The world of professional wrestling is home to some of the most charismatic and wildest characters in all of pop culture. WWE revealed its latest faction, the Wyatt Sicks, on this week’s Monday Night Raw after months of hyping up their arrival with cryptic QR codes and hidden messages throughout weekly programming.
The members include Uncle Howdy, Ramblin’ Rabbit, Mercy the Buzzard, Huskus the Pig, and Abby the Witch–characters who were part of the late Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Funhouse. After Wyatt Rotunda, the man under the Fiend mask who performed as Bray, passed away last year, a lot of proposed plans had to be put on pause. The Uncle Howdy character, played by Rotunda’s brother, Taylor (the former Bo Dallas), leads the group, and it’s still very unclear what their mission in WWE will be outside of chaos and possible “murder” (RIP Chad Gable).
The Sicks comes from a long line of factions that are more than some folks coming together that have a sick look–pun intended–but instead also utilize such a weird idea that it somehow works. These are in no particular order, and we’re focusing on groups, so teams with three or more members. Let’s take a look at other past factions that have a really cool look, but also something outside of the norm and managed to get over with fans.
1. The Flock
WCW’s team of grungy outcasts led by the enigmatic Raven lasted about a year in the company, but at some point had 10 guys in rotation. Looking more like a Nirvana cover band than wrestlers, the Flock reached their height in popularity during the late 1990s, with Raven even winning the United States Championship–even just for a night. They are probably best remembered for hanging around in the crowd during the show, then randomly hitting the ring and going after anybody during their match.
Raven had formed similar groups before and after, with Raven’s Nest being the precursor and Serotonin and The Gathering coming later in his career. The Flock eventually won their freedom from Raven and disbanded with Kidman–who seemingly came over his storyline heroin addiction–and Saturn being the breakout stars.
2. Dungeon of Doom
If you’re looking for mid-’90s, pre-NWO weirdness in WCW, Dungeon of Doom is all you need. Kevin Sullivan with weird warpaint? Check. A giant mummy? You got it. Brutus Beefcake in even weirder face paint? Sure, why not? Yeah, you had genuine badasses like Vader and top guys like Lex Luger in the mix, but between dudes called Z-Gangsta (actor Tony “Tiny” Lister) and Braun the Leprechaun (Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker) out to try and destroy Hulkamania, it’s all a bit much.
They’re probably most known for trapping the Hulkster in their weird cave lair and taking turns beating him up. It was a launching point for the Giant, a rising star who was billed as the son of Andre the Giant, and gave WCW some of its strangest television moments. The group disbanded after two years with Chris Benoit pinning Sullivan in a retirement match, but wrestling fans know that stipulation is usually signed with disappearing ink. Sullivan would form a new Dungeon of Doom in the independent scene with the likes of Gangrel, Luna Vachon, and The Wall.
3. The J. O. B. Squad
You can’t have megastars at the top without somebody holding the ladder for others to ascend. The latter are what are referred to enhancement talent, or jobbers; those who do the “job” and lose to get other guys over with the fans.
The J.O.B. Squad, which stood for “Just Over Broke,” consisted of Al Snow, Bob Holly (formerly Bob “Spark Plug” Holly, and later Hardcore Holly), 2 Cold Scorpio, Gillberg, and eventually the Blue Meanie. Snow had already gone through a handful of gimmicks in the early days of his career, and even Scorpio was the flamboyant Flash Funk just a year prior.
The actual first mention of the squad in WWE was, interestingly enough, from Road Dogg wearing a shirt with the group’s logo–a take on the NWO, but with inverted colors–months before the group came together in WWE.
Snow’s new character was someone driven insane by the years of jobbing and turned to a mannequin head as his only companion before aligning with the rest of the group. The squad officially formed in late 1998, and ironically found some success with Gillberg winning the barely contested Light-Heavyweight Championship, and Snow and Holly becoming Hardcore Champions.
4. The West Texas Rednecks
WCW’s latter days were full of gimmicked factions that tried to fill the void of the waning popularity of the NWO. Though none were successful in the grand scheme of things, one group that stood out was the West Texas Rednecks. Led by Curt Hennig, who was famously from Minnesota and suddenly being billed from Texas, the group was made up of Bobby Duncum Jr., brothers Barry and Kendall Windham, and Curly Bill (formerly Virgil/Vincent).
The group’s whole mission statement was to stamp rap and hip hop out of WCW and found themselves feuding with former rap superstar Master P and his No Limit Soldiers, as well as with Rey Mysterio and Kidman, the Filthy Animals. The Rednecks also moonlighted as a country group and released two singles “Rap is Crap (I Hate Rap)” and “Good Ol’ Boys,” which managed to get some decent radio play in the South–the first kind of crossover appeal for WCW.
The group had some success in All Japan Pro Wrestling, even competing in the World’s Strongest Tag Determination League tournament before disbanding in early 2000.
5. The Brood
For a group that was only together for two and a half months, the lasting impact of The Brood feels so much longer. Brought together by the vampire warrior Gangrel, rising stars Edge and Christian came together to become a force of chaos and cast an aura of darkness over the WWE as they rose from a circle of fire each time they came to the ring. Also, having a fangin’ and bangin’ entrance theme doesn’t hurt.
The group’s trademark was dropping a bloodbath on their opponents at any given time, covering them and the ring, sometimes front-row attendees, with “blood.” While the original trio disbanded to make way for the New Brood, which was Gangrel and the Hardy Boyz, the vampiristic stylings are forever ingrained in wrestling fans’ brains.
Even this year in AEW, Adam Copeland was reunited with Gangrel at the Double or Nothing PPV, with the former leader helping his former protege land the victory against Malakai Black.
6. The Oddities
How to describe the Oddities? The idea behind them is that even “freaks” are good people and deserve to be loved. Formed by the Jackyl (Don Callis), the group was made of Kurrgan, Luna Vachon, Giant Silva, and the masked Golga (the former Earthquake, John Tenta), with honorary members the Insane Clown Posse and George “The Animal” Steele. What a lineup. To top it off, their entrance music was performed by the ICP, with the aptly titled “Oddities.”
Golga wore his mask to supposedly hide his deformed face from an overgrown bone disorder and was obsessed with Eric Cartman: a true sign of the times. The group didn’t even last a year and never held any championships during their time together. It was a weird hodge-podge of people that didn’t make any sense, but at the same time, showed that anyone could be made a star during this era in WWE.
7. Team Canada
There have been a few teams to bear this name, but we’re focusing on the WCW incarnation led by Lance Storm. Storm, a former ECW star, quickly rose to the ranks of the company, eventually holding three titles at once. The triple-champion renamed the United States, the Cruiserweight, and Hardcore Championships as the Canadian Heavyweight Championship, 100 Kilos and Under Championship, and Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title, respectively, all now brandishing the Canadian flag on the front plate.
Storm led the group made of only one other Canadian, Carl Ouellet. The rest? Jim Duggan, Elix Skipper, Major Gunns, and Mike Awesome–ll Americans. Storm preached about the superiority of Canada for cheap heat, but it worked, even converting the gung-ho American Duggan to the parliamentary democratic ways of the Great White North.
The team would feud with midcard faction the Misfits in Action, with General Rection (Hugh Morris) beating Storm and restoring the United States title. The idea would be reused in the early days of TNA, which was full of actual Canadian wrestlers and to some extent Storm’s other faction in WWE–the Un-Americans–made of Test, Christian, himself, and William Regal.
8. The Straight Edge Society
Before MJF touted being “better than you and you know it,” CM Punk made sure to let fans know he was straight edge, which meant he was better than all of us. That was his whole thing in Ring of Honor, which carried over to his WWE career when he finally turned heel in his feud with Jeff Hardy.
Punk soon turned to indoctrinating Joey Mercury, Luke Gallows (the former Festus), and Serena Deeb on the true path of enlightenment of being straight edge. Mercury joining up, mirrored his real life of battling painkiller addiction after breaking his face during a ladder match, while Gallows’ transformation from Festus revealed the reason he was brain-dead was due to his own drug problem. Serena was a plant who was looking for salvation and a new beginning of her life. She soon became the group’s manager and joined Punk to the ring, assisting in his victories.
The SES’s big thing would be looking for new weekly members to join their congregation, and they shaved heads of audience members as a sign of initiation. The whole thing reeked of hypocritical self-help programs that did more harm than good, and became a heat magnet for the year they were together.
9. The Dudley Family
While most wrestling fans might be familiar with the Dudley Boyz, Buh Buh Ray (later simplified to Bubba Ray) and D-Von, and maybe even Spike, the Dudley Family runs deeper than just the decorated tag team. The idea is that the members were all said to be the sons of “Big Daddy” Dudley, who had traveled America as a salesman throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and was making kids like he was setting up a franchise.
Despite the differences in their races,the Dudleys shared similar ring attire of taped glasses, overalls, and tie-dye shirts. So at the top you had the patriarch Big Dick Dudley, Buh Buh Ray, D-Von, Chubby, Little Spike, Dances With Dudley, Sign Guy Dudley, Dudley Dudley, and Snot. Snot, Big Dick, and Dudley were the original before expanding later in the year. There was an air of not quite being inbred, but also something not right and very backwater about how they talked.
A few Dudleys were floating in the independent circuit, primarily Shmuck and Psycho Sam. The family name continues to this day as D-Von’s sons wrestle as Terrell Dudley and Terrence Dudley and their collective name, TNT.
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