10 Best Wrestling Stables Of All Time
7. Evolution
In 2002, newly-crowned World Heavyweight Champion Triple H made Raw his kingdom. Fans complained when Ric Flair turned heel to become his lackey, and they groaned when musclebound rookies Randy Orton and Batista stepped up beside the pair. The new group looked like Triple H's vanity project, a Four Horsemen-lite designed to make "The Game" look like the equal of his mentor.
Hindsight certainly argues against that point. As green as Orton and Batista were when they joined up with Triple H, the men became two of the company's top stars within the course of a few years. The lessons they learned from HHH and Flair helped them improve to the point where they (along with John Cena) were able to carry the company in the 2000s and beyond.
The legacy of Evolution is obvious, but what made the group work at the time was the booking. For two years, the stable ran roughshod over Raw in ways even The Shield only imagined. At one point, they monopolized all of the brand's championships, with HHH as World Heavyweight Champion, Randy Orton as Intercontinental Champion, and Batista and Flair as World Tag Team Champions.
Obviously, the fact that the whole act revolved around Triple H didn't hurt the way they were handled, but the protection he got was extended to the rest of the faction and soon made Orton and Batista feel like larger-than-life stars. In the end, maybe Evolution never rivaled The Four Horsemen, but a group comprised exclusively of past, present, and future world champions is nothing to sneeze at.