| Evolution | |
|---|---|
| Stable | |
| Members | Ric Flair Batista Triple H Randy Orton |
| Name(s) | Evolution |
| Debut | February 3, 2003 |
| Disbanded | October 3, 2005 |
| Promotions | WWE |
Evolution was a professional wrestling heel stable on World Wrestling Entertainment's RAW brand consisting of Ric Flair, Randy Orton, Triple H, and Batista. The group is considered by many to be modeled after Ric Flair's old stable, the Four Horsemen, from the NWA and WCW.
Contents |
History
2002
On September 22, 2002 at Unforgiven, Triple H defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Rob Van Dam. During the match Ric Flair came down to the ring and grabbed the sledgehammer from Triple H and teased hitting Triple H before hitting Van Dam, allowing Triple H to get the win. From that point on, Flair accompanied Triple H to the ring as his manager. Shortly after, Batista moved from SmackDown! to RAW and took Flair as his manager. When Triple H began his feud with Scott Steiner at the beginning of 2003, Batista and Randy Orton both assisted him along with Flair.
2003 – Formation
The group was officially founded on February 3, 2003 and called itself Evolution, as in "the Evolution of this business." Each of the members represented the best in "the past" (Ric Flair), "the present" (Triple H), and "the future" (Randy Orton and Batista) of professional wrestling. The stable got off to a rocky start as both Batista and Orton were injured in matches in February 2003. Several months later, Orton rejoined the group. Batista returned later, coming to the aid of Triple H during his feud with Bill Goldberg. Flair's character trademarks of coming out in suits and being a noted Playboy, along with his and Triple H's trademark heel ruthlessness, were traits that carried over into the entire stable, both during and as heels after Evolution. While in the group each of the members had individual quirks:
- Orton, after returning from injury in May 2003, became "the Legend Killer" and humiliated and sometimes defeated numerous "legendary" wrestlers and celebrities, becoming infamous when he spat in the face of Mick Foley and later on Harley Race.
- Batista, known as "Evolution's Animal" (shortened to "The Animal"), was the silent, strong enforcer of the group. His progress as a wrestler and personality wasn't as quick as Orton's and he was mainly kept in the background until after Orton was kicked out.
- Flair, "The Nature Boy" and the "Dirtiest Player in the Game", took a managerial role and mainly focused on helping the others, though he became increasingly more active as a wrestler as the group progressed, including winning the World Tag Team titles with Batista.
- Triple H, "The Game", was the leader and the one who either possessed or pursued the World Heavyweight title all the time. He had the World title when the group formed and he lost the belt to Chris Benoit, who would later be defeated by both Batista and Orton. Their victories led to their eventual expulsion from the group.
At the height of Evolution's power, the group controlled all of the male-based championships of RAW after Armageddon 2003. Batista teamed with Flair to win the World Tag Team Championship, Randy Orton captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship, and Triple H regained the World Heavyweight Championship, with the help of the other members.
2004
Triple H lost the title to Chris Benoit when he tapped out to the Crippler Crossface at WrestleMania XX. While champion, Benoit teamed with Edge to take the World Tag Team Titles from Flair and Batista. During June and July Eugene was made an "honorary member" of Evolution. When the angle finished, it was revealed that Triple H used him. The angle concluded after Eugene accidentally caused Triple H's loss to Chris Benoit at Vengeance 2004. On the same night, Edge defeated Randy Orton to end his seven-month-long Intercontinental Championship reign. Triple H received one final shot at the World Heavyweight Championship, on the July 26 2004 episode of RAW in an Iron Man Match. Earlier that night, Randy Orton won a number-one contender battle royal for the World Heavyweight Championship, and potentially a title match between Triple H and Randy Orton could have taken place at SummerSlam, however Eugene interfered in the Iron Man match and helped Benoit take the lead, and retain the title, in the final seconds, setting up a title match between Benoit and Orton at SummerSlam 2004. At SummerSlam Orton pinned Benoit to become the new World Heavyweight Champion and the youngest World Champion in WWE history to date.
2004 – Dissent and self-destruction
On the August 16 2004 episode of RAW, Orton was kicked out of Evolution following a successful defense of the title against Chris Benoit. Batista hoisted Orton on to his shoulders in what appeared to be a celebration, but following the thumbs down from Triple H, the group proceeded to attack Orton. At Unforgiven 2004, Triple H beat Orton to regain the World title, with help from Flair, Batista and Jonathan Coachman. Orton's feud with Evolution continued until Survivor Series 2004 where Triple H, Batista, Gene Snitsky and Edge were defeated by Orton, Maven, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit in a Survivor Series match for control of RAW over the following month. On November 29 2004, the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated when a match with Triple H, Edge and Benoit ended in a double fall (Edge tapped out to Benoit's Crippler Crossface while he had Benoit pinned to the ground), and the title was to be decided in an Elimination Chamber match at New Year's Revolution 2005.
2005
In the Elimination Chamber match, Batista, Orton, and Triple H were the last three remaining in the match. Orton eliminated Batista with an RKO and Triple H pinned Orton to win the title. On the following night's RAW a number-one contender's match saw Orton pin Batista to gain a title shot at the 2005 Royal Rumble. Triple H suggested that Batista not enter the Royal Rumble match, wanting the group to focus on Triple H retaining the title. Batista declined and entered the Rumble at number 28 and won. Triple H concussed (kayfabe) and then pinned Orton to retain the title, finally ending their feud. Triple H tried to persuade Batista to challenge for the WWE Championship rather than his title. The scheme was unsuccessful and at the contract signing ceremony, Batista turned his back on Evolution, and attacked Flair and Triple H, choosing to challenge for Triple H's title at WrestleMania 21. Batista defeated Triple H for the World title at WrestleMania, then defended and retained the title in rematches at Backlash, and Vengeance 2005 in a Hell in a Cell match. After Vengeance, Triple H took time off, Flair turned face, and the group was dissolved. Triple H returned at the WWE Homecoming episode of RAW on October 3 where he was to team with Flair in a tag team match. After winning that match, Triple H betrayed Flair and after supposedly being a babyface for the night, he turned heel, marking the end of Evolution.
2007- Reunion
On December 10 2007, Evolution had an in-ring reunion as faces on the Raw 15th Anniversary special episode. After Batista, Flair, and Triple H (who indeed turned face in 2006) made their way to the ring, Orton (now a heel again) refused to join them. He stated that if he would have to be remembered for being part of a tag-team, it would be as a member of Rated RKO. Orton's remarks led to a match between Evolution and the team of Rated RKO and Umaga, which was won by Evolution.
Original concept
In an interview with IGN on December 20 2004[1], Triple H discussed how Evolution was conceived:
| “ | It was my initial concept and I ran it by Vince and I ran it by Flair. My initial concept was pretty much what we said on TV. I looked around and we had Ric Flair as a baby face just sitting there and not doing a whole lot, then you had myself, and I felt like Ric could be utilized better as a mentor to a younger guy who was up and coming. I felt like somebody could get the rub off of him, then the more I started thinking about it, I thought if we put together a group where we took a couple of guys and they could get a rub off of both Ric and I, and Ric could be accompanying them to the ring and become part-wrestler, part-mentor, part-manager, that this could really get big. So I ran it by Ric and he liked the idea. And when I was talking to Vince about it, he asked me what other wrestlers I wanted to do Evolution with, and I honestly didn't know. So Ric and I spent a lot of time just watching guys. Ric and I would actually watch every match, scouting each wrestler to see who could pull this off. To me, this was an important deal because I had to pick two guys who I thought could be big stars on their own one day, otherwise we're just wasting our time.
This isn't a knock against anybody, but there are a lot of groups, and when the group folds, the guys in that group fold because they were propped up by that group. That's not what we wanted. I wanted two guys who could be stars standing on their own, we just needed to get them to that point of standing on their own, and that's what we've done. If you look at Randy Orton, it was time for him to get kicked out of the nest and try to fly on his own, so we kicked him out and he's out there flying. He's in a place where he's either going to become a huge star or he's going to hit the ground, but we got him to that point, and he got himself to that point too. Same thing with Batista. We're going to turn Batista into a big star here, and he's working his ass off at it. And when the time is right, we'll kick him out of the nest and see how he flies. That was part of the whole thrill of doing Evolution. We took two guys who, if they would've kept doing the same things they were doing, they would've just been a couple of other guys, and it would've been hard for them to progress from that level. We literally took them out with us everywhere we went, talked business to them non-stop, and they watched matches with us, they wrestled with us, and listened to our advice. I'm not trying to take credit for where they are, they are the ones who had to put in the work, but we gave them the platform to do it from. They deserve the credit, though, because they are the ones who did it. |
” |
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Signature foreign object
Championships and accomplishments
- World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – Ric Flair and Batista (2)
- WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time) – Randy Orton (1)
- World Heavyweight Championship (3 times) – Triple H (2), Randy Orton (1)
- Royal Rumble Winner – Batista (2005)
