4 WWF Stables based on real life
It is often said that art imitates life, and although it would be a stretch to call wrestling art, the WWE promotion has still found a way of basing some of its wrestlers, storylines and even stables on real-life people and organisations.
It's strange to think, in a universe that includes zombie morticians and their demonic half-brothers, caricature foreign villains, an anthropomorphised turkey, a gang of vampires, and whatever the Boogeyman was supposed to be. That list only covers the WWF and doesn't include the variety of bizarre and strange gimmicks that cropped up in WCW or the independent scene over the years.
While individual wrestlers with gimmicks are common, wrestling groups known as stables are less likely to be gimmicked themselves. Stables have been a part of wrestling for decades, from the Fabulous Freebirds and the 4 Horsemen to the Shield and New Day of today.
Many of these stables are based around a main-event talent and then surrounded by other mid-card or lower card talents that attach themselves to the main-event talent. The 4 Horsemen had Ric Flair, the Fabulous Freebirds had Michael PS Hayes, Straight Edge Society had CM Punk are all examples of stables that rallied around a single popular talent.
At the same time, most stables, even gimmick riddled stables are based on wrestling alliances or pop culture references. The Brood was notorious for taking their inspiration from vampire fiction, they would join the occult-based Ministry faction, which in turn would join the McMahon and Rock led corporate faction.
While stables in WWE are less popular today than they once were, the stables of today are more likely to be an assortment of superstars bound together by a vague sense of "brotherhood", such as the Shield, the Wyatt Family or even the New Day.
However, this wasn't always the case. There was a time in the WWE where stables were both common and used to lampoon both things in pop culture and the public eye, as well as to satirize and mock critics of the company. This article contains four stables that were based on real-life groups or societal fads.