There is always strength in numbers. Professional Wrestling is no different. Someone who wants to get to, or stay on, the top of the game is best served to seek allies. Some wrestlers can rely on their family; others band together by virtue of similar character or common interests. Still others band together for one purpose, and one purpose only— to watch each others' backs, and better their own positions in the company. These wrestling mutual-aid societies are called power stables. While a staple of wrestling, it can occur elsewhere.

Like in all fictional groups, the members of a Power Stable have a tendency to fit certain archetypes. Generally speaking, each stable will play host to at least three of the following core character types:

• The Centerpiece: The Leader of the gang. He considers himself the best in the world and will disagree violently with anybody who suggests otherwise. The stable's first and foremost priority is to keep the world championship belt around the waist of the Centerpiece; it is their crown jewel, serving as a powerful backstage bargaining platform as well as a display of the stable's power.
• The Heir Apparent: All but the most arrogant Centerpieces know that they won't be around forever, and plan for this eventuality. The Heir Apparent represents that plan in action. He is the Centerpiece's number-one disciple, being trained and groomed for the day that the Centerpiece will retire and he will thus take over the stable's legacy. Ironically, he's also usually the reason that the stable doesn't stay together long enough to have a legacy for him to take over; most Heirs eventually find themselves ascending through the ranks faster than the Centerpiece likes and thus cause the breakup of the stable, either by him turning on the stable or the stable turning on him. Less commonly, the rest of the stable might side with the Heir Apparent instead of the Centerpiece when this conflict comes about, allowing the Heir Apparent to successfully make himself the new Centerpiece. As long as the stable's together, though, the Heir Apparent will often find himself in contention for either the promotion's secondary singles title or the tag team championship, whichever is considered more prestigious. See also The Lancer, The Dragon and The Starscream.
• The Enforcer: The Enforcer is the stable's "field general", so to speak. He is the team's strategist, planning such things as match run-ins, backstage attacks and the like in order to maximize the stable's effectiveness. He's usually a cagey veteran, and always the only person that the Centerpiece truly trusts. He's probably either a genuine friend of the Centerpiece or an older wrestler who's his Evil Mentor, explaining why he's willing to help the Centerpiece grab the top spot in the company instead of seeking it himself. In the latter case, he frequently was the top heel holding the world championship when he was younger, and sees the Power Stable as a way to ensure that his Villainous Legacy survives even after he's gone. He will often seek whichever championship the Heir Apparent doesn't go after, in order to further solidify the stable's power base, often a tag team championship with the Muscle or the Heir Apparent, depending on whether the secondary singles title or the tag title is more prestigious. Related to The Smart Guy and Evil Genius if The Manager isn't already acting as one.
• The Muscle: The Muscle is the physical power of the team. He is big, bad, and dangerous to know; however, whether it's because of mental slowness or just general lack of drive, he just doesn't seem to do much on his own. With the right guidance, though, he is truly a force to be reckoned with, with the stable being more-than-willing to provide that guidance for the benefit of his strength. As befitting his nature, he most often finds himself teaming with another member of the stable, usually the Heir Apparent or the Enforcer, and going for the Tag titles. If the stable survives once the inevitable Centerpiece vs Heir Apparent conflict plays out, whoever came out on top is likely to elevate the Muscle to be the new Heir Apparent... setting the stage for the same conflict to happen again when the newly-motivated Muscle decides that just going up one step in the hierarchy isn't enough for him. Related to The Big Guy and The Brute.

In addition, the stable may include some of the following characters:

• The Point Man: This guy is usually found only in larger stables, although it's not unheard of for a smaller stable to have one of these instead of an Heir Apparent. The Point Man is pretty much what his name would indicate— he's the guy "on point", who the stable leader sends out to soften up the opponents. Frequently a charisma-deficient midcarder, or a lower midcarder who's a good worker but just doesn't have what it takes to advance into the upper echelon of wrestling. Therefore, being associated with the stable and having some of its heat rub off on him is his best bet. Unlike the Heir Apparent, the Point Man is usually fairly loyal to the stable and its leader, although he can be goaded into a Heel–Face Turn if his stablemates lose respect for him and throw him into danger while they run away. Comparable to an Elite Mook.
• The Manager: The team's resident Evil Genius, the Manager is the "big picture guy". If the Centerpiece is not the leader, then the Manager is. He's always plotting, always scheming, and always pulling strings to put his guys on top. While he deals mostly with the backstage politics and is not a wrestler himself, he's not afraid to get physically involved to help his team, whether it be a trip here, a well-placed attack with a foreign object there, or what have you, but he will turn tail as a Dirty Coward the moment someone threatens him, making it all the better when a face being hounded by the stable for weeks gets his hands on the smarmy bastard.
• The Hanger-On: Much like the token girl of the Five-Man Band, he's the stable member with the least fixed role and the hardest to pin down. He's usually somebody's buddy and may not even be a wrestler; if he is, he's usually not in the same echelon with the rest of the stable, and it shows. However, he (or she— this role is frequently filled by a female character) does something that the stable finds useful, and so his fortunes rise with the team's. His role may be anything from the Tagalong Kid, to Honorary True Companion, to The Sixth Ranger. Often, he will act radically different from the rest of the stable to lend flavor to the group. The more Hanger-Ons a stable has, the less likely any individual Hanger-On is to be a major contributor to the stable's success. This can also lead to a character getting a role that could be described as "Hanger-On Elite", promoting the Point Man to a full inner circle member as the Mook Lieutenant, designating two or three of the followers as the Point Man's B-Team and the rest as regular Hanger-On's.

Note that most Power Stables are heels; it's not impossible for faces to form a stable, of course, but generally faces don't seek power to the degree that heels do; thus most face stables tend to be either gimmick stables or families. If they do form a Power Stable, it's generally because the promotion is so heavily factionalized or an already-existing heel stable is so dominant at the moment that grouping together is the only way to level the playing field, or because the stable itself has existed for so long that it's actually built up a legacy of greatness, rather than backbiting or infighting (see: the later incarnations of the Four Horsemen).

Compare Five-Man Band, Power Trio, Gang of Bullies, Legion of Doom and Opposing Sports Team.

Power Stable Index

Examples