There are some things that the WWE has done right and some things that they have done incredibly wrong. As much as we love what Vincent Kennedy McMahon did to grow the industry of pro wrestling, there's plenty we wish he could take back.
That includes his decisions to disband some of the greatest and most excellent wrestling factions to ever exist. As we see The Wyatt Family go nowhere, The League of Nations drag on, and The Authority not getting much direction, we ask ourselves if he ever knew what to do when it came to breaking up groups?
Just look back for a second. Which historic and all-time legendary WWE factions broke up at the right time? I can't think of any to be honest with you. It seems as though the worst or mediocre ones get to last longer than Donald Trump's presidential bid. Which is sad in its own way.
Meanwhile, some of the best stables in the history of the WWE were on the path to great things, becoming iconic, but then the plug was pulled, putting an end to some of our favourite alliances ever.
As we hope that The Wyatt Family and other factions will get the chance to be main event wrestlers in the future, we won't forget what these factions did for us (even if they ended too early).
Here are the 15 greatest wrestling factions that ended too soon.
15 15. New World Order (In WWE)
The nWo alliance in WCW basically kickstarted the Monday Night War, but Eric Bischoff's obsession with reuniting it over and over again ultimately (in a way) led to its downfall.
But when WWE bought out WCW, Vince McMahon signed the top WCW stars, including Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hulk Hogan. Those three were the original and main members of the nWo and fans were thrilled when the group debuted at No Way Out in 2002, wasting absolutely no time making an impact.
They immediately got into feuds with The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, and the fans bought it like crazy. Even when Hogan faced Rock at WrestleMania X8, the crowd mainly cheered for The Hulkster (who was supposed to be heel).
The fans loved every bit of the nWo together in WWE. The sad thing? The original group broke up at the same 'Mania, when Nash and Hall attacked Hogan for losing to The Rock. Yet another version (which included Shawn Michaels) was formed, but the faction was soon put to rest.
14 14. Latino World Order
For wrestling fans born in the 2000s, you officially get the idea that an alliance with the words "world order" at the end of it made it pretty special. Take the LWO, a clear parody of the nWo.
Eddie Guerrero led the group, which featured the likes of Rey Mysterio Jr., Juventud Guerrera, La Parka, and El Dandy, among others. Sadly, Guerrero got into a car accident, and the storyline basically fell through. To cap it off, the nWo made LWO take off their colours and merchandise, with Mysterio refusing and getting beaten down.
13 13. La Resistance
Sylvain Grenier, Rob Conway, and Rene Dupree formed the angry, arrogant Frenchmen. They were excellent in trying to insult the United State, making them easy heels for fans to cheer against.
They'd come out and wave their flags passionately and showcase their pride. They had everything you wanted in a heel. After all, the WWE is predominantly run by Americans, watched by Americans, and employs almost all Americans in the ring.
However, the group had a rather not-so-thrilling disbanding. They just had arguments here and there before turning on one another. But still, as mid-carders, they were everything you wanted in a feud, only they didn't last as long as they should have.
12 12. Team PCB
The Divas Revolution started off as a major disaster in WWE. Perhaps disbanding one of the best all-female alliances of all-time has something to do with that.
Paige, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch made up the group, with the latter two making their WWE debuts as Paige's sidekicks. This was one of the most dominant and actually entertaining alliances out there in recent memory. However, the three only lasted for about six months before Paige turned on them.
And so, the Divas Revolution continued to struggle. Not sure if it's just me, but Vince McMahon seemingly loves to do what doesn't work for business anymore.
11 11. The Nexus
Honestly, what was Vince and co. thinking? Rule number one in life: When something is great, don't touch it. When your date tells you that pizza is great, do not add extra sauce. Just leave anything good the way it is.
The Nexus showed us how a proper invasion angle is run (talking to you Vince, after you failed to use the WCW Superstars properly). Wade Barrett, David Otunga, Justin Gabriel, and others clashed with John Cena and some of the other top Superstars. They would last from July 2010 to August 2011, but they deserved more time together.
Oh well, at least Barrett became part of The League of Nations. They don't suck, right?
10 10. Evolution
Before we talk about Evolution, we need to compare them to the arguably the greatest alliance ever, The Four Horsemen. That group had reunions here and there, but Ric Flair and co. were so popular that fans would basically never fully forgive a breakup.
But here's what Evolution was: Triple H served as leader and "the present," Ric Flair was the "past," Batista and Randy Orton were "the future." And there was a great storyline in place: Triple H and Flair were grooming them to be the main stars some day, while they all tried to help Triple H maintain his World Heavyweight Championship.
Orton would win the World title and refused to hand it over to his boss, so he left the group. Still, the other three were fine. Batista would win the 2005 Royal Rumble and opt to challenge Triple H for his championship, rather than move to SmackDown! and face JBL.
Batista power-bombed him through a table to end the group. He would win the title, and a few months later, Triple H turned on Flair to officially end any lasting alliance from Evolution. Still, this alliance was full with starpower and deserved more time. Though Triple H, Orton, and Batista reunited in 2014, it didn't last long and didn't make any impact.
9 9. The Brood
One of the more underrated wrestling factions of The Attitude Era, with Edge, Christian, and Gangrel forming this group.
The Brood portrayed wrestlers who were Gothic-like creatures. They were vampire-like wrestlers who brought a unique element of fear to the ring. They were really freaky for kids, but for teenagers and adults, they were incredibly cool.
But they didn't get the long-run they deserved to have and Gangrel would align with The Hardy Boyz and backstab the two. Hey, at least Edge and Christian are killing it on the WWE Network.
8 8. The Ministry Of Darkness
This was one of the scariest factions of all time, who could even force teenagers to turn off the television. Such is life when The Undertaker portrays a Satanic worshipper that's bringing all evil to the WWE.
Edge, Christian, Gangrel, Viscera, Faarooq, and Bradshaw were following The Undertaker into the darkness. Basically, The Undertaker wanted complete control of the WWE. Even going as far as abducting Stephanie McMahon.
Even though the group was controversial, seeing The Undertaker play a pure heel was almost as good as seeing Hulk Hogan join the dark side. We've seen 'Taker play face for nearly 15 consecutive years now, but he embraced this heel character unlike any other version of himself.
7 7. King Booker's Court
This group lasted nearly 11 months, from May 2006 to April 2007, when Booker T became "King Booker" after winning King of the Ring, dressing up like the ruler of a kingdom, with his real-life wife, Queen Sharmell his right-hand gal.
Sir Finlay, Hornswoggle, and Sir William Regal were his allies. In an era where great factions are few and far between, these folks actually got it right. King Booker was in the midst of an epic heel run and even held the World Heavyweight Championship at one point.
However, Booker would act like a real angry king and berate any of his ally members who failed him. The group slowly began to fall apart, but it was over for good when the king suffered real-life injuries and needed time to recover.
6 6. Million Dollar Corporation
Ted DiBiase, The Million Dollar Man, probably performed better as a manager for this group than he did as a wrestler overall. That's not an insult, but a compliment to how greatly he portrayed the role of an evil millionaire.
The group would include, Nikolai Volkoff, Bam Bam Bigelow, I.R.S., Tatanka, King Kong Bundy, Kama, Sycho Sid, 1-2-3 Kid, an imposter Undertaker, and someone known as "The Ringmaster" Steve Austin.
DiBiase kept recruiting wrestlers who pulled off epic heel turns and paved the way for memorable storylines. But they had to break up as some of the top stars lef WWE and DiBiase would sign with WCW. Sure, they lasted two years, but they were an awesome heel group.
5 5. The Shield
Seth Rollins tore his ACL in the middle of an epic heel run as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Roman Reigns was supposed to be the next main face and has been booed heavily by the fans. Dean Ambrose, the guy who should be pushed, has been relegated to midcard matches against Brock Lesnar and others.
See a trend? All three of these wrestlers were great together. Looking back, it seemed like a good idea to break up The Shield. It made Rollins commit an epic heel turn and maintained The Authority storyline on a big level.
But again, looking back at how the WWE is feeling on this one nearly two years after the break-up, it's safe to say these guys probably deserved a longer run together.
4 4. The Legacy
Where to go with these guys? They had three multi-generational wrestlers in leader Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase Jr. The latter two had their WWE careers really take off as they aligned themselves with Orton.
There were great feuds along the way; the group would try to help Orton win his championship in a feud with John Cena, and Rhodes/DiBiase began a rivalry with the revived D-Generation X, already putting them on top of the WWE map. But after accidentally screwing up The Viper's chances of stealing the WWE title from Sheamus at Royal Rumble in 2010, tension grew.
They all attacked each other and disbanded in 2010, ending a year-and-a-half reign together. Seeing how DiBiase wasn't in WWE much longer and how Rhodes went to his ridiculous Starrdust gimmick, we truly wish they stayed together longer.
3 3. The (New) Hart Foundation
The New Hart Foundation featured members of the legendary Hart Family, Bret and Owen. Jim Neidhart, The British Bulldog, and Brian Pillman were the other three members.
This group would play anti-American wrestlers who appealed to the Canadian and British audiences. That made their rivalries Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels. When you get both sides of the border involved in this, you're going to see awesome crowds (Survivor Series 1997, anyone?).
They would win every WWE Championship during the reign, but the only problem was that they lasted just eight months together. Pillman tragically died while the group was together, Bret left for WCW (after the infamous Montreal Screwjob), and the rest of the group (aside from Owen) followed Bret.
2 2. The Un-Americans
In case my American audience is wondering, I'm a proud Canadian that loves your country, but I pray you can agree with me that the anti-American stables really do stand out for entertainment sake.
Lance Storm, Christian, and Test, the three Canadian amigos, also recruited William Regal and Chris Jericho (unofficially) to fight against the WWE for "discriminating" against them. It was easy for fans North of the border to buy this, considering what happened to Hart at the aforementioned Montreal Screwjob event in 1997.
They began feuds with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Rob Van Dam and, ironically enough, fellow Canadian Superstar Edge. This group went a bit far at times by trying to burn the American flag and even fly it upside down.
However, the group slowly broke apart as they blamed each other for losing matches, as Test turned face. They only lasted for three months in 2002, though they were allegedly a short-lived group because of the discomfort in portraying such Un-American people.
1 1. The Straight Edge Society
If only CM Punk could have somehow stayed in the WWE long-term and had his awesome Straight Edge Society behind him the entire time.
Punk would come out and insult the crowd for "being alcoholics and taking drugs," as he portrayed the real-life, straight-edge style, where people refrain from drinking alcohol and using recreational drugs.
Punk recruited Luke Gallows to be his bodyguard, plus a fan in the stands named Serena as she shaved her head to show loyalty. Joseph Mercury was also a member of the group. Why was this group so successful? They just made the crowd really, really hate them and Punk acted like an arrogant preacher who boils your blood.
The group feuded with the likes of Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, and Big Show. In storyline, there was friction in the group, but Serena was released from her contract and Punk beat Gallows in a match, with the latter also being shortly released. Thus, a dominant 10-month reign together ended quickly.