While individual performers are a huge part of the success of professional wrestling, to me, stables are the lifeblood of sports entertainment.

When you look back over the years, federations were defined not only by their top stars, but also by those stables that dominated the ranks. The NWA in the 80’s was led by the Four Horseman. Other than Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock, the WWF of the 90’s was symbolized by Degeneration-X. And at the same time, the nWo was the reason for the WCW’s success.

Aside from those three groups, you have other legendary factions like the Heenan Family, the Hart Foundation, the Million Dollar Corporation and Raven’s Nest. While there have only been a few stables that are remembered long after their time, there have been many good ones that have been forgotten. This list is for the factions that you may have forgotten about.

Dangerous Alliance circa 1991 -- Ravishing Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, Stunning Steve Austin (pre Stone Cold), Beautiful Bobby Eaton and Paul E. Dangerously.
What a retardedly awesome group of wrestlers. Rude was the US champion, Austin was the TV champ and Anderson and Eaton were the Tag champs. Rude’s in-ring skill and mic work were second to none. We all know what Steve Austin became and what Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton were before joining the Alliance. The faction started out in a feud with Ricky the Dragon Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham and won Wrestling Observer Newsletter's 5-Star Match of the year (1992) when they took on Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham, and Nikita Koloff in a WarGames match at WrestleWar.

The Radicalz -- Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn.
This group left the WCW due to their inability to grab main event status. They blamed it on the older wrestlers in the WCW that booked themselves in all the top matches. Chris Benoit also had real heat with the WCW’s top booker, Kevin Sullivan. So instead of continuing to get jobbed, they left for the greener pastures of the WWE. Benoit was the Intercontinental Champion, Guerrero was the European Champion and Malenko was the Light Heavyweight Champion. While the group didn’t stay together long, each went on to achieve big success in the WWE.

The Nation of Domination circa 1997 -- Faarooq, The Rock, Kama Mustafa, D'Lo Brown, Mark Henry.
Before The Rock became the top face in the WWE, he was a member of the NOA who feuded with DX. While The Rock was the only member of the Nation to hold a title during this time (the Intercontinental Championship), the Nation wreaked havoc on the rest of the WWE. Rocky went on to main event status and the Nation soon fell apart.

The Triple Threat circa 1997 -- Shane Douglas, Chris Candido and Bam Bam Bigelow. In 1997, the Triple Threat held every title in ECW. Douglas was the World Heavyweight Champion, Bigelow was the TV Champion and Candido held half of the Tag Team Championship belts with former Triple Threat member Lance Storm. Aside from Sabu and Rob Van Dam, this group was the most hated and decorated group in ECW.

The Varsity Club circa 1988 -- Kevin Sullivan, Steve Williams and Mike Rotunda.
Sullivan and Williams held the NWA US Tag Team titles while Rotunda was the World Television Champion. The gimmick was simple. Williams, Rotunda and Sullivan were all collegiate wrestlers and all wore their letterman jackets to the ring before using their mat skills against overmatch opponents. Rick Steiner was an original member of the group, but moved on to wrestle with his brother Scott.

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