6 Underrated Factions

 

Factions are a fabric of pro wrestling, they help build stars, create legacies and often times come up with cool catchphrases. If you're a frequent reader you love I love factions and am an advocate for them in the modern pro wrestling landscape. I decided to focus this blog on 6, that's right 6 of my favorite factions in pro wrestling history that were severely underrated. 

6. The Foundation

The Foundation walked in Ring of Honor, so The System could run in TNA. The Foundation debuted in the fall of 2020 during the Pandemic era of ROH. I'm almost positive some inspiration was taken from The Hurt Business which had debuted just a few months before, but hey that's the cycle of pro wrestling. Anyway Jay Lethal, Rhett Titus, Hot Sauce Tracy Williams, and Jonathan Gresham aligned together to take over ROH.

Their mission was simple bring back the "pureness" of professional wrestling, where merits were based on in-ring talent and not other attributes deemed more popular such as promo ability etc. They had a heated few with LFI in ROH and put on some damn good matches. Unfortunately they were a unit during the tail end of ROH's popularity into the companies eventual hiatus. Which led to a lot of fans missing the greatness of this group.

5. Contra Unit

When Major League Wrestling revived in 2017 they aimed to present a more sports focused aspect to professional wrestling. In 2019, a new group debuted that ransacked through the organization declaring a hostile takeover was taking place.  During this time is when Jacob Fatu forced people to take notice that he was a beast in the ring and something special. Simon Gotch proved that he was way more talented then just being a vaudevillian. Josef Samuel was a effective mouthpiece for the group as they laid waste to MLW.

 The group eventually added new members in Daivari, Ikuro Kwon, and The "Black Hand" 6'10 Mads Krugger. The group is still in action in MLW with Krugger leading the way flanked by Minoru Suzuki, Janai Kai, and Ikuro still causing havoc. Always waving the Contra Unit to show their dominance.

4. The Way

During the pandemic era, NXT's braintrust decided to pair The Garganos Johnny and Candice Larae with two young talent's they were high on, Indi Hartwell and Austin Theory. And damnit it worked, presented as a family this was the most entertaining I've ever seen Johnny Gargano. Gargano and his wife Candice were the "parents" with Indi and Austin playing the kids role with some sibling rivarly mixed in. The foursome just clicked as a unit, and all played their geeky, goofy roles to perfection in my opinion. 

                                                           

Eventually Dexter Lumis joined the "family". Entering into a relationship with Indi Hartwell, and having a bit of a bromance with Austin Theory. His often stoic, ticking time bomb demeanor conflicting with the over jovial often times dizzy persona of the rest of the family. It's a shame they were broken up and had some teases but never got to be a full unit on the main roster making an impact.

3. LAX

This is one faction to this day I still feel is criminally underrated. In late 2005 Konnan bought Homicide and Apolo to TNA to aid in his beef with 4 liv Kru. Eventually Hernandez joined the group, with Apolo and later member Machete being kicked out at different points. While there have been other members such as Eddie Kingston, Mike Santana and Ortiz. The trio of Konnan, Homicide, and Hernandez is the most iconic iteration of the faction. They were a militant Hispanic group working against the oppression Hispanics faced in America and TNA. They had their own separate entry way into the Impact Zone and Konnan would sit at the Spanish Announce table and set up a "border". If any non-Hispanic wrestler's crossed into the border, there was hell to pay.

Konnan as the mouthpiece, helped Homicide who was the high-impact hybrid technical and brawling wrestler and Hernandez who was the powerful enforcer succeed. The group may have been a little too real or a little ahead of it's time. Either way, they are a very underrated group.

2. Filthy Animals 

In late 1999 when Vince Russo joined WCW he decided to make WCW's answer to D-Generation X. Since the company was owned by Time Warner, the group had to be a bit more tamer than D-X, but boy did the group work. Konnan, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, and Kidman with Torrie Wilson aligned as a group of young man looking to party and just be "filthy animals". They played pranks on other wrestlers, had some kleptomaniac tendencies, and even jumped Ric Flair and left him out in the middle of nowhere. It was with the Filthy Animals Eddie Guerrero started his feigning hit by a chair act.

They were portrayed as annoying heels which was a first for Rey Mysterio who was able to slide into the role easily. After Russo returned to WCW, he bought the group back sans Eddie who had left earlier in the year for WWF. Juventud Guerrera, Tygress and later Disco Inferno calling himself Disqo (it was the summer of Sisqo's Thong Song). They portrayed the same role as a group of talented wrestlers looking to have a good time. They made it work despite suffering from a lack of vision from WCW much like the rest of the roster. 

1. Christian Coalition

If you are enjoying Christian Cage's current run in AEW with The Patriarchy, then you will love his 2005-2008 run in TNA. More Specifically 2007-2008 when he was the leader of The Christian Coalition which was a hell of a ride. First he introduced his enforcer Tyson Tomko to the Impact Zone, then he enlisted the services of Scott Steiner to aid in his feud with Kurt Angle. Lastly, AJ Styles who at this time was known for his cutting-edge move set and nothing else joined the fray. It was in this faction, AJ Styles began to show more personality and show an aloofness to his demeanor.

Christian was the mouthpiece and leader of the team, and world champion at the time. He was cocky, swarmy, and such a bro douchebag you would laugh at some of his one-liners and still hate him. Much like he is doing now with this second wind in his career. Then there was the angles of Tomko never fully trusting Scott Steiner on the team, and AJ while a veteran playing the role of a rookie just wanting approval from Christian that he is doing good. I cannot say enough good things about this faction and wish they had a bigger stage to display their talents on at the time.