Factions have been a staple of professional wrestling for nearly all of its history, with some of the greatest superstars the world has ever seen either getting their start with the help of others or leading the charge to try and take over. Whether it's a group like The Four Horseman, where membership was highly exclusive and meant to make whoever was involved look like a top guy, or the NWO where it seemed like everyone was welcome, factions have and always will play a big part in the story.
Wrestling factions are pretty much an all or nothing scenario for those involved, however. Either your status in the company goes up with those you're running with or you can be seen as an even lower performer as you and your crew continued to get beat up no matter what numbers advantage you might have.
10 Worst - Los Boricuas
In the late 1990s, the WWE was all about faction warfare with seemingly everyone on the roster involved in one way or another. When you have that many groups running around on Monday nights they can't all be winners, which is where Los Boricuas come in.
Founded by Savio Vega after getting the boot from the Nation of Domination, Los Boricuas stuck to the mid-card on Raw mainly butting heads against the aforementioned Nation as well as the biker faction, Disciples of the Apocalypse. The crew managed to stick around for roughly two years before fading back into the nothingness from whence they came.
9 Best - New Hart Foundation
Depending on what country you resided in during the late 90s your opinion on the reformed Hart Foundation could vary wildly. While the group was seen as conquering heroes of sorts in Canada and to a lesser extent the UK, the crew of Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, and Brian Pillman, was without a doubt the hottest heels across the United States.
Town after town would get worked into a frenzy, unlike anything you see today, by constantly bashing America and praising their homelands. The New Hart Foundation rode that wave to multiple championships including a world title for Bret and Intercontinental for Owen, and red hot storylines that took over televisions across the world.
8 Worst - The Oddities
Originally introduced as a heel faction led by The Jackyl, Don Callis, The Oddities were a group of "freak show" wrestlers meant to intimidate and dominate across the WWE. The main issue with the group being that no one involved could really wrestle, this idea fizzled out quickly and they were repackaged as a fun-loving group that wanted to show the world that "freaks" are people too.
While all that is fine and good the biggest crime committed by this group was bringing the Insane Clown Posse into a long-running storyline. ICP would perform the groups entrance theme before getting themselves involved in a feud with The Headbangers, eventually turning on the friendly giants in a story that's best forgotten.
7 Best - The New Day
It's almost hard to remember a time where Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Big E were relegated to the sidelines, rarely seen on television and with nothing to do. After a rocky start as a team, The New Day have consistently been one of the most entertaining parts of the weekly TV as well as featuring heavily in any tag division they are in. More recently they have pulled off the even more impressive feat of having one member get elevated to the main event scene without having to turn his back on his brothers to get a leg up.
The group has redefined what being "brothers" really means in the WWE with them always having each other's backs pushing each other to be better and better every day. Their days of breaking records within the WWE are hopefully far from over.
6 Worst - League of Nations
On their own, each member of The League of Nations showed nearly limitless potential at one point in time. Both Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio were given runs with the WWE and World Heavyweight Championship while Wade Barrett and Rusev seemed destined for the same but put them all together with the sole purpose of being a punching bag for Roman Reigns and you have a formula for failure.
What should have been an imposing group of foreign heels was swiftly turned into nothing but a running joke eating superman punches and spears week after week as their credibility continued to crumble.
5 Best - Evolution
Evolution may be a mystery, but the success of the group is as plain as day. When you combine a current main event talent/world champion with two young guns destined for the same and arguably the greatest wrestler the world has ever seen, there's little doubt that the group is going to leave an impact.
While many still malign Triple H for his "reign of terror" ways back in the early 2000's it's simply unfair to take away what he did to make Randy Orton and Batista into the huge stars that they became, grooming them along with the ultimate mentor Ric Flair as the impact that the group had is still felt to this day.
4 Worst - The Corre
After The Nexus petered out on Monday Night Raw, Wade Barrett was replaced by CM Punk as the leader of The New Nexus leaving Barrett on his own as he moved from Smackdown. Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel were quick to follow their former leaders footsteps and, joined by Ezekiel Jackson, formed a new group known as The Corre.
Outside of a short run with the tag titles by Slater and Gabriel the group was never able to make an impact while looking like a cheap knockoff of The Nexus, but without the numbers or intimidation factor. The group stuck together just long enough to have a showing at WrestleMania 27, losing in less than two minutes to the team of Big Show, Kane, Kofi Kingston, and Santino Marella.
3 Best - The Shield
From the moment they made their thunderous debut, The Shield were clearly earmarked as future top guys in the business. In the beginning, it was nearly impossible to tell who was the top guy week in week out as Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns all seemed more than capable to take the lead depending on what the situation called for both in and out of the ring.
It's little doubt that when it comes to in-ring action that outside of maybe The New Day there hasn't been a group able to deliver in the ring quite like The Shield. Their run of matches in their first run remain some of the best six-man tags the company has ever seen whether against the likes of The Wyatt Family, Evolution, or even just three babyfaces with nothing else to do. The Shield was the clear top dog in the WWE, and their career paths since the original dissolution of the group prove it.
2 Worst - J.O.B. Squad
The attitude era of wrestling is often looked back at as one of the greatest periods on all of professional wrestling, not for the in-ring performances but for the character work given to all on the card.
When a group of low card jobbers, namely Al Snow, Bob Holly, Scorpio, Duane Gill, and The Blue Meanie, were left with nothing to do on weekly television the idea was thought up to group them all together and see if they could turn their luck around. Unfortunately with a name like the J.O.B. squad it was obvious fairly quickly that this was a group destined to be at the butt of all jokes and continuously be left staring at the lights at the end of matches.
1 Best - Degeneration-X
Degeneration X can be broken down into two clear time frames, pre and post-WrestleMania 14. Before that event, the crew consisted solely of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Chyna (and Rick Rude for a few days to be fair) whereas after Mania the group expanded to include The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac while Michaels had to step away due to his back injury.
No matter which version of DX you talk about, as long as it's not the money grab re-union types in the later 2000s and early 2010s, the group stayed red hot with the crowd and managed to keep in multiple title scenes at the same time. Whether it was Michaels or Triple H going for the world titles or The Outlaws with the tag titles or even X-Pac doing whatever X-Pac did the group always stayed relevant and loved nothing more than to push the boundaries of what they could get away with.