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IT'S TIME FOR THE NEXT GREAT STABLE IN PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

Stables. Factions. Gangs. Cliques. Crews.

Whatever you want to call them, they are everywhere. Whether it be in the film industry with Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller’s troupe of actors that appear with each of them respectively in virtually every movie they appear in, to the music industry with the whole G-Unit circle of rappers. With that said, why is it that, in the business of wrestling, where Stables have been part of the most compelling and entertaining TV for decades, that we are without one in mainstream "sports entertainment" today. Not since Evolution, who I will talk about later, have we had a decent Stable to love or hate in a way we have in the past.

Now, I just want to make it clear that I’m not talking about great tag teams. I feel there is a great difference between a stable and a tag team. A tag team is made up of mainly two competitors and possibly a manager (think LAX and MNM from recent memory). A stable, on the other hand, generally consists of a leader (main eventer, mouthpiece), a mid-upper card wrestler (IC Title challenger possibly, or a bodyguard etc), a tag team (for the tag titles and for those handicap matches that are inevitable in a faction scenario) and possibly a woman. This covers all aspects of the business and allows a number of feuds to be developed based around one standard storyline.

If, and this is a big if, the creative team has put time and effort into making two rival factions (think Corporation vs. Ministry and DX vs. NOD, the last ones I can remember from WWE. And no, I’m not counting the Spirit Squad as a genuine stable) then you have a classic series of matches that can span a whole year if booked correctly. The matches would be fresh and different yet also keep to the general feud that ties them all together. If you have 5 members in each team then you have 25 possible singles matches that instantly have a reason and some relevance to the storyline. Then you have the handicap and tag team matches that can also take place. Take for instance, Eugene vs. Duggan from Raw this week. If they were part of rival factions, facing off for gang superiority, then the audience would have had a much bigger interest in the outcome than say the lame response that they got.

To me, a stables aim is to put over the next generation of superstars. Evolution did this to the degree that Batista is now World Champion and Randy Orton is there or there about at all times while HHH will always be there. The only flaw I could think of regarding Evolution was the lack of opposition that it had at the time. Just think if say, Goldberg had created his own stable to combat Evolution at the time. If they had taken the time to create this group, possibly named after something referencing WCW with Booker T, Gregory Helms, Chuck Palumbo and Shaun O'Haire with Bischoff leading, then just think about the many more superstars that would have been created and the state the business would be in now. There would be 3 or 4 more valid main eventers on the scene. Helms, Palumbo and O'Haire, barring backstage problems, would be, in my opinion in the same situation as the Evolution members these days as I feel they all had/have the talent to be so much more than what they went on to (Billy and Chuck marriage ringing any bells?). And when the group eventually splits up, it creates even more match opportunities with an instant relevance and interest from a fan perspective.

I know columns are meant to have a balanced viewpoint and so far it’s all been positive regarding a stables formation. Personally I can’t see any negative point for a stable or 2 to be in WWE at the moment, feuding and creating an engrossing storyline based on Booking 101. TNA is a different story as with only an hour TV time it cant afford to only focus on one storyline (although its doing this at the moment with all emphasis being placed on Joe-Angle, but I do actually like TNA and wont say anything bad in this column about it as that would be way off topic).

WWE needs the next crop of talent to arise in the next year or so as there's only so far Cena, HHH, Edge, Booker, Batista and Undertaker can take you into the future of the business.

With all this said, here are my 2 stables who I feel would create entertaining TV and also prepare new stars for the future.

Worlds Greatest Stable

1. Mouthpiece, Main Eventer: EDGE
2. IC Challenger: Shelton , Haas and Nitro
3. Tag teams: any combination of the above
4. Woman: Melina

The Great wrestlers/Comedy stable

1. Mouthpiece, Main Eventer: HBK
2. IC Challenger: Carlito
3. Tag team: Cryme Tyme (anyone who saw the HBK/Cryme Tyme segment a few weeks ago can see the comical chemistry these would have)
4. Woman: Maria or Mickie James

I can’t quite think of a reason the HBK stable would initially get together but this feud would create many opportunities for good to great matches and storylines which I’m sure any real wrestling fan can think of from the talent that is involved. It’s also a way of pushing Shelton , Haas and Carlito to Main Event level, where they so desperately deserve to be in a year's time, if not sooner.

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Thanks for reading if you have bothered to get this far down and feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated...even your own stables would be interesting.

Aaron Whitaker can be reached at Aaron_whitaker1986@hotmail.com