WWE Countdown: Greatest Factions Review
I can already tell this will be one of my favorite episodes as I’ve always enjoyed the different groups to come through. Yes, even the Spirit Squad. Who would have thought that Nicky would grow up to be such a successful superstar? Right Mr. Ziggler. There’s even an LWO sighting in just the preview for the countdown to begin. As always, feel free to comment with your thoughts on who was the greatest faction, I’ll throw out my thought as well.
10. The Heenan Family
One of those factions that I was a bit too young to have fond memories of, but I know Bobby “The Brain” Heenan was a fantastic manager. It seemed like there was a Wrestlemania where he had some guy in just about every match. You almost need a family tree to even list all the superstars he’s been the manager of. That ties quite well with the family idea.
9. The Dangerous Alliance
A WCW faction that I’ve never had the pleasure of witnessing, looks like it’s to the WWE Network to watch some footage.
8. Nation of Domination
Now we are in my genre of viewing as I do remember this faction. It brought us quite the superstar in some guy named The Rock. But you can’t forget how Farooq, D-Lo Brown, Mark Henry, Kama, and even Owen Hart all played such big roles for the Nation of Domination in the Attitude Era. Those wars with D-Generation X really put all members on the map. It really did evolve and help mold the career of the Rock into what he would become. I know I’ve seen the rumor of some idea to reform this, and I have to say, please don’t ruin the legacy of this fantastic faction.
7. The Corporation
Not knowing the rest of this list as I’m going through this live, I will say I am surprised that this group isn’t higher on the list when you look at the major factor of Vince McMahon being involved. Now we won’t talk about when Vince had to start up The Union to fight the corporation, which is funny in itself, but hey, the Corporation did have the star power outside Vince when you look at how Shane McMahon got involved: The Rock, Test, Ken Shamrock, Big Bossman, Triple H, Chyna, even combining forces with the Undertaker’s group the Ministry at some point.
6. The Hart Foundation
More action coming from the Attitude Era as this group really put a stamp in that era. Owen, Bret, Brian Pillman, Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart, and the British Bulldog. If you’re Canadian, I would imagine this is the best faction ever. This really put Bret Hart on the map for some of his better promos. And who can forget the reactions they would get up in Canada?
5. Evolution
This group just came up in a podcast that I was part of because I do believe this was the low point of Triple H’s career. Sure he was champion, but man he had some bad challengers at that time. Scott Steiner and Triple H? Anyone remember that? For me, this group just never connected. But you can definitely see how it turned out for each guy. And who can forget when Orton won the title and got turned on by the group? In the same vein that Batista ended up getting excluded from the club. Now those moments are what made Evolution a vital faction in WWE.
4. The Four Horsemen
Another group that isn’t in my memory banks. From what I’ve heard and read, the original incarnation of the Horsemen was the best one. They brought it back around in the late 1990’s, but by then, they were just popular as faces, which seems to be the polar opposite of how they started.
3. NWO
Just like the Four Horsemen, you need to stick with the original incarnation of this. There’s no way you could list all the members that jumped around this group and it even split into the Red and Black NWO. Then they tried to revive it back with Kevin Nash losing the title back to Hulk Hogan, but by that point, this group had ran their course. Adding Hulk Hogan to this group was the best thing for his career and it gave the lift to this group.
2. The Brood
Number two on the list? I did enjoy these guys, but come on now, they’re not this high on the list. It did help put Edge and Christian on the map. Sorry to Gangrel. And just think if they would have hit just a few years ago when the vampire craze hit for fifteen minutes. But even then, this group did catch on. Just don’t think they’re as high as they should be.
1. D-X
I shouldn’t be surprised that this the top group when all things considered. Once again, a stamp for the Attitude Era, this group featured Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chyna, Rick Rude, X-Pac, and the New Age Outlaws. I will say that seeing all them together on RAW 1000 just brought back all the memories. Shawn and Triple H with that promo about all the things they can’t say on television. We won’t talk about the later revival of DX with just Shawn and Triple H as once again, I believe it brought down this group a bit.
Overall, this is a great list and just looking over the talent, it’s amazing to see how successful these groups were. I’d probably go with DX in the top spot for my own personal list as that’s the one that brings back the best memories. Let’s hear your own thoughts on this list.