After less-than-stellar runs in WWE and WCW in the early 1990s, wrestler Scott Levy struck gold when he reinvented himself as a new character: the brooding, grunge-inspired heel Raven. A much darker character than many of the wrestlers of the 1990s, Raven was a manipulative villain who would always gain a psychological advantage over his foes, and then take part in violent matches with them, especially during his initial run in ECW.
Raven was also a leader of men, and often organized a group of followers to do his bidding. In other words, he’s been in a lot of factions over the years, though sometimes not as a leader. Let’s take a look at every group that can claim to have had Raven as a member, starting with the worst one.
9 Serotonin
Raven leading a faction of outcasts seems like a recipe for success, but it didn’t work out with Serotonin. The premise here was that Raven had organized a stable of younger wrestlers under him, giving them edgy names like “Martyr” and “Havok,” and would beat them mercilessly with kendo sticks after the match regardless of outcome to better motivate them.
It sounded conceptually like a great way to build up younger talent, but failed due to the group being booked as jobbers, and eventually fell apart when most of the group either defected or got released.
8 Diamond Mine
Not to be confused with the current NXT stable, the Diamond Mine was basically a WCW version of the AWA promotion Diamond Exchange of a few years earlier. Both had Diamond Dallas Page as a manager, but the WCW iteration had Vinnie Vegas (Kevin Nash), The Diamond Studd (Scott Hall), and Raven in his surfer persona Scotty Flamingo.
While that sounds like an amazing lineup in hindsight, none of the wrestlers were exactly stars at the time, and the group lasted from 1991 to 1992, failing to make much of an impression.
7 EV 2.0
The year 2010 saw Impact Wrestling get invaded by a group of ECW alumni led by Tommy Dreamer and Mick Foley, including Sabu, Team 3D, and Raven in order to set up a special ECW reunion show called Hardcore Justice. After the PPV, the group found an antagonist in the form of Fortune, and stuck around to fight them under the uninspired name of EV 2.0.
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A weak stable due to waning ECW nostalgia, EV 2.0 had some notable matches including winning a Lethal Lockdown match against Fortune at Bound for Glory 2010, and then losing to Fortune in a 10-man tag match at Turning Point the following month. Raven would end up getting released days after that Turning Point match, and the group fizzled the following year.
6 The Dead Pool/Necro Ward
Right after that fun WCW angle where Raven was revealed to have rich parents and an entitled upbringing, Raven started leading a new stable in WCW. August 1999 brought together the Necro Ward (later renamed The Dead Pool), composed of Vampiro and the Insane Clown Posse, with the somewhat mismatched Raven functioning as more of a manager for the trio.
The group would exist for a month before Raven abruptly quit WCW, after which the remaining members would become The Dark Carnival, adding the KISS Demon and The Great Muta to its ranks.
5 Sports Entertainment Xtreme
In late 2002, Vince Russo formed the extremely Vince Russo stable of Sports Entertainment Xtreme (S.E.X.), Impact Wrestling’s first major heel stable that combined the takeover storyline of the nWo, with the “old school vs. new school” concept of the New Blood.
Originally composed of Russo, B.G. James, and the Harris Brothers, S.E.X. really went the nWo route by seemingly padding its membership with everyone in sight regardless of how well they fit in with the group, which included Raven at one point.
4 The WWE/ECW Alliance
The Alliance is a tough group to rate. While an ambitious idea, the poor execution and booking killed what should have been a slam-dunk storyline for WWE. And while it’s been criticized for lacking the major WCW stars, it was still loaded with great talent from WCW and ECW, which included Raven.
Because WWE chose to use The Alliance angle to focus on WWE stars like Steve Austin and Kurt Angle, many of the actual WCW/ECW wrestlers got the short end of the stick, which includes Raven. During his time with the Alliance, Raven feuded with Saturn, took part in various multi-man affairs like battles royal, and not much else.
3 Raven’s Flock
Upon arriving in WCW in 1997, Raven gradually ended up putting together his second stable, Raven’s Flock, which was made up of various wrestlers who weren’t doing anything like Scotty Riggs, Billy Kidman, Van Hammer, and Kanyon, along with his ECW cohort Saturn.
They didn’t accomplish much, but the Flock seemed like the coolest stable in WCW because everyone involved adhered to Raven’s grunge aesthetic without seeming like they were in uniform. Them being featured in WCW/nWo Revenge probably made them seem more important than they really were.
2 The Gathering
Raven put together The Gathering as soon as he showed up in Impact Wrestling in 2003, which would be made up of Julio Dinero, Alexis Laree (a.k.a. Mickie James), and CM Punk, who was simultaneously Raven’s mortal enemy in Ring of Honor.
It feels easy to write off anything that happened in the ridiculous early years of Impact, but to The Gathering’s credit, the group ended up feeling more successful than most other Raven ventures. With his minions behind him, Raven actually entered the World Title picture during this run, though he wouldn’t win until a couple years later.
1 Raven’s Nest
WCW’s The Flock had mainstream exposure, but the ECW version, The Nest, was the original and also the most successful. The Nest would claim ECW notables like Stevie Richards, the Pitbulls, and Cactus Jack as well as lower-tier guys like Johnny Hot Body and Brian Lee, but the value of Raven stables was always in giving the weaker wrestlers something to do.
Having a pseudo-cult would prove a great tool for Raven’s feuds with Tommy Dreamer and Sandman, and would help him gain actual kayfabe success, as he’d have two tag title reigns as well as two world titles during this run.