Ask any wrestling fan about their favorite stables and you’ll usually get answers like the Four Horsemen, DX, the nWo, the Heenan Family, and maybe even the J–Tex Corporation. Now ask them about some of the members of these and other factions that didn’t belong there. The most ardent fans can rattle off some of the names on this list, but most other fans might scratch their heads at the question, having blocked some of these names out of their memory.
There have been so many fantastic stables over the years that the WWE’s Wrestling’s Greatest Factions DVD can’t possibly cover them all. This article doesn’t even begin to try to cover them all either. Instead, we’ve taken a different approach and decided to look at some of the most undeserving members of these factions.
In some instances, these superstars, while being very good at what they do in the ring, simply don’t match what the essence of the faction. In others instances, the superstar in question just plain sucks and should have never been allowed to put on wrestling boots, let alone be a part of a legendary stable. So don't be surprised if you see some damn good wrestlers on this list. It doesn't mean they're terrible wrestlers, it just means that as far as the stable goes, they just couldn't cut the mustard.
15 15. Sid Vicious: The Four Horsemen
There was a period of time where, for some reason, the Horsemen would bring random seemingly non–Horsemen types into the fold. The first of these guys was Sid Vicious. The Horsemen have always been able to talk people into the building and once there, put on the match of the night. Does that sound like Sid to you? The guy’s promo gaffs are the stuff of legend and his most memorable match was when he shattered his leg in a million spots. The guy might have been a good big man, but his Horseman status is questionable at best – the guy lost to Lex Luger in less than a minute at Clash of Champions, Coastal Crush.
14 14. Samoa Joe: The Main Event Mafia
TNA had built up Samoa Joe to be a monster. Then Kurt Angle came in and beat the guy in his first match, totally negating all the hard work TNA did building Joe up. He never fully recovered, which is why, as amazing as Joe is, he just didn’t belong in The Main Event Mafia. The Mafia was comprised of all former WCW and WWE World Champions–Kurt Angle, Booker T, Sting, Kevin Nash, and Scott Steiner. Had the TNA bookers not crippled Joe, he might have had a shot at looking like he belonged with this crew. Instead, it looked like the bookers forgot they needed to have a TNA guy in this stable.
13 13. PG–13 (J.C. Ice and Wolfie D): The Nation of Domination
Ironically enough, it is the two original leaders of the Nation that are also their worst. The Nation of Domination actually started in the USWA promotion with the tag team PG–13. In that incarnation, the group never got a lot of traction. Clearly, the WWE version had a lot going for it. The original group was led by Farooq and included Crush, Savio Vega, and PG–13. This original crew, along with the more popular version, went for a Nation of Islam / Black Panther vibe…the perfect place for two scrawny white guys.
12 12. Rick Rude: D-Generation X
Ravishing Rick Rude was one of the best competitors of the late eighties/early nineties, and even had a few victories over The Ultimate Warrior. However, other than his strange week during the Attitude Era, in which Rude appeared on both Nitro and Raw at the same time and on ECW Hardcore TV later in the week, what was the point of Rude running with pranksters and punks like HBK and HHH? There wasn’t one. All he did was walk around with a suit and a briefcase, but how did that fit the DX mold? After the triple Rude week, DX brought out Handsome Harvey, which was Harvey Wippleman in a suit with a briefcase, to show how pointless Rude in DX really was.
11 11. Viscera: The Ministry of Darkness / The Corporate Ministry
When humongous stables merge, there’s often a huge list of superstars undeserving of being listed with their peers in the stable (don’t worry, we’ll cover the nWo later). Sometimes, a stable is filled with some seemingly undeserving midcarders and one or more of them rise to the top. In the case of The Undertaker’s Corporate Ministry, Viscera falls under that former category. Perhaps Taker remembered that the big guy broke his face as Mabel. However, Viscera, rest his soul, was not one of the better big men the industry. His move set more or less highlighted the fact that they guy could move, but that he was nowhere near the levels of other big men, like his leader, The Undertaker.
10 10. Michael P.S. Hayes: Team Xtreme
When The Hardy Boys broke away from Gangrel, the team still wasn't quite there yet and needed a heater. For some strange reason, Michael Hayes thought he could have one more run and decided to be the Hardy's heater. But Hayes, who is responsible for why we have themes for wrestlers today, was clearly past his prime and couldn't hang with them. According to Matt in his half of the Hardys DVD, he said the Freebird wanted to dress them up in old school jeans with big belt buckles. Clearly one of the best Southern heels had lost touch by the time Team Xtreme came along.
9 9. Michael Tarver: The Original Nexus
Wade Barrett, perennially on the cusp of main event status; Darren Young, one half of the tag team champions; Skip Sheffield, now Ryback; Heath Slater, consistently entertaining; David Otunga, host of the Raw Pre–Show; Justin Gabriel, aerial superstar; Daniel Bryan 1st ever NXT wrestler to win the world title and Michael Tarver…um, and Michael Tarver…well, he wore a bandit face mask. The guy didn’t do a lot of memorable things on NXT or in the Nexus and in hindsight, just didn’t belong there at all. While each and every member of the original Nexus went on to make something of themselves in the wrestling industry, Tarver has languished in the indies since leaving the WWE.
8 8. The Yeti: The Dungeon of Doom / The Flock
To be the worst and most undeserving member of a stable as comically bad as The Dungeon of Doom, you have to be truly ridiculous, which is exactly what the Yeti (“the Yeh–tay!”) was. He is responsible for one of the worst segments in wrestling history, which is the hugging hump from Halloween Havoc. Yes, Big Show was part of that too, but while Show has had a marvelous career, the Yeti just wasn’t as skilled and floated around WCW for less than a handful of appearances before showing up as Reese of Raven’s Flock. He wouldn’t do much better there, earning the dubious distinction of being the most undeserving member of not one, but two stables.
7 7. Manu and Sim Snuka: Legacy
Sometimes, factions are just meant to be trios. The Legacy was comprised of the sons of wrestlers of yesteryear–Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase, along with Manu Anoai and Sim Snuka, as they tried to add more in their infancy. Backstage politics, in ring performances and almost killing The Undertaker led to their two releases. In storylines, they failed to prove worthy of running with Legacy. Backstage, Manu felt he didn’t have to pay any dues, which leads to a bad attitude no one wanted to deal with. As for Sim, he portrayed a cameraman during the WrestleMania XXV Undertaker / HBK match. If you remember The Undertaker diving over the ropes and landing right on his head; that was because Snuka failed to do his job, which was catch The Deadman.
6 6. Paul Roma: The Four Horsemen
Paul Roma, perfect candidate for “’Memba’ Them?” on TMZ.com. Roma started in the WWE as one half of pretty–boy jobber tag team, The Young Stallions, whose claim to fame was that they stole their theme song from Jimmy Hart. Then Roma and Hercules formed Power and Glory. The slightly better than bad tag team at least had a cool finisher, Herc’ would deliver a superplex and with expert timing, Roma would follow with a big splash from the top rope. Destined for being future endeavored, Roma headed for WCW and somehow became a Horsemen. The concept of the Horsemen was four top notch wrestlers acting collectively. If any fan thinks “Paul Roma” when they think top notch wrestler, they should be turning in their fan card.
5 5. Darren “Puke” Drozdov: The Legion of Doom
Early on in the careers of Hawk and Animal, the LOD was a stable that also included Arn Anderson, King Kong Bundy, and Jake Roberts. As their careers went on, Hawk and Animal kept the LOD name and forged a path of destruction seldom seen in sports entertainment. Then the Attitude Era came and The Road Warriors seemed a little stale. First, they were paired with Sunny, which obviously no fan would mind, but when even that wasn’t working anymore, they were put with the rookie Droz, who despite having tattoos and strange hair, just didn’t seem to be LOD material. Of course, this also led to the godawful Droz kills Hawk segment on Raw and the LOD’s departure from the company.
4 4. Gangrel: The Brood
The Brood is quite possibly the most popular short–lived stable of all time. Gangrel, Edge, and Christian arrived in a fury as blood thirsty vampires and crowds would eat it up. They came from under the entranceway and had one of the coolest themes ever. But clearly, Edge and Christian were destined for even greater things and they left the group. Then the Hardys would align themselves with Gangrel to be a part of The New Brood, and they would leave the Vampire Warrior shortly afterwards as well. There's only one conclusion to draw here and it's that the guy the Brood was created for just quite couldn’t cut it.
3 3. Nicky: The Spirit Squad
The Spirit Squad consistged of five young and hungry OVW superstars who were all being called up to the main roster as…evil mail cheerleaders?! The Spirit Squad was one of those ideas that Vince McMahon really wanted to make work, so why else would this not–so–fearsome fivesome be pushed to the hilt and involved in programs with McMahon and DX? The team would be unceremoniously shipped back to OVW by DX and only one man came back from developmental abyss–Nicky as the Showoff, Dolph Ziggler, who has continuously erased his Squad roots. This is the only case on our list of a member being far too good to be included in a terrible gimmick.
2 2. Sean Waltman: The Kliq
We’re not discrediting the real life friendship of The Kliq. But as far as factions go, Waltman was only allowed to run with these guys is because he was their friend. Otherwise his biggest claim to fame would be that he was tag champs with Kane. HHH and HBK are among the greatest of all time, Hall and Nash are responsible for turning WCW around and all four of those guys could have done what they did in the business without Waltman. Yes, he was one of the best Cruiserweights ever, but his place in the business is elevated solely because of who his friends are and not because of what he did in the sport.
1 1. Vincent:the nWo
Whenever a wrestling company wants to make fun of another wrestling company, Virgil/Vince/Shane/whatever–they’ll–call–him will be there. Whenever you spot a man at wrestling conventions pleading with anyone that will listen that he was part of one wrestling’s greatest angles, he’ll be there too. This entire list could’ve been just nWo members, but Vince was the first undeserving member. In the WWE, he was named Virgil to jab at Virgil “Dusty” Rhodes, so naturally he would be Vincent in WCW, but he still sucked and was definitely not nWo material (at least during the early days of the group, before they let everyone in). Letting Vince into the group definitely opened up the floodgates, heck even Disco Inferno would have been a better choice.