Edge getting kicked out of the Judgment Day faction he created showed a rare story that doesn’t get told that often. Most instances of wrestlers getting kicked out of a stable feature the leader orchestrating an attack on other members, like Hulk Hogan kicking The Giant out of the New World Order or Triple H ending Randy Orton’s Evolution run.
However, there have been the more unique occasions of the initial leader being the one removed from the faction. Other members wanting a change can create a double turn or something more layered to have multiple stories moving forward. The following storylines showed the faction leader getting kicked out of their group like Edge recently.
10 Edge (Judgment Day)
WWE rarely has moments that truly stuns the audience today, but one of them came when Edge was kicked out of Judgment Day. The heel turn for Edge was just a few months old after coming up with the stable by adding Damien Priest and Rhea Ripley.
Edge’s new character was polarizing, but WWE apparently was on the side that disliked it. Finn Balor joining the faction set up a new version when the others attacked Edge to welcome Finn as the new leader of Judgment Day moving forward.
9 Matt Hardy (Hardy Family Office)
AEW recently had a story from the predictable side of fans expecting Matt Hardy to get kicked out of the Hardy Family Office. Andrade joined Hardy’s group with Private Party, The Butcher, The Blade and The Bunny as the main members.
The rumors of Jeff signing with AEW made it obvious that Matt was going to get kicked out of his group to end the heel run. Private Party and the other trio voted in favor of Andrade to kick Matt of his faction. Jeff debuted right after to make the save and ensure fans would cheer their reunion.
8 The Rock (The Corporation)
WWE turning The Rock back heel to win his first WWE Championship came by joining The Corporation faction. A double turn saw Vince and Shane McMahon turning on Mick Foley and revealing they were in cahoots with Rock all along.
However, it became clear that fans would cheer Rock’s entertaining promos and a face run was needed. Rock started to grow sick of The Corporation after losing multiple matches to Steve Austin and was kicked out. Names like Triple H, The Undertaker and the McMahon’s being involved meant they didn’t even need Rock anymore.
7 Gangrel (The Brood)
The Brood holds a lot of nostalgia today from Attitude Era fans to enjoy the original trio. Gangrel, Edge and Christian provided some fun moments and left an impact despite only being together for a relatively short stint.
WWE set up the end of the group by having Gangrel trying to side with Christian by going after Edge. Christian and Edge remained loyal to each other and attacked Gangrel to end the trio. Gangrel moved to form the New Brood with the Hardy Boyz, but it flopped almost instantly.
6 Randy Orton (The Authority)
WWE witnessed The Authority organically changing when Seth Rollins started to pass Randy Orton as the lead talent of the group. Even though Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were the most hated characters, they needed a leader of the group to contend for the WWE Championship.
Orton losing his feud to John Cena and falling behind Rollins in the pecking order saw the frustration mounting. The Authority tried to attack Orton in kicking him out, but Orton was actually ready to fight back more than the others on this list.
5 Hulk Hogan (WWE's NWO)
The New World Order coming to WWE remains one of the biggest WWE disappointments. Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall returning with their WCW act to feud with The Rock and Steve Austin seemed like a flawless idea on paper.
The execution went poorly, but the one positive came from The Rock vs Hulk Hogan dream match at WrestleMania 18. WWE realized fans wanted to cheer Hogan as a face, so Nash and Hall attacked him to kick him out of the group after the match.
4 Mustafa Ali (Retribution)
WWE tried to make Retribution a hot act when the mysterious masked wrestlers caused chaos at shows. The empty arena era of the pandemic made it harder to build new stars, but few angles missed the mark as badly as Retribution did.
Mustafa Ali was revealed as the leader of Retribution in a heel turn moment that fans wanted to see work. WWE continued to book the group poorly until it ended with the other members turning on Ali for his ego and going their separate ways.
3 Sting (Main Event Mafia)
TNA booking the Main Event Mafia angle provided one of their most compelling and financially successful ideas. The numbers for the Main Event Mafia segments did well as fans wanted to see the all-star heel group of former world champions.
Sting won a match over Kurt Angle to become the leader of the group with Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash and Booker T joining them. Angle and the others eventually got sick of Sting’s face act in the heel group to attack the legend. Sting was kicked out and started teaming with the younger face wrestlers for revenge.
2 Wade Barrett (Nexus)
The rise of the Nexus faction had fans comparing the must-watch environment of the first few weeks to the New World Order. Wade Barrett led the group of youngsters from the first season of NXT to start a hostile takeover storyline looking to seize control of WWE.
Unfortunately, Nexus fell off way faster than expected following their feud with John Cena. The group losing momentum saw CM Punk added to the story when recovering from an injury. Most Nexus members picked Punk to kick Barrett out of the group and to start his new faction of The Corre.
1 Faarooq (Nation Of Domination)
WWE pushed the Nation of Domination with Ron Simmons as the leader of the faction in the New Generation Era. Simmons adopted the name of Faarooq and found huge success cutting compelling promos to make the heel act work.
The Rock joining the Nation helped save his career after a failed face run to start his career. A heel turn worked so well for Rock that it changed the entire dynamic of the group. The Nation kicked out Simmons in favor of Rock since he was becoming the bigger star.