5 Best Feuds Between Stables in Wrestling History

Professional wrestling thrives off emotion. One of the greatest booking angles to draw in emotion is when you present a rivalry that is bigger than two singles stars or two tag teams.

Stables, or factions, feuding with each other draws emotion due to the amount of personalities involved, which can elevate the chaotic feeling. It also it provides a gang-type mentality. The gang-type mentality has a good build to the story, gives off a must-see feeling and causes the audience to choose a side. 

Sometimes in wrestling, factions are used to go up against an individual star. The Four Horsemen against Sting is a great example. The power of numbers is used as an obstacle for the babyface to destroy and look strong. There are many cases of this in wrestling, but that's a different list.

I'm going to take a look at the best stable-versus-stable rivalries over the years and examine what made them so good.

5. Nation of Domination vs. Los Boricuas vs. DOA

This is the best showing of the gang-war feeling—having three stables all comprised of different types of characters go against each other.

There was The Nation of Domination, which talked about racism against black people, and its refusal to put up with it or be put down by anyone by “any means necessary,” as its slogan would say.

Los Boricuas was made up of Puerto Rican wrestlers. DOA was a motorcycle gang that was always looking for a fight. It felt real.

The nature of their battles was chaotic and helped make the rivalry memorable. It was rarely a formal tag match, where everyone is standing on the apron while the two legal men are in the ring. It was an all-out brawl of 12 guys fighting at once and using weapons. 

For me, the only reason this doesn't rank higher on the list is because all three factions were never able to rise higher in relevancy on the card. The Nation of Domination had the longest and best run of the three but still didn't get past the middle of the card.

4. DX vs. Nation of Domination

This feud between the two stables was memorable.

DX did a great job in making it stand out in history with its famous parody promo of the Nation of Domination. This added a personal, insulting element to the rivalry that we had never seen delivered in this way.

The personalities were a perfect clash, with the brash degenerates going up against the no-nonsense Nation of Domination. It was a feud that's language and elements could only be done in the way it was during that time period of WWE's programming. It was the perfect showing of the type of feuds the Attitude Era was able to provide.

3. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs

You can't talk about stables feuding without talking about The Fabulous Freebirds and the fights with The Von Erichs. 

If you've never seen some of the matches or promos, you're missing out. This was a time when, in the Texas territory days, The Von Erichs were the biggest stars you can imagine. Then came this cocky trio of rough bad boys known as The Freebirds, and it was on. This was the definition of drawing money in wrestling.

The Freebirds were the outlaws going up against the first family of wrestling in Texas. There was no cool-down period in these matches, or in the feud. The crowd was at a roar the entire time, hanging on every move and every word spoken.

2. DX vs. Hart Foundation

Perhaps no feud was as organic and personal as DX versus Hart Foundation in 1997. It culminated in one of the most famous nights in wrestling, which became known as the Montreal Screwjob. 

This was the only feud I could recall that really divided countries, and the booking of the characters changed depending on the location of the event. 

If in the United States, DX would be the faces going against the Canadian-based Hart Foundation, which spoke about family values and a good society. If the event was in Canada, the Harts were loved while DX was viewed as being comprised of immature thugs. 

This was all carried by the real-life dislike at the time between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, who led their respective factions. The tension was there, both on-screen and behind the scenes, which led to this rivalry of the two factions being No. 2 on my list.

1. New World Order vs WCW

The biggest of them all would have to be the battle of the New World Order against WCW.

The black-and-white faction invaded WCW and generated perhaps the biggest buzz ever in the wrestling world. In 1996, the war launched between two brands and would carry strong for the next three years. It was filled with surprise debuts, swerves, character turns, violence and celebrities. 

It made anyone considered WCW stand together—no matter if they were heel or face. This story broke down the walls of being a good guy or bad guy, causing the two sides to join forces in order to match up against the aggressive nWo. 

The feud began to get watered down and die off as WCW headed toward its doom. The amazing thing about this feud is, so much more could have been done if things played out differently. The nWo was able to become as powerful, if not more powerful, of a brand as WCW. We began to see pay-per-views listed as “WCW and nWo present.” 

I've always wondered if WCW wasn't bought out, if eventually there would have been the plan to get rid of WCW altogether and rebrand the entire company under the nWo letters.

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