10 Fantasy WWE Stables That Would Have Been Amazing
Gangs Of New York.
There's an old gag that often does the rounds at the expense of turn-of-the-century internet wrestling community for the desperation at the time to see a "new" Nation Of Domination. It played on the notion that lots of relatively innocent young minds just assumed that bookers could and should align a group of African Americans and rebadge them under the name briefly established under Faarooq's auspices in the late-1990s.
In partial defence of the narrow-minded few that can't look beyond ethnicity as a means to bringing wrestlers together, they have been raised on a steady diet of pro wrestling bookers making the same decision and presenting it as the norm. A slithering shortcut, it's proven one of the quickest wins for promoters looking to knock together stables or tag teams, despite the fact that the rest of the fanbase have already fantasised about their favourite characters coming together for an entirely different single issue.
Rooted in action figure play or primitive photoshop creation, these dream teams and super-squads often shape the young minds of the fandom, capturing the literal imagination in ways Vince McMahon would dream of capitalising on. That it never comes to pass robs those supporters of the vindication, the visual, and in many cases, the genuine creative victory...
10. Team Angle 2.0
WWE didn't just blow a genuinely intriguing payoff when they revealed Kurt Angle's deep secret to be the parentage of Jason Jordan, they blew the opportunity to relaunch and revive one of the most underrated stables in company history.
From the moment American Alpha formed, all amateur backgrounds and singlets, they were tied to the iconic Olympian then still on the outs with the organisation. By the time he returned in 2017, the pair were marooned on a SmackDown Live that seemingly wanted no part of their spectacular efforts. Angle returning as their manager could have kickstarted a reinvigorated run for the pair - and that's before an internet dream match between the two and the Shelton Benjamin/Charlie Haas Team Angle originals could have been used to get the "new-and-improved" NXT graduates over as the two greatest doubles technicians of this generation.
Instead, the trio were kept away from each other until Angle's oddball summer reveal. Jason Jordan's early-2018 neck injury brought the entire farce to an abrupt halt under the darkest cloud, terminating any hope of a reunion or a trademark Chad Gable salvage job.