History Wrestling / Evolution

* {{Mooks}}: The new incarnation seems to have them in the form of nearly a dozen heel mid-carders that Triple H seems to be able to call upon at will. Justified since Trips is now an onscreen (and offscreen) [[IncrediblyLamePun authority]] figure.

* InnocenceLost: This stable was the death of Randy Orton's innocence. Their betrayal destroyed whatever remained of Randy's idealism, and eventually turned him into a monster that would come to plague the careers of every other member of the stable for the years to come.

* ContinuityNod: In a world where most storylines disappear after {{Three Month|Rule}}s, it took ''years'' for Randy Orton to get over Evolution turning on him. In fact, one could argue that [[StartOfDarkness it was this event that began Randy's in-character descent from the suave, arrogant Legend Killer to the sadist]] known as the Viper. It was expected that whenever he had a storyline with another former member, the stable would be brought up, ''especially'' if that former member happened to be Triple H.

* {{Irony}}: Despite Triple H touting Batista (along with Randy Orton) as the "future" component of Evolution's name, Batista left the wrestling industry before Triple H transitioned from active competitor to authority figure, then came back twice for short runs and ultimately retired all the while Triple H has remained open to wrestle part-time when needed. In fact, Batista's final match was the first and only time Triple H had ever beaten him one-on-one.

* ContinuityNod: In a world where most storylines disappear after {{Three Month|Rules}}, it took ''years'' for Randy Orton to get over Evolution turning on him. In fact, one could argue that [[StartOfDarkness it was this event that began Randy's in-character descent from the suave, arrogant Legend Killer to the sadist]] known as the Viper. It was expected that whenever he had a storyline with another former member, the stable would be brought up, ''especially'' if that former member happened to be Triple H.

* ContinuityNod: In a world where most storylines disappear after {{Three Months|Rule}}, it took ''years'' for Randy Orton to get over Evolution turning on him. In fact, one could argue that [[StartOfDarkness it was this event that began Randy's in-character descent from the suave, arrogant Legend Killer to the sadist]] known as the Viper. It was expected that whenever he had a storyline with another former member, the stable would be brought up, ''especially'' if that former member happened to be Triple H.

* ContinuityNod: In a world where most storylines disappear after {{Three Month|Rule}}, it took ''years'' for Randy Orton to get over Evolution turning on him. In fact, one could argue that [[StartOfDarkness it was this event that began Randy's in-character descent from the suave, arrogant Legend Killer to the sadist]] known as the Viper. It was expected that whenever he had a storyline with another former member, the stable would be brought up, ''especially'' if that former member happened to be Triple H.

* TooManyBelts: For a span of several months, Evolution had a monopoly on all of Raw's non-diva belts. Triple H was the World Heavyweight Champion, Randy Orton was the Intercontinental Champion, and [=Batista=] and Ric Flair held the World Tag Team titles. One would imagine that had any of the divas joined them, they'd probably would have had the Women's Title as well.

** After months of being an UnwittingPawn to his idol Triple H, Eugene was swiftly disposed of when he accidentally cost the Game a match with Chris Benoit.

** Notably inverted with Batista, after he won the 2005 Royal Rumble - Triple H & Flair spent over a month trying to sway him to challenge for the WWE championship instead of Triple H's coveted World Heavyweight Championship, under the pretense of Evolution holding both World titles; only for Batista to pull this on ''them'' by announcing his intent to face Triple H at [=WrestleMania=].

Evolution was a PowerStable on Raw between 2003 and 2005, consisting of Wrestling/RicFlair, Wrestling/TripleH, Wrestling/RandyOrton and Wrestling/{{Batista}}. Each of the members represented the best in "the past" (Ric Flair), "the present" (Triple H), and "the future" (Randy Orton and Batista) of ProfessionalWrestling. At one point (pictured right) they were collectively in the possession of the World Heavyweight Championship (Triple H), The Intercontinental Championship (Orton) and World Tag Team Championships (Batista and Flair).

* FatalFlaw: {{Pride}} and {{Ambition|IsEvil}} were what tore Evolution apart. Both Batista and Orton were young, rising stars, hungry for success, while it was obvious to everyone else that Evolution was Hunter's attempt to keep a stranglehold on the World Title and get out of Wrestling/ShawnMichaels's shadow. Even their reunion ten years later wa rather unstable; Batista and Orton were a full decade OlderAndWiser and have had massive amounts of success, enough to be considered on the same level as Hunter himself. They didn't have that same drive anymore nor did they need Hunter to get anywhere in the business, and at the same time, their egos had grown to match their former mentor's. The only reason they reunited was out of convenience, thinking it the best way to get rid of Wrestling/TheShield so that Orton and Batista could go after the title while Triple H ran things. When The Shield was clearly not going to let that happen, Batista quit.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Orton and Batista were touted as wrestling's future. The group starts falling apart when they turned on Orton after he won his first World Title, and Batista winning the (2005) Wrestling/RoyalRumble and choosing to go after Triple H's World Heavyweight title instead of the WWE Championship sealed the group's fate (by the time Triple H turned on Flair late in 2005, the duo can barely be considered as still running the stable). Even more so if you consider the fact that Orton 'fulfilled' his potential by going ''[[SanitySlippage completely insane]]'' and running roughshod over WWE for years, something that would haunt every other person in the stable for the years to come.

* HeelFaceTurn: Orton after he was ousted from the group after winning the World Heavyweight Title, then later Batista, after winning the Wrestling/RoyalRumble and deciding on staying on Raw and challenge for the World Heavyweight title. In 2007, for a one-off appearance, the stable itself (''sans'' Orton, who [[ContinuityNod understandably didn't trust them]]) reunited as faces.

* {{Mooks}}: The new incarnation seems to have them in the form of nearly a dozen heel midcarders that Triple H seems to be able to call upon at will. Justified since Trips is now an onscreen (and offscreen) [[IncrediblyLamePun authority]] figure.

* NotSoSimilar: Evolution was born out of convenience; Hunter needed muscle to support his reign as World Heavyweight Champion, and Orton and Batista needed tickets to the big time. When the latter started infringing on his spotlight, Hunter didn't hesitate to kick them both to the curb, and didn't feel an ounce of regret for it. Even their reunion was born out of convenience: they all hated Wrestling/TheShield, and wanted to get rid of them. The Shield, however, was a brotherhood; they would've done anything for each other. As much as Rollins espoused that everything was a lie, that he never saw Ambrose and Reigns as his brothers, and committed so many atrocious acts to cement the fact, not once was anyone fully convinced -- not even Rollins himself. After Wrestling/TripleH inevitably betrayed him, it became blatantly clear that in reality, Rollins considered breaking up the Shield to be his biggest regret, a mistake he wanted to make up for so ''badly'' that he was willing to take a steel chair to the back if it meant one of his brothers finally forgave him.

* OhCrap: Two pretty epic ones involving a gladiatorial thumbs-down, an act of treason involving Batista, a violent asskicking, and the victim losing the world heavyweight title to the lead perpetrator in a matter of weeks. This resonated well enough that the thumbs-down became the signature taunt heralding many a Batista Bomb.
** Orton's came on his first night as world champion in 2004 when, right after being hoisted up onto Batista's shoulders, he saw Triple H give him the gladiatorial thumbs-down. Cue electric chair drop and asskicking.
** Both Flair and Triple H had theirs in 2005 when Batista gave ''them'' the gladiatorial thumbs-down. Cue asskicking to Triple H before signing the contract to stay on Raw and challenge for the World Heavyweight Title rather than go to Smackdown and challenge for JBL's WWE Title.

** In 2007 on Raw's 15th Anniversary Episode, although only for that night, and with Flair, Triple H and Batista all faces at that point while Orton was a heel and didn't trust them.

* StudentAndMasterTeam: The main essence of the group. Batista and Flair deserves special mention, winning the World Tag team tiles twice.

* TooManyBelts: For a span of several months, Evolution had a monopoly on all of Raw's non-diva belts. Triple H was World Heavyweight Champion, Randy Orton was Intercontinental Champion, and [=Batista=] and Ric Flair held the World Tag Team titles. One would imagine that had any of the divas joined them, they'd probably would have had the Women's Title as well.

** Officially went this way with the ending of the 4/14/14 episode of ''RAW'', when they came out to finish off Wrestling/TheShield after setting up the Hounds of Justice to be mugged by 11 heel midcarders.

They reformed (minus Ric Flair) on the April 14, 2014 edition of Raw, as agents of Wrestling/TheAuthority to combat Wrestling/TheShield, until the June 2, 2014 episode of Raw when Batista quit[[note]]In reality he left to go promote ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''[[/note]].

They reformed (minus Ric Flair) on the April 14, 2014 edition of Raw, as agents of Wrestling/TheAuthority to combat Wrestling/TheShield, until the June 2nd 2014 episode of Raw when Batista quit[[note]]In reality he left to go promote ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''[[/note]]