Which Faction Was Worse: Truth Commission or Oddities?

Since the spring of 2012, Pancakes and Powerslams has provided a fun, interactive and enjoyable environment of recap and analysis for Raw, SmackDown, Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor. There is in-depth analysis, coupled with listener questions and responses and the "Flavor of the Week" random wrestling topic each week which chronicles the best and worst of pro wrestling history.

Trivia is also a mainstay on the show. There have been hundreds of questions asked dating all the way back to the days of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and American Wrestling Association (AWA), to the past few decades of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Total Nonstop Action (TNA) and Ring of Honor (ROH).

So far, Pancakes and Powerslams has interviewed many globally-recognized superstars, including Elijah Burke, Crimson and Caprice Coleman, as well as wrestlers making their way through independent circuits.

Join in every Tuesday night at 11pm ET on Blog Talk Radio, and have fun with us through Twitter, the live chat room, or calling in to the show.

This week, the "Flavor of the Week" topic addressed bad factions in WWE history. Particularly, two factions that involved Kurrgan—The Truth Commission and the Oddities.

Truth Commission

In 1996, The USWA formed a faction of African supremacists named the Truth Commission. This group consisted of Kurrgan the Interrogator, Tank (Formerly Known As Mantaur) and Recon (Later Known As Bull Buchanan). They promised to run roughshod through the USWA, capturing Jerry Lawler's USWA United Heavyweight Championship along the way. The Truth Commission delivered on their promise, as Tank became world champion (albeit for a week), as well as Kurrgan and Recon having multiple tag title reigns.

Although the group only lasted for a short time in the USWA, WWE found them interesting enough to bring them to the company. The group had a short push during the summer of 1997, introducing the Jackyl (Later Known As Cyrus) to the group as a wrestler/manager. After the short-lived push, the group became an afterthought, and eventually disbanded. 

Oddities

Disappointed with the success of the Truth Commission, Jackyl formed another faction named the Oddities shortly after. This group consisted of Kurrgan (no longer an Interrogator), Golga (known as Earthquake by many—but with a mask and later a Cartman doll), Giant Silva and Luna Vachon. The group did not succeed whatsoever as heels, so Jackyl left, started managing who were later known as the Acolytes and APA, and Sable came in to assume the managerial duties.

Managed by Sable, the group received a new theme song created by the Insane Clown Posse (who also accompanied the group), added George "The Animal" Steele, and became a babyface group. The change still did not matter, as the group were marginally successful, even with the overhaul. They disbanded in under a year of forming.

Verdict

If I had to choose one of them (which is tough), I would choose the Truth Commission as the worst between the two. Not based on their tenure in the USWA, but how irrelevant they were in the WWE. In the mid-late 90's, WWE had many trial and error moments when it came to factions (along with these two groups, add the J.O.B. Squad, The Union, Los Boriquas and the D.O.A. to the list).

At least the Oddities had some form of popularity with the crowd when the ICP would come out and spark the interest of the audience. Although this did not help them in the long run, the team was still worth watching more than a dry, boring and lifeless Truth Commission.

Which one do you think was worse? Comment (civilly) below.

Chris Featherstone is a writer for WrestlingInc.com. Follow Crave Wrestling on Twitter and Facebook. Click here for link to the Pancakes and Powerslams show.