Generation-X.

4. The Radicalz: Four guys (Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, and Dean Malenko) who jumped from the decaying WCW and worked for jobs in the WWF/E.

5. The Nexus: Eight of the rookies from the new NXT show at that time came to RAW and destroyed everything and everybody in site!


So in your own opinion. Which wrestling faction had the most impactful debut?

 

[wrestlingxp]

Factions, Stables, groups...are not really seen anymore in wrestling these days. They've come & go from over the years. But which wrestling faction had the most impactful debut? Let's take a look at the list of the top wrestling factions in wrestling history shall we...

1. The 4 Horsemen: They all came together on a NWA/WCW show on TBS saturday due to the fact that all 4 men were champions at that time and things between them would fall in it's place.

2. The New World Order (nWo): Hulk Hogan was revealed to the world as the third man in the nWo with Scott Hall & Kevin Nash at that years "Bash at the Beach" pay per-view. Where that Hulk Hogan heel turn made headlines nationwide!

3. D Generation-X: In 1997 on RAW in the WWF/E locker room sits Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Chyna, and the late Rick Rude talking about being "degenerates", there for creating the faction that would be known as D Generation-X.

4. The Radicalz: Four guys (Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, and Dean Malenko) who jumped from the decaying WCW and worked for jobs in the WWF/E.

5. The Nexus: Eight of the rookies from the new NXT show at that time came to RAW and destroyed everything and everybody in site!


So in your own opinion. Which wrestling faction had the most impactful debut?

I honestly think if you are just talking impactful debuts, and not "who was the best faction" I think it would have to be the nWo and the Nexus. I know a lot of people wanna hate on the Nexus, but you think back to when that went down it was the first time in a really long time where people were in shock. Same with the nWo. Most people did not see it coming with Hogan and I even remember watching it on TV and being totally shocked. Hogan had not been a heel (well since his early, early days) and the fans were really mad. Remember all the bottles being thrown at the ring? Oh and Tony Shiavonne (sp?) saying "Hulk Hogan you can go to hell, straight to hell" really added to it. I know nWo went on to the be better faction... but strictly going on debuts, I would have to say they are close...

 

[Outsider-Jim]

the nWo... when Hogan dropped the leg on the Macho Man he turned his back on the whole of the wrestling world, this single moment not only changed the history of heels within the pro wrestling industry, it was also one of the biggest heat-receiving segments of all time.

They also became the most popular heel group of all-time during their prime and made the bad guys fan favourites.

 

[gers09]

it has to be NWO no one or group made as an impactful debut as them the moment hogan hit that leg-drop wresting and sports entertainment changed forever. I mean other than his real early WWWF days of Vince sr Hogan hadn't been a heel he was always the eat your vitamins says your prayers wouldn't dream for thinking of a bad thing never doing it it was a huge gamble for WCW to do it it was either going to work of fail miserably and thankfully for them and to an extent WWE (made them have to work harder to make there product better) it did and was the greatest thing WCW did and still one of the best things to happen in wresting IMO.

After that Nexus it was the best and most shocking thing WWE had done for years it was the first time for a while I was excited for the next raw

 

[TylerFloyd5283]

Its easy it was the NWO angle based on the fact it came out of nowhere....No one saw it coming and involved the greastest hell turn ever Hogan( first time I was a Hogan fan)..I love the 4 horsemen(greatest faction of all time and yes above the NWO) but they came together as all the best heels working together in the territorital days and to save time on shows worked 6-8man matches together and interview time together until Arn Anderson (one of the most underrated wrestlers ever) uttered those magic words then they became a stable....to put it as simply as possible Scott Hall then him introducing Kevin Nash ignited the Monday Night Wars and then wrestling was on til WWE had enough sense to capitolize on ECW......and then what I know what we all wish would happen again the attitude era......Im just praying with CM Punk and Heyman together we can get RAW to do the 3rd hour (10 o clock hour) PG 13 like the RAW and RAW is WAR days............WWE (if they use their talent roster correctly) can pull this off......

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

Without DOUBT - the NWO. I was 13 when it happened. In the UK, Sky TV (that's satellite/Cable to the US fans) carried WWF on its main sports channel on Friday nights if it was Raw. On other satellite stations, we had the cartoon network and that would end at 20:00 hours local time, and then TNT would come on and we would be treated to WCW Nitro. RAW would commence at 10pm. So the UK fans could watch Nitro then WCW.

I remember turning Nitro on and seeing Razor Ramon (as that is who i knew him as at the time) climbing the guardrail and saying "yo chico - you want a war? You got one!"

Then him and Nash went on the attack and then Hogan came out and went heel at the Bash at the Beach 1996- and the NWO was formed. It changed the industry forever.

For me - (forgive the rather long explanation) this was the most amazing faction debut.

Honourable mentions include -

DX - 1998. Whilst DX had existed previously- the all new DX the night after WM 14 was full of shocks - and shows WWE can make stars easily. WHY do they not do it now?

Nexus - Excellent debut- shame about the pay off.

 

[Kizzani]

I read these post and I wonder one thing....How many ways are you going to ask the same question?

I have been on this site now for about a year and the same question about factions comes up once every few months.

Who was the best, Now your asking who had the most impact.

Again and again it will always be the NWO.

NWO came in and had everyone (less the dirt sheets) thinking that the WWE was truly invading WCW. They took out bischoff, they took out everyone they could and even turn the biggest hero to the dark side.

Nexus did what beat up cena?
4 horsemen did what? I am not really sure since they were the great faction in a low budget company
DX made jokes
The Radicalz....HAHAHAHAHAHA. what more can you say...They impacted with nothing.

No matter how you ask a question NWO will always win out when your talking about factions.

 

[FlairFan2003]

If we are just talking debut then without a doubt it was The NWO. Their formation at Bash At The Beach combining the Outsiders initial in ring debut and Hogan's heel turn was stunning. It was much more interesting and more profitable than Nexus.

It's hard to pinpoint the true "debut" of DX as a full scale faction, various members having some sort of relationship prior to becoming a full scale all out faction. Evolution by comparison did have an official "debut" moment, linking its roster to the best of the past, present, & future right after Flair's heel turn aiding Triple H in his feud vs RVD.

The Horsemen, much like DX, had been linked at various times by different stories, the over riding theme their individual battles with Dusty Rhodes. Their "debut" of sorts as a collective force was Flair's heel turn, helping Blanchaard & The Andersons pummel Dusty in the cage after Rhodes tried to save Flair from a beatdown from The Russians. Flair & Dusty had feuded in the past but had mostly stayed out of each others way while Flair was mostly uninvolved with Blanchard & The Andersons, wrestling as a fan fav vs Nikita & Ivan Kolloff's Russian Invasion. Even still they didnt get their nickname till a while later when they noted the crowd reaction to an obscure reference to the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse in a promo after a jobber match on TV. Unlike the Nexus, NWO, or Evolution there were no plans booking wise to make them a faction until after gauging the crowd response at live shows.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

Out of those 5 without a doubt id say NWO and Nexus were the top 2 best stable debuts hell they may be the 2 best stable debuts ever.

Ill go with Nexus because that was the first time in a long time that EVERYBODY was in shock it wasnt leaked online what was gonna happen and just the fans reactions were awesome. I was even sitting there trying to figure out what was going on and I loved seeing them destory everybody and everything in sight not just Cena,Gallows and Punk it added to the shock factor seeing them do that.

 

[Kidd Folarin]

Im just going to go on a limb and say the Horsemen.


There had never been a "faction" before them. All of them were gold on the mic, you thought you had no legitimate chance of beating them, and Flair to me put the group over the top. They made flashiness cool. They set the way for groups or factions to be cool and it could be argued that without them, the idea of having groups wouldnt have really materialized. Every group is loosely based off of the horsemen. Some examples:

Leader: Someone thats golden on the mic, can make you feel great, laugh, or piss you off. Can wrestle circles around everyone, night in night out wins by any means necessary (Flair HHH Shawn)

2nd- Someone that is legit. Can wrestle can and can go on the mic(Arn, HHH)

3rd- Someone that's the rebel, but when it comes down to it, its only about the groups success(Tully, Orton, Xpac)

4th- The Enforcer. The bully, the bad guy. The one that you know only wants a fight and he's the one you have to go thru. (Ollie, Batista, Chyna, Rude)

 

[Aquaman6686]

Definitely the nWo. The revelation of Hogan as the third man was an absolutely shocking moment that literally changed the wrestling world. No other group has ever come even remotely close to that.

My personal pick for second place would be Evolution. In my opinion Evolution is the third best faction of all time (after the nWo and the Four Horsemen), and their first time together, beating the hell out of Scott Steiner, was great to watch (admittedly part of the awesomeness of that moment was simply because it was Scott Steiner getting the crap kicked out of him).

 

[HBsam31]

I read these post and I wonder one thing....How many ways are you going to ask the same question?

I have been on this site now for about a year and the same question about factions comes up once every few months.

Who was the best, Now your asking who had the most impact.

Again and again it will always be the NWO.

NWO came in and had everyone (less the dirt sheets) thinking that the WWE was truly invading WCW. They took out bischoff, they took out everyone they could and even turn the biggest hero to the dark side.

Nexus did what beat up cena?
4 horsemen did what? I am not really sure since they were the great faction in a low budget company
DX made jokes
The Radicalz....HAHAHAHAHAHA. what more can you say...They impacted with nothing.

No matter how you ask a question NWO will always win out when your talking about factions.

This right here. The Nwo is the answer no matter how the question is asked. I was 16 at the time, and they had me. I was squirming in my seat wanting to know what Razor and Diesel were going to do. I wanted so badly to know how it was all going to turn out. Then of all things my childhood idol Hulk Hogan turns his back on everyone. I was in shock. Sorry guys, but nothing any of the other factions did comes close to that.

 

[Spack]

IMO, the most memorable debut of a faction was when ECW was thrown into the Invasion angle. To this day I still enjoy watching clips of all of those "WWF" superstars running out to save Jericho and Kane, then suddenly stopping in their tracks, dramatically turning around and then attacking both of them.

I know groups like the N.W.O. and Four Horsemen had a bigger overall impact, but as far as debuts go: ECW hands down.

 

[closet_fan]

This is easy NWO by miles. Not only did it turn the most iconic wrestling figure in history heel, but it also forced the WWF to change their ways and go against the grain they weren't used to going against.

Even though wrestling was known as fake by most, the feel of Scott Hall coming onto a Nitro show had a pretty realistic feel to me. Especially when this was before spoilers.

 

[theBec2101]

DX. To this day people like to see DX now and then and perform. Try and say that about NWO, Nash, Hall, and Hogan not to mention the other 25 wrestlers that were in the NWO. The NWO was a stable for a couple of months and then it basically became a brand split. 4 horsemen great yes. but what 4? Did they change or impact wrestling at the time. I don’t thing so. They were still great wrestlers wrestling. The only thing NWO had an impact on was the fall of WCW because they finically ruined them.

Going with DX.