WWE: Where Does The Legacy Rank Against the Best All-Time Stables?

When the Legacy formed in 2008, it was supposed to do just that: leave a legacy.

But I’m not sure the group left much of one.

At least on paper, this stable of second-generation wrestlers could have become one of the best of all time. In reality, that was far from the case.

Like most factions, The Legacy had a very clear-cut pecking order. Randy Orton was the leader, while Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase were his protégés or perhaps more appropriately titled, his lackeys.

The mark of a great pro-wrestling stable is that it accomplishes something that will always be remembered.

The New World Order did it in WCW by getting an untouchable baby face, Hulk Hogan, over as the company’s top heel. Evolution did it by turning both Randy Orton and Batista into huge stars. D-Generation X did it by “pushing the envelope” and helping launch the career of Triple H.

But what did The Legacy do for Orton, Rhodes and DiBiase? Well, for Orton, the group did plenty.

After Orton spent the latter portion of 2008 dwindling the group down to just three (remember when Sim Snuka and Manu tried to join the faction?) he was then able to set his sights on the WWE Championship. In fact, Rhodes and DiBiase would help Orton win the 2009 Royal Rumble, when the three Legacy members all made their way to the final four of the match.

Orton would go on to face Triple H for the WWE title at Wrestlemania 25 (and lose), but he still managed to win the strap three times throughout 2009—his first WWE title win coming in a six-man tag-team match at Backlash in which Rhodes and DiBiase helped Orton get the victory.

After a brief feud with Batista for the WWE Championship (in which Orton lost the title and Batista had to drop it because of an injury), Orton regained the title on Raw and retained it against Triple H at The Bash pay-per-view. Once again, it was Rhodes and DiBiase who helped Orton walk away from his match as WWE Champion.

In the long run, the beef between Triple H and the Legacy would lead to Triple H re-forming D-Generation X and the duo facing DiBiase and Rhodes at SummerSlam. Legacy would lose that match, beat D-X in a rematch at Breaking Point and then finally lose the rubber match at Hell in a Cell.

One might think that the victory over Triple H and Shawn Michaels would have done wonders for Rhodes and DiBiase, but, in reality, it did next to nothing. Orton would stay in the WWE Championship scene throughout most of 2009, while DiBiase and Rhodes continued to do most of Orton’s dirty work.

That all changed, though, in the beginning of 2010.

At the Royal Rumble, Orton challenged Sheamus for the WWE Championship when Rhodes interfered in the match and inadvertently cost Orton the title. Orton attacked Rhodes, and DiBiase came to Rhodes’ aid. Cue the dissension between the three members of the Legacy.

The following month at Elimination Chamber, DiBiase eliminated Orton from the six-man EC match after Rhodes passed DiBiase a metal pipe and DiBiase blasted Orton with it. Rhodes and DiBiase would continue to attack Orton—and vice versa—and the group officially split when the two protégés beat Orton in a handicap match on Raw.

Though the rumored plan at the time had been to turn DiBiase, it was actually Orton who turned into a huge fan favorite as he, DiBiase and Rhodes would face off in a Triple Threat match at Wrestlemania 26. Orton won that bout, Rhodes and DiBiase’s friendship ended, Rhodes was punted in the head by Orton and then moved to Smackdown in the annual WWE Draft.

That was it, the Legacy was over. It’s lasting legacy—pun intended—was that it turned the WWE’s top heel (Orton) into one of its top baby faces.

So, where did that leave Rhodes and DiBiase?

For DiBiase, the end of Legacy was almost a career killer. He wallowed in the mid-card and Jobberville for roughly a year after Legacy’s breakup, hardly even appearing on Raw and losing whenever he did.

The creative team tried to get DiBiase over as a heel when he started wearing his father’s Million Dollar Championship, was paired with Maryse and then put in a feud with Goldust. None of those things really led anywhere, and DiBiase accomplished little to nothing as a member of the Raw roster.

Rhodes’ future was a little brighter.

After being drafted to Smackdown, he was repackaged as “Dashing” Cody Rhodes, a narcissistic character who would give “grooming tips” to the WWE Universe each week. Rhodes would protect his face during matches, fearing that any punches, kicks or moves would damage his good looks.

But, in early 2011, his nose was broken in a match with Rey Mysterio, he was put on the shelf for a while and he then returned donning a protective mask. Rhodes would blame Mysterio for making him “undashing,” and this would lead to an entertaining Wrestlemania program between the two stars—the highlight of which was Rhodes beating Mysterio at the granddaddy of them all.

Once the feud between those two ended, Rhodes would win—reuniting with DiBiase—this time with DiBiase serving as Rhodes’ protégé and right-hand man. On last week’s Smackdown, however, the two would split once again when DiBiase lost to former Legacy leader Randy Orton in a singles match.

So, guess what, folks. We’re right back where we started.

Orton is holding a World Championship, while Rhodes and DiBiase are presumably at the early stages of a feud for the Intercontinental Championship. I guess you can say that’s a step up, but in my book, it isn’t.

The original goal of The Legacy was for both Rhodes and DiBiase to turn into huge stars. I'm not saying it won’t happen, but it hasn’t happened as of yet.

Therefore, if/when it does, can we really attribute it to Legacy? I don’t think so. Once their presumed feud is over, Rhodes and DiBiase will be on their own paths once and for all.

They will have cut all ties to their Legacy comrades, and they may even be World champions within a year or so. But it’s already been roughly 16 months or so since the Legacy split, and neither Rhodes nor DiBiase is where the WWE hoped they would be.

That’s why The Legacy failed where the WWE’s great stables succeeded.

Maybe it’s something with the PG Era, as the stables formed during that span—Straight Edge Society, Nexus, the new Nexus, etc.—all fell far short of expectations. I can’t quite pinpoint why the WWE doesn’t push stables today like they did in the past.

But, until stables benefit everyone in the group (in some way, shape or form), then they’re never going to live up to the Four Horsemen, the Hart Foundations or the NWOs.

The Legacy had all the ingredients in the world to become one of the top-five stables in wrestling history. But, to be completely honest, I’m not sure they’re within sight of the top 10. Heck, they might not be in the top 20.

That’s a shame. Had things gone differently—had DiBiase and Rhodes been booked like threats rather than lackeys—we might be saying something else about the group.

That didn’t happen, though, and we’re all left to wonder what could have been