There are few things in professional wrestling quite as exciting or as impactful as an electrifying faction. It is truly a sight to behold when a group of pro wrestlers come together and catch fire, with the flames spreading across the sport’s landscape in the form of T-Shirts, merchandise, and main events for the individuals comprising the collective.
Although the golden era of factions seems like a thing of the past to many fans, there are plenty of great ones in modern wrestling, especially in AEW, Stardom, and NJPW. But even WWE have had their fair share of impactful factions in recent years, with the New Day standing out as the longest-running and most successful.
Let’s try to rank the five best factions in wrestling history, focusing on each faction’s overall impact and quality. Because I can only select five, there will obviously be some snubs. Triple H will likely have a sledgehammer with my name written on it, since I have left off two of his great factions. But, alas, we cannot all win Miz Participation Awards.
5. Bullet Club have shown the heights of popularity modern wrestling can reach outside of WWE
It may seem like the Bullet Club are ranked too low, but remember that their story has yet to be fully written. They are still going strong and have even written a new chapter in their history by playing a role in kicking down the “Forbidden Door”.
The Bullet Club’s popularity and influence are easy to see. At one point, “BC” shirts were so popular that you could find people at malls or in your small city’s “downtown” donning these shirts. And whenever I would see a “Bullet Club” shirt, I would do a double-take, because I never thought, in, say, 2017, that I would see non-WWE wrestling merchandise so frequently.
In terms of quality, the likes of A.J. Styles, Kenny Omega, and Finn Balor are certainly among the elite wrestlers. As leaders of the NJPW faction, Omega and Styles put on world title matches for the ages. So they brought credibility to a faction that went beyond shirts sold or, uh, wrestling promotions created.
But before this faction’s rise into the mainstream, its finest character work was done during its critical start and formation of identity with the REAL Rock’N’Rolla, Prince Devitt, cutting some of the rawest promos of the 2010s. For all the shirts sold and IWGP Heavyweight Championship matches fought, Devitt’s individual quality that rooted the faction is the true spirit of the faction.
4. The nWo ushered in wrestling’s most famous turf war
The Bullet Club’s formation may have helped form a nascent wrestling promotion in AEW, but it just wouldn’t be fair to rank them above the original. Yes, the Bullet Club’s mannerisms are very much a build on the “New World Order”, whose popularity in the ’90s easily exceeded that of the Bullet Club’s in the last decade.
The nWo ended up being a complete trainwreck, as the over-emphasis on the faction and the constant addition of members of the group helped played a role in WCW’s demise. It didn’t help that the overrated egomaniac Hulk Hogan was at the heart of the faction.
But before the nWo imploded on itself when WCW failed to realize that too much of a good thing is, in fact, quite horrible, they were THE hot item in professional wrestling. Nothing could touch the nWo, and they were the reason WCW had WWE beat in the TV ratings for 84 straight weeks.
WCW’s ability to compete with WWE was unprecedented, and the introductions of soon-to-be nWo founding members Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, formerly of WWE, played a vital role in WCW’s meteoric rise. Nash and Hall were brilliant as the true foundations of the group, producing some unforgettable moments, such as Nash’s “Lawn Dart” of Rey Mysterio.
The nWo’s fallout prevents the faction from being ranked any higher, but they were an obvious inclusion in this top five.
3. The Hart Foundation helped shape wrestling history in 1997
Whenever I look at other lists of the best wrestling factions in history, I am often alarmed by how low the Hart Foundation are ranked. I would think that a faction based around great in-ring storytelling and technical ability would have their impact age better over time, as opposed to factions like, say, D-Generation X and nWo that were based on in-the-moment popularity and, uh, crude segments. (I’ll leave it at that).
The Hart Foundation took wrestling’s greatest family – and there are quite a few great wrestling families who have become factions – and turned them into an unstoppable force.
Originally starting off as a tag team comprised of Bret Hart and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart (with Jimmy Hart as their manager until the duo turned babyface in 1988), the Foundation received an update in 1997 that coincided with Bret’s heel pro-Canada character shift. Between him, Neidhart, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Brian Pillman, the group had quite the collection of talent.
Every wrestler named above is one of the best in-ring technicians of the era. There is perhaps only one other faction in wrestling history that can boast having a similar level of in-ring talent within their ranks – and we’ll get to them later.
In total, the Hart Foundation, through all its iterations pre-2000, won three tag titles. Its members also won a world title, two IC Titles, the King of the Ring, and the European Championship.
Along the way, they were a part of some of the most important moments of the 90s. You cannot tell a history of pro wrestling without the Hart Foundation, including Bret’s star-making feud with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin or, yes, the Montreal Screwjob.
You can only imagine what this faction’s legacy would be without that infamous Survivor Series event, which led to the end of the true Hart Foundation.
2. The New Day are an anomaly in terms of how WWE presents wrestling factions
It takes a special faction to be ranked ahead of the Hart Foundation, nWo, and the countless groups that did not make it on this list. But the New Day absolutely belong in the top three. Like the Bullet Club, their story is still not fully written. Unlike the Bullet Club, they’ve managed to accomplish great things over the last nearly seven years without a high degree of turnover or without alienating a significant portion of the wrestling fanbase.
The New Day are literally everything fans want in a faction. The three members — Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods — are all supremely gifted wrestlers in every facet and have perfect chemistry with each other. They legitimately love each other and share a bond of friendship that is inseparable. You can see how they go to bat for each other, supporting their respective singles runs, including Kofi’s historic WrestleMania 35 triumph and E’s current singles run.
E, Kingston, and Woods — who has yet to receive a major opportunity as a singles wrestler — would all be capable main champions on any show. As individuals, they are already world-class. As a group, they are an all-time great faction and have put together some of the most memorable tag team matches in modern wrestling. Look no further than their entire catalogue of matches with the Usos, especially their Hell in a Cell 2017 match. To date, this match has over eight million views on YouTube!
Whether it’s going up against the Bar, the Shield, or the Hurt Business, the New Day put on a show in the ring no matter who they face. They can work as babyfaces, heels, or, if necessary, tweeners to put over an up-and-coming tag team, as they did with the Street Profits at Survivor Series 2020.
Their longevity and consistency are incredibly impressive and nearly impossible to match. In total, the New Day have won 11 tag titles. They are the most successful tag team in WWE history. And as a faction, they could very well go down as the GOATs when it’s all said and done.
1. Four Horsemen are the blueprint for which wrestling factions are patterned after
But, for now, the best faction of all time is the Four Horsemen. Their influence on the pro wrestling business is still felt today; it’s why fans see AEW use some of the members of the faction in their current programming. Also, who do you think The Pinnacle is modeled after?
Of course, AEW’s Pinnacle wouldn’t be the only remake of the Four Horsemen. Remember when Ric Flair led Evolution with Triple H, Batista, and Randy Orton by his side? Everyone seems to want to capture some of what made the original faction so great.
Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard are some of the most respected wrestlers in history, with Flair sitting atop most lists of the greatest performers in the history of the business.
There have been other members added to the group and other iterations, but nothing beats the original quartet. With Flair standing out as the biggest star in pro wrestling and the most odious heel, the Four Horsemen had some great faction wars with the likes of the Super Powers, in addition to Flair’s own memorable singles rivalries with Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, and Ricky Steamboat.
At a time when factions were all the rage, the Four Horsemen were the kings of the mountain in professional wrestling. And unlike many of those factions, which are forgotten by a large swath of wrestling fans, the Four Horsemen remain referenced and revered four decades later.