WCW’s Best Factions (And Why They Did it Right)
When we think of some of the greatest factions in wrestling history, the typical wrestling fan would probably think of names such as DX, the nWo, and maybe even the Four Horseman if you’re really that lucky. These guys stood out as the greatest of all time, in the minds of many. But the creative vision of the nWo eventually had more in mind, when they eventually gave light to the younger talent.
Let’s go back to late 1999. This is the year after WCW hits its peak. A great majority of the younger talent that shined during 97-98 have left, no thanks to the lack of respect and opportunity shown by Eric Bischoff. Among those names were Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, The Giant (Big Show), Chris Jericho, Perry Saturn, Raven, and many others that actually went on and made it big in WWE.
Goldberg’s character was becoming stale, and he was being used in ways that made him look incredibly stupid. This was a great effect of what happened after he lost the WCW World title to Kevin Nash at Starrcade the previous year. WCW had Bret Hart, a cast off from WWE, which would ultimately result in being his final year in professional wrestling.
But WCW did have something special rising from all of the dismay and political confusion occurring within the company; they had an incredibly strong pool of younger talent coming into the company, and what they did with them will always show me the one thing WCW did right.
Going back to August of 2000, WCW had a whopping eight factions that existed in the company, each of them having their own wrestling style, purpose of existence within the roster, and a special brand of charisma. Seeing these guys feud together were some of the most entertaining parts of watching WCW back in the day, and gave way for the now defunct company to have the most interesting mid-card in all of pro wrestling.
Misfits In Action:
Let’s start with who were probably my absolute favourite from the group – here we have a bunch of guys pretending to be military wannabes; always going to the ring wearing camo, telling corny jokes, and most of all hitting hard. Here we had the prime babyfaces of all the factions being the most patriotic, standing up for what’s good in WCW, and wearing the American Flag proudly.
Probably the most notable time for the group is when they feuded with Team Canada (I’ll get to them in a bit) which led to the group being split. The members of this 4 guys/1 girl faction were General Rection (Bill Demott), Major Stash (Van Hammer) Lt. Loco (Chavo Guerrero), Corporal Cajun (Lash LeRoux), Major Gunns (Tylene Buck), and Sgt. Awol (The Wall), who was later replaced with Van Hammer.
The group was formed after Demott, LeRoux, Hammer and Guerrero were all fired by Eric Bischoff on screen, for interfering with Booker T’s match with Mike Awesome. The returned with different names to avoid contractual garbage with Bischoff.
The Filthy Animals:
Here’s a group that I would say was the offspring of the lWo at the time – the group started off with Konnan, Eddie Guerrero, Billy Kidman, and Rey Mysterio, being a group of guys that would pull obscene pranks with dirty antics, and “Lie, Cheat and Steal” with in-ring competition.
The group wasn’t necessarily babyface or heel, either: they brawled with both sides of the locker room, and pranked just about everyone. The group also went on to include Juventud Guerrera, the introduction of Torrie Wilson into the business as a valet, another valet named Tygress, and Disco Inferno.
It’s very much worth noting that this was a rare period of time where Rey Mysterio competed without his mask.
3 Count:
WCW had a few three man groups that also made their names in the Cruiserweight division, one of them being a team of very young upstarts, with Shane (Gregory) Helms, Shannon Moore, and Evan Karagias. Of course we know that two of these guys went on to have very successful careers in other promotions, but I can’t ever, and will never, forget what these guys did to get their big start in the industry.
They debuted as a stereotypical boy-band type group, coming out to the ring wearing matching red or bright green pants, and lip syncing to pop music that they actually recorded themselves. This group was created as an answer to the uprising of new age pop music in 1999-2000, such as Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC, and Britney Spears. Their most notable rivals were another exciting 3 man cruiserweight group…
The Jung Dragons:
Kaz Hiyashi, Yang, and Jamie-san (Jamie Noble, believe it or not…) were another group of exciting cruiserweights in WCW, all billed from Japan. Except Jamie-san wasn’t actually Asian, and thus wore a mask to conceal his identity.
The team had an amazing ladder match at New Blood Rising in 2000, facing, and losing to, 3 Count. Their manager, Leia Meow, got more attention than them when she began a love relationship with WCW Commissioner Ernest “The Cat” Miller. The group disbanded immediately after Jamie-san was betrayed by his teammates, and then unmasked.
The Natural Born Thrillers:
Much like WWE has had OVW and NXT as their source of fresh, newer and more exciting talent as of late, WCW had something called the Power Plant. All 7 members of this powerful and dangerous group came right out of the Power Plant. These are guys that made serious waves in the Tag Team division, and even mingled with the main event stars of the company.
The group was composed of their leader, Mike Sanders, plus some familiar names that made an impact in WWE, such as Mark Jindrak, Sean O’Haire, Shawn Stasiak, Chuck Palumbo, Reno, and Johnny the Bull.
They were set up as being an enforcer group for Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo. Their most notable feud was with The Filthy Animals, after they saved The NBT’s real-life trainer “Mr Wonderful” Paul Orndoff. Their biggest and greatest accomplishment, however, was Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire defeating Diamond Dallas Page and Kevin Nash for the WCW Tag Team Titles at WCW SIN. They would hold on to the belts until the company folded, carrying them into WWE during the Invasion Angle. They would historically lose the titles to The Undertaker and Kane on a September 2001 edition of Smackdown.
Kronik:
Here we have the very first group that’s a traditional two man tag team that I’m mentioning here. But let’s face it, the power between Brian Adams and Bryan Clark was enough to take on a whole faction by themselves.
Here we had two 260lbs-290lbs badasses that went out, beat the hell out of whoever was in their way, and then leave. They were pretty much the Goldberg of the tag team division in WCW, and it was fun as hell to watch it. Some would say they were one of the worst tag teams in history, but to me they were the guys that made tag team wrestling special to me. It didn’t take much.
I stated above that The Brothers of Destruction captured the WCW World Tag Team Titles during the invasion; Kronik had a brief stint in WWE facing Taker and Kane for the Tag Titles at No Mercy. As a child I marked out at the thought of this match even happening, but it was a disaster in the end because WWE didn’t need Adams and Clark to fill the shoes that The Brothers of Destruction already dominated.
Team Canada:
Lance Storm made a serious impact when he jumped from ECW into WCW. He was getting victories left and right and winning multiple championships . At one point he held the Cruiserweight, Hardcore, and United States championships simultaneously, but he put the Canadian flag over the belts to symbolize his nationalism.
This began a brutal war with the Misfits in Action, which led to Major Gunns joining the stable against her will, after General Rection lost a match with Storm to decide who would acquire a member of the opponent’s team. The MIA seemingly had the war won, but Major Gunns betrayed her former teammate, in a major United States title match with Rection and Storm, to show her allegiance to Storm and Canada. This was the time where Lance Storm made his one hit wonder with famous quotes, such as; “If we can please be serious for a minute.”
The group had many different members, some of whom I don’t even remember, including Canadian legend Jacques Rougeau (The Mountie) and Carl Oulette (not related to Maryse). Also, for some reason, Hacksaw Jim Duggan was affiliated, alongside Primetime Elix Skipper (who was actually retired from the Canadian Football League).
Lastly, Storm’s first major rival, Mike Awesome, joined the faction at a later time, before WCW folded. Storm and Awesome teamed together after joining WWE during the Invasion angle.
(Editor’s Note: I completely forgot that Bret Hart was technically a part of the group, but for one night only.)
The Dark Carnival:
This was probably the most interesting group of all. What started out as being “Dead Pool”, which included Raven, Vampiro, and legitimate members of the rap-metal group “Insane Clown Posse”. Raven left the group to go back to ECW, so it was left with Vampiro and the ICP.
The ICP, however, already had experience as pro-wrestlers, on top of their ultra famous music career: Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J were backyard wrestlers as teenagers, already had short runs in WWE and ECW under their belts, and were running their own promotion: “Juggalo Championship Wrestling”.
The group’s style followed the creepy Juggalo CULTure that the ICP represented in their music, bringing horror and terror to WCW. It’s not hard to guess that the group’s greatest rival was Sting, who Vampiro had a legendary feud with.
There was even a very funny stint where Jeff Jarrett was considered the “babysitter” of the group, even though they were polar opposites, even as heels. Other members of the group were The Great Muta, and former Chicago White Sox Player Dale Torborg, who played the character of the Kiss Demon. The group practically consisted of and feuded with anyone who wore face paint… ironically.
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