Stables have been a major part of professional wrestling for decades. Some of those groups have made for memorable storylines that have lived on for generations after they last participated in a match or a feud. Wrestling organizations have been attempting to recreate the Four Horsemen since the 1980s and neither World Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment nor Total Nonstop Wrestling have been able to relive the magic that was presented on television programs during the days of the original Horsemen.
It seems as if there has been a laundry list worth of terrible wrestling stables for every good one that has been put together in national promotions. These groups failed to click with fans and they also were unable to have meaningful matches that drew money or did any favors for the wrestlers involved. Some, theoretically, seemed like good ideas on paper, as they were plucked from pro wrestling history and from times when similar ideas worked. Others, however, were seemingly always doomed from the very start and one cannot help but wonder what the promoters and/or writers who came up with those ideas were thinking.
Anyone with even casual knowledge of the industry would probably not be shocked to know that a large group of the worst stables in wrestling history came from WCW and from TNA Wrestling. TNA has mirrored the failures of WCW for over a decade and it is somewhat surprising that the current second-tier company still manages to exist considering all of the money that it has lost since it first debuted. The good news is that those running the WWE have apparently figured out that those who are not knowledgeable about history are doomed to repeat mistakes that occurred in the past.
15 15. The Corre
WWE had a money-making idea on its hands when it took the wrestlers from the original NXT television show and had them form the Nexus, a heel group that was, on TV, set to be the next big thing. Those making the calls for the company could not help themselves, though, and the Nexus was buried to midcard status a couple of months after it debuted on Raw. The group eventually disbanded and some broke off to create The Corre. The Corre was a watered-down version of the stable that had already been watered down, and it represented a failed opportunity for the WWE.
14 14. Planet Jarrett
Jeff Jarrett often receives far more criticism from fans, and even from wrestling insiders, than he deserves. With that said, an idea of a stable that was formed to keep Jarrett as the top man in any national promotion was always doomed to fail, and that was the case in TNA Wrestling a decade ago. Jarrett played the role of Hollywood Hulk Hogan in this makeshift edition of a new World order reboot, and Jarrett was not, to the shock of nobody, as good as Hogan in any way. This is just one of many examples of TNA looking for gold where none existed.
13 13. West Texas Rednecks
WCW was running out of ideas as the 1990s were wrapping up. The company was losing talent to the WWE and viewers were leaving the product at alarming rates. All that those creating storylines for the company could come up with was to put wrestlers together in different stables, and that included the West Texas Redknecks who formed a stable because the wrestlers involved all had southern ties and they all believed in the mantra that “rap is crap.” This idea might have worked for the National Wrestling Alliance in the 1970s, but the stable drowned in the final days of the 90s.
12 12. Dungeon of Doom
WCW was stuck in the past in 1995 when the company put the Dungeon of Doom together. The idea was that Kevin Sullivan was to put together a stable filled with real-life monsters who would work together to feud with Hulk Hogan and rid WCW of Hulkamania forever. The stable was not all bad, however, as wrestling fans would not be able to go back and laugh at the infamous in-ring debut of The Yeti if not for the creation of the Dungeon of Doom. Outside of being unintentionally funny, the stable was a disaster.
11 11. The Flock (WCW)
WCW raided Extreme Championship Wrestling for talent in the 1990s in an attempt to catapult the company ahead of the WWE in the Monday Night Wars. It did not always work out, and Raven and his Flock were examples of such failures. Raven never became the star that WCW had hoped he would become, in part because of how poorly he was booked by the company's writers, and his Flock was not much of anything outside of Raven and Billy Kidman. The truth of the matter is that there were too many groups in WCW in the second half of the 1990s, and thus there was little room for the Flock.
10 10. J.O.B. Squad
Those writing for the WWE had a sense of humor during the Attitude Era, and the creation of the J.O.B. Squad was but one example of what some within the company found to be entertaining. The stable was filled with wrestlers who were barely good enough to be considered midcard talent in the WWE, including the likes of the Blue Meanie, Gillberg and Al Snow. The experiment was not a complete disaster, as members of the group did manage to win the Hardcore Championship a couple of times. This stable now exists only in history and it never gets mentioned on WWE television.
9 9. The Millionaire's Club
WCW was desperate to catch up with the WWE in the Monday Night Wars and one way that the organization tried to gain ground on their competitors was to have arm imitate life. The Millionaire's Club, which was recreated upon WCW pressing the “reset” button and installing Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo as the head of creative control, was based on older veteran wrestlers holding back younger talent, as that is exactly what was going on behind the scenes at the company. The storyline was tossed aside almost as quickly as it was developed and WCW itself did not last long soon thereafter.
8 8. Sports Entertainment Xtreme
Sports Entertainment Xtreme had to have the final word in the stable's name start with the letter 'x” so that the letters would spell out “S.E.X.” Sex. Get it? Sex sells, sex is controversial, and sex was what was going to help TNA Wrestling compete with the WWE for attention and pay-per-view draws. The brainchild of historic pro wrestling failure Vince Russo was far more embarrassing for an organization that has the initials T.N.A. than it was a positive, yet another attempt by a pro wrestling group to make its own version of the new World order. You may have forgotten about S.E.X. and that says plenty about the stable.
7 7. Spirit Squad
Any and all cynicism about the Spirit Squad aside, the stable actually put together some funny and entertaining segments while working in Ohio Valley Wrestling (pro wrestling may not be for you if you can't laugh at the idea of the Spirit Squad attempting to recruit CM Punk to join the group). They were for the most part buried when called up to the main roster, however, and the Spirit Squad was eventually shipped back to OVW by D-Generation-X during an episode of Raw. They can't all be gems and the WWE swung and missed on the Spirit Squad idea.
6 6. Immortal
TNA Wrestling attempted to recreate the new World order storyline. With Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff running the stable. In two thousand and ten. Seriously. The cherry on top of the sundae of this ridiculous and stupid idea was TNA Wrestling going all-in on Jeff Hardy being the top heel in the organization. Hardy, perhaps the most over babyface that TNA has ever had, could not be relied on to remain in compliance with certain company regulations regarding what wrestlers are allowed to put into their bodies. Shocking to absolutely nobody, Immortal did nothing to help TNA Wrestling gain ground on WWE in a war that was never a fair fight.
5 5. X-Factor
The former WWFEstable known as X-Factor has lived on longer after it was disbanded because of the awesome theme song that was created by Uncle Kracker. It is a shame that the actual group itself was not nearly as memorable. The term “X-Pac heat,” that refers to how viewers and crowds in attendance would tune out whenever the wrestler mentioned was inside of the ring, was very real at the time, and neither Justin Credible nor Albert did much of anything positive to give the group legitimacy. At least wrestling fans will always have that great theme song.
4 4. The Alliance
The Alliance should have been one of the greatest stables in all of wrestling history, one made up of former WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling stars and one that should have helped make records amount of money for the WWE. Pride, egos and a failure to recognize that the actual Monday Night Wars were dead and buried made The Alliance nothing more than a group of mediocre performers who were not good enough to hang with the WWE and one that needed the likes of Kurt Angle and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to even be competitive in feuds.
3 3. The New Day
Just how bad have things gotten for the wrestling stable that includes Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods? The group has actually become known as “New Day Sucks” due to the chants that the trio receive whenever any of the three of them perform inside the ring. What is funny about the gimmick is that the New Day has been booked as jobbers, and it is through that storyline that the group has gotten over with factions of fans who like to boo and harass the wrestlers during matches. The New Day may, in fact, suck, but the group was awarded the WWE Tag Team titles in 2015.
2 2. nWo Hollywood
Here is what you have to remember about this group: After Hollywood Hulk Hogan rejoined with members of the Wolfpac following the “Fingerpoke of Doom,” Hogan was not even part of the stable that included a bunch of castoffs who, in storyline, were not good enough or cool enough to hang with the main event players. Those in nWo Hollywood did not even get the original new World order theme, as they were instead saddled with an instrumental that practically screamed “Midcard Gimmick!” As hard as it may be to imagine, WCW actually managed to create a version of the nWo that was worse than this roster.
1 1. nWo 2000
WCW had one idea for making money and attracting television ratings: Recreate the new World order. The nWo 2000 was more sad than it was entertaining, a group that included the original Outsiders along with Jeff Jarrett and Bret “Hitman” Hart. WCW was already on the downtrend in the Monday Night Wars before this incarnation of the nWo was put together, and it was an afterthought almost as quickly as it was created. The irony is that the the original new World order wanted, in storyline, to destroy WCW and that is exactly what the wrestlers in the stable achieved.