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When Evolution was introduced to us in January 2003, I immediately expected big things from a stable led by Triple H. His membership in DX, and the McMahon-Helmsley regime made for some great TV, and upgraded our standard of what a heel is supposed to be.
Naturally, the group was bound to succeed, especially since to many older fans it was a throwback of the legendary Four Horsemen stable. Evolution is one of the best factions of all time for reasons besides its members, and what they accomplished in-ring wise.
It's not everyday a stable's value extends beyond the confines of a storyline, thus benefiting the promotion, and our viewing pleasure all these years later.
Evolution, like many factions, had a distinct concept. The Spirit Squad was a group of male cheerleaders, La Familia was Edge and Vickie Guerrero's family, and henchmen merging and the most popular out of this list of examples being the New World Order, which were WWE outsiders forming a super group to destroy WCW.
As for Evolution, it was a stable showcasing the evolutionary stages of wrestling, the past, present and the future. The Game was the top guy on Raw reigning often as World Heavyweight Champion, Ric Flair was the wise veteran who Triple H, and the others looked up to and Batista and Randy Orton were OVW graduates molded for the future.
A fun fact concerning membership is the revelation made by Triple H in his DVD 'Thy Kingdom Come' that Mark Jindrak was to be the group's muscle, not Batista. No telling how Jindrak's career would've turned out had WWE gone with their first idea.
A simple manager-wrestler relationship between Triple H, and Ric Flair in the fall of 2002 ended up expanding into a larger project for creative, and the stable itself as the top faction in WWE from 2003-2005. The wrestling business is a revolving door that needs new talent, and it makes me wonder if Vince, Triple H and creative planned to use the Evolution concept as a launching pad for the careers of Batista, and Randy Orton opposed to just killing time by making a villainous stable for the faces of Raw to conquer.
If you looked at a heel stable like The League of Nations in 2015 comprised of Sheamus, Del Rio, Rusev and Wade Barrett that had a quick tenure then you can tell Evolution being active for over 2 years actually meant something in the grand scheme of star creation. The proof is in the booking.
The young bucks of the stable, Randy Orton, and Batista, would see career igniting success almost immediately. Both rookies would be given title runs at the end of the group's first year at Armageddon 2003.
Randy Orton was the newly crowned Intercontinental Champion, and Batista was 1 half of the World Tag-Team Champions, celebrating the peak of the stable's success on the ramp toward the end of the show with the other half of the tag champs Ric Flair, newly crowned World Heavyweight Champion, Triple H.
This success would propel into high profile feuds with Mick Foley, The Rock and Edge. Orton would ultimately lose his Intercontinental Championship after 7 months, but that loss would lead to a double win for him on August 15, 2004 when he won his first world title, thus becoming the first of the 2 to become world champion.
Breaking into the main event scene. Batista would slowly rebel against Evolution months later, winning the 2005 Royal Rumble that earned him his first singles main event, title match on the grandest stage of them all. A feat that topped Orton's by not only winning the same championship, but successfully dethroning the King of Kings.
The success of Batista, and Orton wasn't temporary by any means nor were their roles as top guys in the making gimmicked for gimmick sake. Both men stayed permanent fixtures in the main event scene. Batista until the day he retired in 2010, and again in 2014 after a brief run with 6 world title reigns to his credit, as well as 13-time world champ Randy Orton who even in this New era is either champion or challenger, regardless of the brand.
Need I remind you of Orton's very own group, Legacy? The 2 made men main eventing multiple WrestleManias, even once against each other at WrestleMania 30, solidifies their prominence in the business, thus proving the literal manifestation of Evolution within the wrestling industry. For this reason, it's fair to say Evolution is one of the greatest stables of all time.
