Through all the years that I’ve been a fan of professional wrestling, there has been numerous of caliber stables that I have seen being created to demolishing every force in their existence and of course watching them be destructed and weakened. I’m going to talk about a recent stable that has undoubtedly left their place in wrestling history as one of the greatest heel stables in pro wrestling history. It was a time which every week we looked forward to show as something captivating or controversial was bound to happen. They were a stable you just had to watch the show just in case you missed something. So which stable do you think I’m going to write about? Yep, you’ve probably guessed it, it’s Evolution! I’ll talk about how they got going, the breathtaking moments they did and what made them so great. So, let’s recall the imperious stable!
So what made Evolution so competent? Let’s just analyse the stable shall we. The stable was formed in 2003 and they quickly took the whole RAW brand and viewers by storm with dominate impact and assertiveness. The aim of the stable was to leave paying customers and valuable viewers to say, ”Man, this is getting interesting”, after every segment/show that involved Evolution. They were four guys whom were feared by the other wrestlers in the locker-room. The stable consisted of the past, the present and the future of the WWE. The past character was portrayed by the nature boy, Ric Flair, who was a former 16 time World Champion. The present was represented by the game, Triple H, who was the current World Heavyweight Champion. The future was sketched by the enforcer of the group known as Dave Batista, and the legend killer, Randy Orton whom both were marketed as the next big two money making stars for the company.
These four men had the most success on the show like was never seen before. The crowning moment for the stable came in December 2003 when each member of the stable had a title. Triple H was the World Heavyweight Champion, Randy Orton held the Intercontinental Championship and the tag team of Flair and Batista were crowned the World Tag Team Champions. This was the pinnacle point of the stable.

With all great things, must come an end. Every RAW viewer knew Evolution was eventually going to end, it was unpredictable to when this was going to occur. The first constituent of this was when Randy Orton became the youngest World Champion in the history of the WWE at the age of just 24, by defeating Chris Benoit. The story went on as it didn’t sit well with Triple H, meaning the fact Orton was representing being the top guy in the locker room with the prestiges World title, which is what Triple H always had a hunger for. Triple H decided to throw a ‘celebration’ party for Orton. The 3 other members of the stable came down to the ring one night on RAW, Triple H called Orton out, he came out. Furthermore, Batista lifted Orton on his shoulders from behind…Orton of course assuming they were all on the same page. Suddenly, Triple H gave a ”thumbs up” to Orton, additionally Triple H turned the thumbs up to a ”thumbs down”, thus Batista giving Orton a back-drop to the mat which led to Orton receiving a vicious beating. This took one part of Evolution away from the stable, now there is only 3 members. WWE obviously seen Orton was ready to take it on his own and did just that.

So, from the stable…we saw one of the future stars break way and make way into a huge company and look where Orton is now (yea yea yea he’s injured but you get my point), he’s the WWE’s second biggest star. Moving away from the Orton side of this, comes Batista. In the 2005 Royal Rumble, Batista overcame 29 other men to earn himself a place in the main event of Wrestlemania, it was of course John Cena whom he eliminated after what appeared to be a controversial Rumble. Triple H and the Nature Boy assumed Batista would pick the WWE champion JBL from the Smackdown brand to face at the main event of Wrestlemania, little did they know Batista wasn’t after JBL and his WWE Championship, the 6’6, 300 pound Animal was after Triple H and his World Championship. Batista had just about enough of being in Triple H and Flairs’ spotlight, Batista wanted to accomplish what Orton did, win a World title…which meant Batista had to move away and get out of Evolution, so was forced to pick a feud with Triple H. As tension started to rise at the contract signing for the WM match, we were all anticipating the moment, that last moment of Evolution, you knew it was coming at that point but it made the moment all that more exciting. Batista made this official by powerbombing Triple H through a table. Perhaps Batista’s outing of Evolution was of a much bigger push than Orton, as this was leading up to the granddaddy PPV of them all; Wrestlemania. Batista and Triple H went at it for just about two months. They had all sort of battles such as arm wrestling, picking each others opponent matches etc..
It finally came to Wrestlemania which was the most anticipated match on the card for the whole show. It was the BIG one. It was hyped up like fuck for months. They had an epic match and put on a fantastic show. Batista of course became the new World Heavyweight Champion by defeating Triple H. What did this do? It put Batista over with the fans due to a couple of factors. One: He defeated the guy that fans hated. Two: We saw the very best and what he’s capable of doing. It wasn’t over yet. Triple H got a rematch at the next PPV, Backlash, but sadly for the game, there was no Backlash for him as Batista successfully completed his first title defence. The feud ended at Armageddon in the Devil’s playground, Hell in a Cell, by Batista defeating a legend in a brutal battle.
Evolution is the perfect example of how a stable should be done, it put over two new guys practically and the stable lasted for the best part of two years, creativity was awe so inspiring, why couldn’t the WWE just of been more patient with Nexus? The Nexus plot was so genius, it was so unexpected that night they came out on RAW and wrecked ringside. The possibilities the WWE could have applied with the Nexus would of been endless.
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The last good stable. Good times.
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Sure was, man I wish we see another stable like this.
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That was a great time for wrestling. Ric was still being booked half decent. lol! HHH and Batista really did beat the shit out of each other. That’s why I respect Batista because he’s worked great, long programs with a lot of top guys and never looked horrible.
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That’s a good point, I’ll use that next time I’m in a Batista sucks debate! 😀
My two favourite Batista feuds are against HHH and Undertaker! Some great months of booking heading to WrestleMania.
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If you think about it, sure, HHH and Taker have had good matches with guys like Michaels, Orton and stuff…but Batista was one of the few guys strong enough to throw HHH and Taker around and make it look easy. It was power vs. power and he held up every match. He didn’t have to change his fighting style just to get a win over a power house, he went face to face and looked strong. Where as guys like Michaels, Orton are usually always the underdog going in.
I’m with you on Batista, he’s one of my favs. I don’t get why people hate him so much.
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I never saw Evolution 😦 The last great stable in the WWE was Legacy.
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I’m sure you’ve seen plenty, but look up as many videos as you can!
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I’ve seen some videos of them but nothing compares to actually witnessing it as it happens.
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Yeah, that’s true. The excitement and great booking at the time is what made you want to not miss the next episode. I don’t get that vibe any more but I still love watching wrestling regardless.
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Randy Orton and Batista really landed on their feet with this, getting to learn from two of the guys who have been at the top of the business and know what it takes. That experience helped guide them and turn them both into successful guys. I think that’s one thing that stands out about Evolution for me. Aside from that, I felt they were one faction that I hated, but also respected. Sure, they were a bit arrogant at times…but they got the job done.
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That’s exactly the job Evolution was meant to come off as. I wonder what it would of been like if Randy botched something horrific when he won the WHC, I always wonder how stuff like that would of palmed out!
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This is what stables are all about. There should always be at least one young stud that stands out and becomes a mega star in the end. But in this case there were 2. As for HHH & Flair, well we all know what happened to them 🙂
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Exactly. If the Nexus were booked a lot better than what they were, they could of had at least 4 or 5 guys over.
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Probably the last great heel stable in WWE. Launched both Orton and Batista into super star status. Plus the HHH/Batista feud legitimately drew great numbers and was booked to absolute perfection.
I always wonder why WWE don’t use the tried and tested method of a stable to help establish guys as stars.
They sort of half did it with Nexus, got it hot for a few months and then killed them to death when fed to Cena.
I’ve always wanted to see a British stable in WWE with guys like Regal, Barrett, Doug Williams etc making up the group.
Here’s a question, who would you book in a stable these days in WWE?
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The WWE had a fantastic opportunity to do a lot more with Nexus but they rushed it to quick, and they faced off against Cena too soon. Cena was always going to be the one to end the stable so they should have had Cena against them after at least a year and a half.
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Nexus was an excellent opportunity that WWE through away. I though the site of the 7 guys in iconic nexus Tshirt standing at the top of the ramp ready to attack was excellent. It came across as a new force ready to change WWE. Game really.
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Great article, Evolution was one of my favourite stables every minus Flair cos he generally annoys the shit outta me. Like Duckman said it launched Orton and Batista into the stars they turned out to be today. They don’t make ’em like Evolution anymore. My favourite moment for the Evolution clan was when Orton won the WHC and the following night on Raw (I think) Orton was on Batista’s shoulders celebrating and HHH gave the thumbs up… then down! Will never forget that.
In response to Duckman’s comment above, today if I was to create a stable I’d probably have Mason Ryan, Ezekiel Jackson, David Otunga and then if ready Big E Langston from FCW up to create a stable of BIG guys. Otunga would be the smallest of the lot but I think he’s pretty big compared to others, plus he could use his smarts to lead the group.
Nexus was white hot when they came in, it was the only real “recent” storyline that had my jaw on the floor, although back then I wasnt really a part of the IWC therefore I didn’t know about any of the Nexus plans until they legit happened on TV.
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Watching wrestling not apart of the IWC can be good and bad. I’m apart of the IWC because I like to talk about wrestling and see what others have to say.
I’m hoping after WM they can establish a heel stable!
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Don’t get me wrong the iwc is great because it allows everyone to talk, but with that comes spoilers so you always know what’s coming up next on www or tna. That’s the thing I don’t like about the iwc, things get less predictable.
I would love to see a highflying stable.
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Something like JBL’s Cabinet would be awesome.
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@CallingSpots. Yes, exactly, but the WWE really just fucked that up!
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Like I said on twitter last week. I bought the 2010 raw boxset an there is one math with wade barrett in an 3x 30 second promos about the nexus. No mention of Cena joining (but he has a nexus armband in one of the matches) its as if WWE are ashamed of the whole angle. I litrally loved it.
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It’s hard to know with the WWE, haha.
hmm wonder where Capt, is. He’s been offline for 2 days!
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Evolution was great due to the dynamics of the group, they had the Past, Present and Future, two of which in HHH and Flair being hugely succesful. Orton is also a third generation superstar which added to it and they had the big man in Batista.
I think it would be hard for them to have a similar stable now because there arent too many older established wrestlers like Flair who still have the passion to perform week in week out.
However as mentioned, a JBL All American Stable would be a great idea, JBL, Swagger, Ziggler and one other would be fantastic, of course Vickie could stay the female mouthpiece.
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Yes, I think Orton being that third generation superstar added to his rise in the WWE.
I wouldn’t mind seeing another stable like Evolution but rather see a NEW caliber stable.
How about JBL and Vickie as a duo manager? JBL could be the creative leader and Vickie could just be Vickie. Swagger and Ziggler could be a Doug and Danny Basham role, something new for them. They could be a great tag team. But the belt would have to be taken off Swagger, though. It would need a lot of thinking and work!
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I would love to see a heel stable. JBL could be an excellent figure head if he wanted to as he is excellent on the stick.
A heel stable of former RoH guys would be amazing. Headed up by Daniel Bryan with The kings of wrestling and Tyler black maybe.
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How about a ROH Heel Stable with Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Antonio Ceasaro and they can have a feud with CM Punk, who they’ll be trying to get to join them after WM?
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An ROH stable would be amazing, they could even call it something related to ROH. That’d be awesome, especially feuding against Punk and would give all guys a push!
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Get Vince on the phone!! Tel him about our genius idea!! 🙂
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Funny enough, I actually want to send Vince a letter, you wouldn’t happen to know how to do that? lol Not with an idea just to see if he’d reply.
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Doubt there would be a way matey. It’s one of them things where he would make it difficult so he doesn’t get hate mail etc. what would u say?
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I say too hard…but I know of people who sent mail to SAF and got a letter back. I want to send him one too, lol.
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What is SAF mate? Why not send him your CV for the permenent Raw GM position! Tel him of your successes on Smackdown vs Raw GM mode and if you ever played Extreme Warfare Revenge.
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SAF = Sir Alex Ferguson, aka the God of my religion; Manchester United. 😀
haha will do mate!
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You lot did alreet at St James Park this season mate 🙂 ha
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Evolution was the last great stable in wrestling and arguably amongst the best when you consider the massive singles success each member has enjoyed in the business.
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Yes, exactly!
Man, I don’t think anyone has criticized Evolution!
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