10 Largest Factions In Pro Wrestling History

The whole idea behind factions in wrestling is that there is strength in numbers, so it makes sense to fill your stable with as many people as possible… well on paper at least, because sometimes it simply does not work out.

Whilst some groups have gotten by just fine with only three or four members, others have expanded their reach to include dozens of wrestlers. When assessing the largest factions, we’re looking at all-time members, not just at one given moment, though this will look solely at active wrestlers rather than valets, managers, and more.

These are the 10 largest factions in pro wrestling history, with representation from a whole host of promotions.

10. The First Family - 29 members

Before joining WWE, Jimmy Hart was working down in Memphis for the Continental Wrestling Association as one of Jerry “The King” Lawler’s fiercest rivals. The Mouth of the South would send wave after wave of baddies after Lawler to rob him of the CWA Championship, all of whom were united under the name “The First Family of Wrestling”.

Big names under Hart’s employ during this time included King Kong Bundy, Randy Savage, Kamala, and comedian Andy Kauffman, who actually wrestled matches, so he does count. All these stats and more bring the total number of First Family members up to 29.

Hart tried the First Family again in WWE and WCW, but they never reached the heights, or the numbers, of his Tennessee days.

9. The New Blood - 32 Members

In the year 2000, when WCW were launching literally everything at the wall in a desperate attempt to stay afloat, an idea was had to split the roster into two groups. One batch, The Millionaire’s Club, would be represented by all the established, older, main event names in the company, whilst the second lot, The New Blood, would consist of the younger, hungrier wrestlers who felt they had been held down for too long.

Whilst The Millionaire’s Club consisted of the likes of Hulk Hogan, Sting, and Ric Flair, The New Blood featured members like Booker T, Lance Storm, Chris Kanyon… Goldberg? Bret Hart? Considering some of these names as “New Blood” didn’t make much sense.

In total, 32 wrestlers made up the group, with Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo serving as their leaders and their valets ranging from Torrie Wilson to Stacy Kiebler to Madusa.

This mammoth stable lasted less than three months.

8. Los Perros Del Mal - 33 Members

Los Perros del Mal formed in 2004 in the CMLL promotion. The group was founded by the late, great Perro Aguayo Jr. and ran riot across the company as one of its main heel factions for over a decade. Los Perros has hosted some incredible wrestlers in its time; 33 of them, to be precise. These include Daga, Blue Demon Jr., and Pentagon Jr., as well as legends like Psicosis and Essa Rios, and top female stars Taya Valkyrie and Ivelisse.

Though Aguayo died tragically in the ring in 2015, the group has occasionally gotten back together, including at a AAA show in 2019. Aguayo even founded an entire promotion named “Perros del Mal” in 2008, ensuring that the name would live on long after he was gone.

7. Chaos - 34 Members

New Japan Pro-Wrestling has been built around factions for the longest time, with pretty much every major star in the company tied to a stable.

A collection of wrestlers that have played a huge role in shaping the promotion is Chaos. Formed when the members of Great Bash Heel turned on Togi Makabe to join with Shinsuke Nakamura, Chaos has since become one of the biggest and best units in all of Japanese wrestling.

There have been 34 full-time members of Chaos since it began, including Nakamura and his successor as leader, Kazuchika Okada. If that wasn’t enough, then the likes of Tomohiro Ishii, Jay White, Karl Anderson, Tetsuya Naito, and Will Ospreay have all been involved, with the faction previously represented in AEW by the Best Friends today.

Honorary members have included Danhausen, Tajiri, Val Venis, and Trent’s Mum Sue, which is as varied a line-up as you’ll ever see.

6. The Alliance - 36 Members

The only WWE-affiliated stable on this list, the grand total of wrestlers from WCW and ECW (and later WWE itself) that stood against Vince McMahon comes to 36, and that’s not including non-grapplers like Paul Heyman and Nick Patrick.

Vince McMahon bought WCW and ECW, all the wrestlers with cheap contracts came together to wage war on WWE, and then WWE dropped the ball with the Invasion angle, forgetting all about it after Survivor Series 2001.

Newcomers who got prominently featured in the Alliance included Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, and Rob Van Dam, until WWE lost faith in the idea and bunged in a load of their own wrestlers, including Kurt Angle and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.

Interestingly, there was also a branch of The Alliance active in one of WWE’s feeder systems, the Heartland Wrestling Alliance. This offshoot, which was just called “Team WCW” included younger names like Elix Skipper, Mark Jindrak, and Shannon Moore. We didn’t think they counted as members of the actual faction, but it’s nice to know that this terrible storyline was happening across two different promotions instead of one.

5. La Legión Extranjera - 42 Members

To maximise on incoming foreign stars for AAA shows, but not knowing exactly which wrestlers he was booking, Konnan created the La Legión Extranjera faction to throw in pretty much any of those incoming names to advertise the group instead of individuals.

The idea first came around in 2004, when Konnan presented himself as the boss who would bring in hired goons from north of the border to deal with any meddling faces giving him grief.  Because of K-Dog’s close ties with TNA at the time, several of their wrestlers took the opportunity to travel beyond the border as part of the Legion, including AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian, Rhino, Mickie James, Angelina Love, and, of course, Jeff Jarrett.

The group later expanded to include wrestlers from Japan and even Mexico itself, with 42 separate competitors all fighting under the Legion number by the time they split in 2010.

4. Voodoo Murders - 42 Members

Voodoo Murders is a wrestling stable that got its start in All Japan Pro-Wrestling in 2005. The group’s original members included Taru, their founder, Giant Bernard, the former Albert in WWE, and Chuck Palumbo.

Over time, the group would rise and become the most powerful heel unit in the whole company, bringing many more names into their ranks.  Whilst Japanese stars were allowed, including the former Kenzo Suzuki and the legendary Satoshi Kojima, a large portion of the team was comprised of Western wrestlers, ranging from the men formerly known as Rosey and Mabel in WWE to D’Lo Brown, Lance Cade, René Duprée, and Bull Buchannan.

After vanishing from All Japan in 2011, Voodoo Murders have since reformed in a few different promotions (including AJPW again), with a whopping 42 official members passing through their doors.

3. New World Order - 42 Members

What is there to say about the NWO? As well as being the group that totally rejuvenated WCW when they formed at Bash at the Beach 1996, it could be argued that they also killed it, as they became too big and too much of a focus to let anything else thrive.

A total of 42 wrestlers donned the black and white - or red and black in the Wolfpac - from the original trio of Hogan, Hall, and Nash, to The Giant, Bret Hart, Randy Savage, Scott Steiner, NWO Sting, regular Sting, and many more. We’re also counting NWO Japan, the NJPW branch of the group that was home to The Great Muta, Masahiro Chono, and Yuji Nagata to name but a few. The LWO don’t count, though, as they were their own thing entirely.

If this list included celebrity members, then the NWO would have been top by a landslide. The likes of Kyle Petty, Paul Gilmartin, and a bunch of Japanese baseball players have technically been in the group. Dennis Rodman does count, though, because whilst his matches weren’t very good, at least he had some.

2. Bullet Club - 53 Members

When Irish wrestler Prince Devitt turned on his partner Ryusuke Taguchi and later attacked Hiroshi Tanahashi to form a new group of non-Japanese wrestlers, little did he know that he had just planted the seeds for one of the most popular wrestling acts of the modern age.

Alongside Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and Karl Anderson, Devitt officially named his new group Bullet Club and, over the next few years, they would go from tempestuous troublemakers to the undisputed kings of New Japan, and the single biggest wrestling force outside of WWE.

The former leaders alone are an absolute dream team in AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, and Jay White. Then there’s The Guerrillas of Destiny, KENTA, Taiji Ishimori, Juice Robinson, Gabe Kidd, The Good Brothers, and the entire Elite.

All of this without even counting the part-time members. Our sincerest apologies to King Haku.

1. La Sociedad - 73 Members

The previously mentioned Los Perros del Mal and La Legion Extranjera decided to stop competing for the biggest stable, and instead combined in 2010. Not just that, but they were joined by two more factions too.

This massive merger was orchestrated by Dorian Roldán, the son of then-AAA president Joaquin Roldán. The young upstart was looking to seize control of the promotion away from his dear old dad, so amassed this frankly ludicrous collection of wrestlers to go to war with AAA and snatch the company from his father’s fingers.

La Sociedad, which is Spanish for “The Society”, had a total of 73 different members when all was said and done. As well as the wrestlers we’ve mentioned in previous entries, members ranged from Brian Cage to Sexy Star, Mr Anderson to Super Crazy, and Kurt Angle to Tito Santana, with the likes of Samoa Joe, Santos Escobar, Rob Van Dam, Carlito, Abyss, and plenty of others rounding out this absurd group.

The Society remained active in one form or another until 2016.