There sure were a lot of stables in 1998-1999.

[agent817]

I mean seriously, we had DX, we had The Corporation, we had The Ministry of Darkness, we had The Brood, we even had The J.O.B. Squad. I would not doubt if Kaientai counted, and we still had The Nation in 1998. Did Russo have a thing for factions or what?

[Deleted]

TNA indicates yes.

[Super Nintenjoe KBD]

Dont forget the Oddities. I loved that time so much, my favourite time as a fan. Unashamed "gang wars in wrestling" lover here. I just thought there was something cool about so many guys belonging to sort of teams, and then having lone wolf bad asses like Austin in the mix.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

Russo loved stables. Look at this era and the amount of times TNA did the evil faction attacks the company storyline.


Russo even had factions within factions. The Brood joined the Ministry and Fortune in Immortal.


Reportedly Vince McMahon doesn't like factions. He prefers guys to get over as a solo act.

[Magnus the Magnificent]

Don't forget The Union!

Or do, rather. They sucked something fierce.

[agent817]

Dec 19, 2015 13:18:08 GMT -5 Magnus the Magnificent said:

Don't forget The Union!

Or do, rather. They sucked something fierce.

Now THAT was a short-lived stable if I ever saw one.

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

Russo loved factions, but I also think it was because WCW was killing them and WCW was always the faction-heavy promotion. Hell, at the same time over the span of those two years you had the Four Horsemen, the nWo, the nWo Wolfpack, the lWo, the oWn (Warrior, not Oprah), the First Family (hah!), the Filthy Animals, the Revolution, the Flock and the Dead Pool, and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

As a WCW guy, I miss factions being done well. McMahon has no understanding of their appeal, while Russo and TNA never had the patience to do them right.

[lionelp]

In a place like WWE, factions make sense. Why wouldn't they get together with like minded wrestlers to look out for each other's backs?

[Instant Classic]

Same could be said now.

[Deleted]

Too bad the hot internet rumor of 1999 didn't happen.

"Sources say that WWF creative will put Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn and Steve Blackman together to form a stable called the shooters."

OHHHHHH MANNNNNNNNNNNN how I wished this happened.

[Allie Kitsune]

Dec 19, 2015 18:13:34 GMT -5 lionelp said:

In a place like WWE, factions make sense. Why wouldn't they get together with like minded wrestlers to look out for each other's backs?

Because Vince is still looking for that guy who will stab everyone else in the back and stack their corpses to climb to the top.

[jmule]

Dec 19, 2015 13:18:08 GMT -5 Magnus the Magnificent said:

Don't forget The Union!

Or do, rather. They sucked something fierce.

How can we forget the union! Test grabbing a couple of wing men so he can ask out Stephanie McMahon!

[Raskovnik]

There are a ton of stables in wrestling in general. WWE is almost the odd man out at times without much of a focus on it. I don't see anything inherently wrong with them. I wish there were more consistent affiliations that make sense underpinning the roster and their interactions. It's one of the reasons I'm such a fan of the Shield dudes. The Ambrose and Reigns friendship is great and their mutual disdain for Rollins is as well. It just makes sense. You get a bunch of these dudes fighting in this environment of course alliances will form and enemies will be made.

[Crappler El 0 M]

WWE's stable craze really started in 1997 and it may have been in response to the great success WCW had in 1996 and into 1997 with the NWO.

[Big Bad Kahuna]

Dec 20, 2015 13:32:39 GMT -5 Crappler El 0 M said:

WWE's stable craze really started in 1997 and it may have been in response to the great success WCW had in 1997 and into 1997 with the NWO.

indeed

what's astonishing to me is how many of these AE stables were huge successes (DX, Nation V2.0, Corporation, Ministry, Hart Foundation) or got over well enough (Brood, Oddities, JOB Squad, original DOA)

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

It makes sense because you can get three or four guys on TV for an amount of time that normally could only be occupied by one dude, which is crucial in giving everyone on the roster something to do.

[Deleted]

...why would Kaientai NOT count?

[Bub (BLM)]

I didn't mind it. It gave a lot of guys something to do, and I liked the idea of guys having a defined group of buddies watching their backs.

[Crappler El 0 M]

Started in late 1996 and into 1997 and continued through 1998 and 1999.

Nation of Domination
The Hart Foundation
Disciples of Apocalypse
Los Boricuas
D-Generation X
The NWA
Kaientai
The Oddities
The Corporation
The JOB Squad
The Brood
The Ministry of Darkness
The Corporate Ministry
The U.N.I.O.N.
The Mean Street Posse

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Dec 19, 2015 12:01:59 GMT -5 TWERKIN' MAGGLE said:

Russo loved stables. Look at this era and the amount of times TNA did the evil faction attacks the company storyline.


Russo even had factions within factions. The Brood joined the Ministry and Fortune in Immortal.


Reportedly Vince McMahon doesn't like factions. He prefers guys to get over as a solo act.

Apparently this is a financial concern more than anything else. If someone gets over on their own, you only need to pay two guys for a match.