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| - There is strength in numbers in all things, and 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. 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. Also related to The Dragon and The Starscream tropes.
* 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 will often seek whichever championship the Heir Apparent doesn't go after, in order to further solidify the stable's power base.
* 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. 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 that just doesn't have what it takes to advance into the upper echelon of wresting. 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.
* The Manager: The team's resident Evil Genius, the Manager is the "big picture guy". 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.
* The Hanger-On: Much like The Chick of the Five-Man Band or The Dark Chick of the Five-Bad 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 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". 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 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, Five-Bad Band, Power Trio. Examples of Power Stable include:
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