Evolution was a villainous American professional wrestling stable in WWE which was a part of the Raw brand from 2003 to 2005, as well as during 2007 and 2014. At the height of its original existence, the group consisted of Triple H, Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Batista. The quartet has been referred to as a modern iteration of Flair's former stable, The Four Horsemen. Evolution slowly began dissolving after SummerSlam 2004, when Orton won the World Heavyweight Championship and was kicked out of the group. After winning the Royal Rumble in 2005, Batista betrayed Triple H and Flair, turning face, and decided to pursue the World Heavyweight Championship himself. Although Batista's departure was largely the end for the group, the final break up came when Triple H turned on and attacked Flair during RAW's Homecoming episode. During the breakup, each member faced one another at least once.
Evolution later reformed on April 14, 2014 as a sub-group to The Authority after Batista joined forces with Triple H and Orton.
Contents
Concept
Each member of Evolution represented the best in: "the past" (Ric Flair), "the present" (Triple H), and "the future" (Randy Orton and Batista) of professional wrestling. Triple H would reveal on his 2013 Triple H - Thy Kingdom Come DVD that Mark Jindrak was originally planned to be in the group in Batista's role as the Arn Anderson-like enforcer, with Jindrak even shooting vignettes with the rest of the group, before it was decided to make Batista part of the group instead. This was further elaborated in 2020, when it was revealed that Vince McMahon wanted Jindrak in the group to replace Batista due to his triceps injuries in 2003. However, Triple H felt that Jindrak was not mature enough for the group and also felt that he was dragging Orton down, an assessment mutually agreed by Jindrak himself. Ultimately, management decided to place Jindrak in a tag team with Garrison Cade while the rest of Evolution waited for Batista to return to health, which proved to work out for all parties involved, including Jindrak, who would have a successful career in Mexico following his WWE departure in 2005.
History
Original run (2002–2005)
At Unforgiven on September 22, 2002, Triple H defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Rob Van Dam. During the match, Ric Flair, who had been verbally mocked by Triple H in the locker room earlier in the night following his Intercontinental Championship loss to Chris Jericho, came down to the ring and grabbed the sledgehammer from Triple H and teased hitting him before hitting Van Dam instead, allowing Triple H to get the win. From that point on, Flair accompanied Triple H to the ring as his manager. Shortly thereafter, Batista moved from SmackDown! to Raw and Flair also began accompanying him to the ring as a manager and mentor while continuing to second Triple H. On the January 20, 2003 episode of Raw, Randy Orton, who had been out of action due to a shoulder injury, returned and joined Triple H, Flair and Batista in attacking Scott Steiner to complete the group. Two weeks later, the group officially got its name when Triple H, after the group jumped Tommy Dreamer, spoke about how the four men were examples of professional wrestling's evolution from the past (Flair) to the present (himself) to the future (Batista and Orton). During the group's early stages, however, Batista was out of action for nearly eight months due to a triceps tear.
At Bad Blood on June 15, Flair defeated Shawn Michaels in a singles match after Orton struck Michaels with a chair. Later that night, Triple H retained his World Heavyweight Championship against Kevin Nash in a Hell in a Cell match. On the June 23 episode of Raw, Triple H successfully defended the title against Kane in a match with a "Title vs. Mask" stipulation, forcing Kane to unmask. At Unforgiven on September 21, Orton defeated Michaels to help establish his "Legend Killer" gimmick. Later that night, Triple H lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Goldberg. The following week on Raw, Triple H issued a $100,000 bounty to anybody who could take out Goldberg. On the October 20 episode of Raw, Batista made his return from injury during Goldberg's World Heavyweight Championship defense against Michaels, attacking Goldberg and finishing by stomping on a steel chair with Goldberg's ankle sandwiched in it to claim the bounty. At Survivor Series on November 16, Orton participated in the Team Bischoff versus Team Austin elimination tag team match, in which he was the sole survivor. Later that night, Triple H failed to regain the World Heavyweight Championship from Goldberg.
At the height of Evolution's power, the group controlled all of the male-based championships of Raw after Armageddon on December 14. Batista and Flair won the World Tag Team Championship in a tag team turmoil match, Orton captured the Intercontinental Championship from Rob Van Dam, and Triple H regained the World Heavyweight Championship from Goldberg in a triple threat match also involving Kane.
Reunions (2007–present)
On December 10, 2007, Evolution had an in-ring reunion as faces on the Raw 15th Anniversary special episode, where Batista, Flair and Triple H defeated the team of Orton (who has former member Evolution as heel), Edge and Umaga.
At SummerSlam on August 18, 2013, Triple H and Orton once again joined forces to form the heel stable The Authority. At WrestleMania XXX on April 6, 2014, the two men would be joined by Batista after Daniel Bryan defeated Triple H in the opening match, and then Orton and Batista in the main event triple threat match to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The next night on Raw, Batista and Orton teamed together for the first time in ten years to face The Usos for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but the match ended in a no contest due to both teams being counted out. Later that night, Batista and Orton, along with Kane, attacked Bryan before he was set to defend his title against Triple H. Before Triple H could defeat Bryan, however, The Shield interrupted by spearing him and taking out Orton, Batista and Kane, thus Bryan retained the title via no contest.
On the April 14 episode of Raw, Triple H, Orton and Batista attacked The Shield after their 11-on-3 handicap match, using the name and the theme of Evolution, officially reuniting the group. Evolution lost to The Shield at Extreme Rules on May 4 and in a No Holds Barred elimination tag match at Payback on June 1, in which none of The Shield were eliminated. On the June 2 episode of Raw, Batista quit the WWE (kayfabe) after his title match request was denied by Triple H due to Bryan's neck injury at the time rendering him unable to complete. This was done to write Batista off WWE television so he could promote Guardians of the Galaxy. However, on June 12, Batista legitimately quit after an appearance on NXT due to creative differences. Later that night, Triple H declared that he had resorted to "Plan B" in his quest to destroy The Shield, prompting Seth Rollins to betray and attack Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, joining The Authority and dissolving The Shield.
Evolution reunited on SmackDown's 1000th episode on October 16, 2018, where Batista reminded Triple H that he had never defeated him. Batista attacked Flair before the latter's 70th birthday celebration on the February 25, 2019 episode of Raw. At WrestleMania 35 on April 7, Batista and Triple H would face each other in a No Holds Barred match with their careers on the line, which Triple H won after Flair returned and distracted Batista.
Members
Championships and accomplishments
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Match of the Year (2004) – Triple H vs. Chris Benoit and Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XX
Feud of the Year (2004) – Triple H vs. Chris Benoit
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2003, 2004, 2005) – Triple H
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Heavyweight Championship (5 times) – Triple H (4), Randy Orton (1)
World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – Batista and Ric Flair
WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time) – Randy Orton
Royal Rumble (2005) – Batista
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Feud of the Year (2004) Triple H vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels
Feud of the Year (2005) Triple H vs. Batista
Most Overrated (2003, 2004) – Triple H
Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (2003) – Triple H
Worst Match of the Year (2003) Triple H vs. Scott Steiner on January 19
