The 1990s saw the rise of factions becoming more prominent in pro wrestling. Most promotions had one or two factions on the roster in the 1980s, but that changed in the following decade. Success stories like Hulk Hogan leading the New World Order or Shawn Michaels forming D-Generation X showed that top names could be enhanced with such an act.
Unfortunately, there were just as many, if not more, bad stables in the 1990s as great ones. Every talent hoped to make a group act work, but it requires strong talent, great chemistry, and effective booking. The stories feature various levels of disappointment and reasons for failure. However, each group shares the common trend of being all-time worst factions from the 1990s decade.
10 NWO B-Team
The New World Order would be a popular choice for the greatest faction of the 1990s, but they had some pretty bad lows. Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash relegated some members to the secondary NWO B-Team that wore different colors and didn’t travel with the NWO Elite.
Stevie Ray, Brian Adams, Horace Hogan, Scott Norton and Vincent were the members basically made to be embarrassed by the top members. Curt Hennig was even kicked out of the NWO for not being willing to accept such humiliation in the bigger group.
9 Truth Commission
WWE had no idea what to do with Don Callis as The Jackyl during his time there in the 1990s. The Truth Commission was meant to be his big faction with a strange gimmick adding a lower ceiling, Kurrgan not panning out as the top wrestler pushed in the group hurt them.
The Truth Commission lasted about two years, but they only felt relevant for a week or two. None of the wrestlers got over in the faction as no one felt as important as Callis on the microphone. WWE got nothing out of this investment of a heel stable.
8 The Oddities
Another group was formed with the hope of Don Callis leading them to success at the start. The Jackyl was a great manager and cut a strong promo introducing the Oddities as a heel group that claimed the fans viewed them as freaks as their motive for being villains.
WWE quickly changed course and removed Callis to turn them face. The Insane Clown Posse joined the ragtag groups of wrestlers without a leader after Callis. Luna Vachon was the only standout performer in the Oddities, and she mostly was relegated to managing.
7 Revolution
One of the final factions created in the 1990s was the Revolution in WCW. Shane Douglas rallied WCW mid-card cornerstones Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit and Perry Saturn to form a group looking to break the glass ceiling as younger wrestlers feeling held down by veterans.
WCW booked them terribly with Asya getting added as an enforcer. The character was a cheap creative imitation of Chyna that made the Revolution come off embarrassing. A mixed bag of a feud with the Filthy Animals saw the Revolution coming off as the weaker group fans didn’t care about.
6 Los Boricuas
WWE wanted to create a faction warfare feud between the stables of the time when coming up with new groups. Savio Vega formed Los Boricuas after leaving the Nation of Domination and wanting to lead his own faction of fellow Puerto Rican wrestlers.
There were some talented members of the group, but WWE did nothing to introduce them. Los Boricuas came off as a failed experiment of Savio and unknown wrestlers behind him. Everything about the faction’s booking prevented them from getting over.
5 Team NWA
A strange idea from WWE saw them using the NWA name when it was now a smaller independent company. Jim Cornette formed Team NWA with old school wrestlers like Jeff Jarrett, the Rock n Roll Express, Bob Holly, Bart Gunn and Dan Severn doing the work.
The members had little chemistry and it was a terribly outdated idea. Fans didn’t care about anyone in the group, and they were often the rare Attitude Era segment that didn’t get any crowd reactions. Team NWA flopped badly and hurt the members more than it than helped.
4 No Limit Soldiers
WCW signing Master P to a massive contract was done to bring in new and younger viewers when the company was struggling in 1999. Eric Bischoff’s move ended up hurting the company and represented why they were falling apart after years of greatness.
Master P led the No Limit Soldiers group of Rey Mysterio, Konnan and secondary members rounding it out. WCW booed them due to not wanting Master P’s performances over the wrestling they paid to see. Mysterio lost a lot of momentum in the failed group after WCW ended his giant killer gimmick for this act.
3 The Union
WWE came up with The Union faction for wrestlers that were sick of being exploited by The Corporation. Mankind, Big Show, Test and Ken Shamrock formed a group to get revenge on Shane McMahon and the top powerful heel faction.
Vince McMahon turned face around this time and united with The Union to make it even stranger. There was some sloppy storytelling involved, and the members had negative chemistry. WWE dropped the ball and gave fans little reason to care.
2 Disciples Of Apocalypse
Another faction formed from WWE’s desire to have faction warfare in the 1990s featured the Disciples of Apocalypse. Crush had the same story as Savio Vega as a wrestler that grew tired of the Nation of Domination pecking order and wanted to be a leader.
The D.O.A. was a biker group of Crush’s friends Brian Lee and the Harris Twins uniting with him. WWE did little to give them personality beyond riding bikes and starting fights. D.O.A ended up being a failed idea that hurt the status of all four names in the WWE landscape.
1 Dungeon Of Doom
WCW executed one of their worst ideas ever when forming the Dungeon of Doom faction. Hulk Hogan made a career out of facing monster heels, so WCW decided to create a group full of them. Names like Brutus Beefcake and Earthquake played new characters to fit the Dungeon of Doom vibe as The Zodiac and The Shark.
Kevin Sullivan being the leader as The Taskmaster made no sense since he had less star power than most members and posed no threat to Hogan. The Giant being introduced as Andre the Giant was the biggest domino, but it jumped the shark (or The Shark in this case) to fall apart. Every storyline for the Dungeon of Doom felt like an outdated approach to wrestling in the 1990s.
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