D-Generation X: The last great faction

WWE
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Posted: Feb 19, 2019 | Updated: 3 years ago

D-Generation X will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fam this April, and it’s long overdue. It’s a fitting end to one of the Attitude Era’s greatest factions.

The six members – Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Chyna, Road Dogg, Billy Gunn and X-Pac helped provide a side to factions that was not seen before. Wrestling fans knew of The Four Horsemen (the greatest faction), The Radicals (Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero., Chris Benoit), but to have a group so outlandish, so marketable was new to wrestling. Let’s not forget that over in WCW, the NWO was ruling the wrestling market. DX proved that WWE could create a brand just a great and just as popular with the crowd. While I wouldn’t credit it to WWE’s win of the Monday Night Wars, they did contribute in a major way, providing perfect antagonism when needed.

The only downfall to this induction will be the absence of Chyna, who passed away April 20, 2016. She’d be happy to known that her remaining counterparts are doing well, from working with WWE on podcasts to other promotions. I saw Billy Gunn at WrestleCade last year and he still looks great. He’s moved on to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). X-Pac and Road Dogg have their podcasts. Shawn is working in his ministry, and Triple H is part of the WWE family in a suit now, married to Stephanie McMahon.

The group came on the scene in 1997 with only Triple H, Chyna and Rick Rude. Soon afterwards X-Pac and The New Age Outlaws (Gunn, Road Dogg) would join the team. But what makes the last great faction? Not only were they a faction, but they were close friends in real life. In fact, they’ve been shaping professional wrestling for a long, long time. Who can remember when Pac, then the 1-2-3 Kid pinned Scott Hall (Razor Ramon during his WWF Years)?

Gosh, crank it back to the most revered moment in wrestling history: The “Curtain Call”. You know, the moment where Hall, Nash, Levesque, Michaels all just hug it out, revealing a certain fakeness to wrestling not meant to be seen publicly. It made them human, and even more popular to the sport because they broke character. Were they punished? Oh yeah, but it’s amazing how one “Kliq” changed wrestling (haha).

These guys believed in each other beyond pushes and storylines. And while you can still catch a glimpse of a reunion every now and then, even they have begun to admit they’re getting old. Take for example the recent reunion for Crown Jewel last November when Michaels and Triple H took on Undertaker and Kane. It was probably an one-off, but people still tune in to see the DX logo. The brand has had staying power over the years and if they revived it with a new crew, I wouldn’t be mad. Not to mention, they were the only faction that could go kayfabe at any moment and no one would blink an eye. They made it work so well in the ring.

If you argue the rise of The New Day, I’ll say this: They should have been the new Nation of Domination. Then again, that’s just me.

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