{"id":44302,"date":"2022-08-13T16:25:57","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T16:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/dxs-rebellious-wwe-legacy-explored-in-ae-biography\/"},"modified":"2022-08-13T16:25:57","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T16:25:57","slug":"dxs-rebellious-wwe-legacy-explored-in-ae-biography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/dxs-rebellious-wwe-legacy-explored-in-ae-biography\/","title":{"rendered":"DX&#8217;s rebellious WWE legacy explored in A&#038;E &#8216;Biography&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Pro wrestling is at its best when it blurs the lines between reality and what you see on TV.  D-Generation X did that as well as anyone.<\/p>\n<p>The legendary group&#8217;s inception was born out of friends Triple H and Shawn Michaels&#8217; real life frustration and need to rail against Vince McMahon&#8217;s stale, outdated and underperforming product in the early &#8217;90s in WWF (now WWE) and to push the envelope of what was acceptable in the wrestling business.  They got tired of being told what they can&#8217;t do and chose to rebel in some way on TV every week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we go out there with a live microphone, once it&#8217;s out there, it&#8217;s out there.  You can&#8217;t take it back,\u201d Michaels told The Post in a phone interview.  \u201cA lot of it is being young, immature, and the one thing that you do have when you are that is you&#8217;re not afraid of being let go or getting fired or getting in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group&#8217;s rise, reinvention, impact on pop culture and the personal struggles of many of its members are explored in Sunday&#8217;s \u201cBiography: WWE Legends\u201d on A&#038;E at 8 pm From their signature crotch crops, \u201cSuck it\u201d catchphrase, changing the perception of a woman&#8217;s role in wrestling and impact on the \u201cAttitude Era,\u201d DX epitomized some of the cultural shifts going on in the &#8217;90s.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe went places you weren&#8217;t supposed to go and all of it was real,\u201d Michaels says in the episode.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption>Shawn Michaels and Triple Has as D-Generation X.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">WWE<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>DX&#8217;s formation in 1997 came at time when Michaels, dealing with a debilitating back injury and a growing addition to pain meds, was unhappy despite being a main eventer and WWF champion.  Triple H had gone as far as he could with his Hunter Hearst Helmsley blueblood character after taking the brunt of the punishment for The Kliq&#8217;s infamous \u201cCurtain Call\u201d at Madison Square Garden.  Michaels describes them as being \u201cexasperated\u201d and wanting to find a way to have fun together.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe both wanted to be grittier,\u201d he said.  \u201cWe were certainly fed up I think emotionally and professionally from the standpoint, again, we have this concept, this idea of \u200b\u200bwhere the wrestling business should go and no one else wants to do that.  Everyone wants to stay the traditional purist track and we just really felt like that had run its course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What followed was Michaels, Triple H and Chyna \u2013 breaking the mold as a female bodyguard for a male wrestler\u2013 laughing in the face of WWF&#8217;s on-screen authority figures, showing their bare asses on TV and using plenty of sexual innuendos all while backing it up in the ring.  In Michaels&#8217; mind, it was DX&#8217;s hijinks and frat-boy attitude that gave it a different vibe than WCW&#8217;s nWo \u2014 to which it will always be compared.  Both groups are in the WWE Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"\/>\n<p>\u201cDX was far more immature, far more sophomoric,\u201d Michaels said.  \u201cI think the nWo was cool, again they&#8217;re not mooning people.  There&#8217;s no doing high school stuff.  They were doing, I don&#8217;t know more rebellious things.  I guess they were spray-painting people, but I think that was more to get the brand or the logo over.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t know if they were doing a lot of funny, off the wall [things].  And even their promos, I don&#8217;t think they were as entertaining.  They might have been rough and a little bit more shoot oriented, but again, I don&#8217;t think they were as appealing to the more teenage aspect as opposed to the 30-year-old guy who wished he could say this to people as opposed to us.  Kids could say it, they just got in trouble for it and got a scolding and got put in detention.\u201d   <\/p>\n<p>The Heartbreak Kid, now one of the people running WWE&#8217;s NXT brand, said he doesn&#8217;t like getting into the hypotheticals, but believed there was at least a small chance Scott Hall and Kevin Nash don&#8217;t make the jump to WCW in 1996 had WWE&#8217;s \u201cAttitude Era\u201d content begun after Triple H and X-Pac pushed McMahon for such during a meeting in Indianapolis is 1995. Business likely would have had to increase too because a move to WCW allowed Hall and Nash to make more money while working fewer dates  The wresting world would have looked a lot different had they stayed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t know,\u201d Michaels said.  \u201cHad everything happened immediately after that, and business started to boom and the Attitude Era came sooner and everybody started prospering, I don&#8217;t know if they wouldn&#8217;t have stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container\" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"D-Generation X&#039;s greatest moments: WWE Top 10, Oct. 1, 2018\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QQUD-PbgG04?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Michaels himself left in a different way following his WrestleMania 14 match in 1997 with \u201cStone Cold\u201d Steve Austin to deal with the back injury that left him needing to heavily medicate himself with painkillers to help get him through the event.  At one point during the documentary, Triple H talks about how Chyna was the mom of the group and played a key role in helping Michaels through that dark time.  Michaels described her as a \u201cnurturer\u201d and her talks were what he needed at the time \u2013 to be reminded there are people depending on you. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe didn&#8217;t say a lot, but when she said something to me, it did, it almost had a nurturing mom effect on me and it&#8217;s just something where you realize it&#8217;s one thing to look at your buddy [Triple H] and not worry about hurting him and making him mad because he&#8217;s a man and needs to get over it.  It&#8217;s another thing where there&#8217;s this girl who, one is giving you good advice because she cares but then, &#8216;hey, I also committed my life to you guys and took this on and didn&#8217;t know much about it and I&#8217;m trusting you .&#8217;  She was able to do that without guilting you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michaels&#8217; exit \u2013 which lasted until 2002 \u2013 opened the door for Triple H to form the second iteration of DX the night after WrestleMania 14 with the shocking return of X-Pac from WCW and the additions of Road Dogg and Billy Gunn.  It took the group to a new level of influence and notoriety as the \u201cMonday Night Wars\u201d began to turn in WWE&#8217;s favor.  It also helped launch Triple H into being an eventual world champion and Chyna, whose mom is interviewed in the documentary, breaking barriers as the first woman to win the Intercontinental championship.  Michaels called that version of the group \u201cfantastic\u201d and that he and Triple H previously considered Gunn and Road Dogg for the group.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/20011112_upn_z03_137.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"DX\" class=\"wp-image-23420043\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/20011112_upn_z03_137.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/20011112_upn_z03_137.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/20011112_upn_z03_137.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption>chyna<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">ZUMAPRESS.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI enjoyed ours just because I thought it was so innovative and different but those guys are kind of my favorite,\u201d said Michaels, who also revived the group with Triple H later on at different points.  \u201cIt was kind of a joy sitting and watching them at home.  It&#8217;s one of the reasons we&#8217;ve all been friends for so long.  I don&#8217;t know if there was any kind of jealousy between any of us when those things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That same group of friends who put themselves on top of the pro wrestling world also dealt with personal demons and substance abuse, which the documentary goes in-depth on.  Chyna tragically died of a drug overdose in 2016 at the age of 46. X-Pac, Michaels, Road Dogg and Gunn have all gotten sober after battles addition.  The latter three along with Triple H, who famously does not drink, have continued to work in the creative side of the business, and Gunn still gets in the ring on occasion for All Elite Wrestling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of us when we all started, you get up that way, that that&#8217;s the way it&#8217;s supposed to be,\u201d Michaels said of the party lifestyle.  \u201cNobody tells you it&#8217;s the dumbest damn thing in the world, but they make it sound like a badge of honor when you&#8217;re 18, 19 20 and getting into this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michaels, who said he was kind of going \u201cbats\u2014t crazy\u201d on TV out of anger and frustration long before DX, feels the group may not have reached the same heights creatively without their personal demons.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/Ven_06252006rf_1099-copy.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"DX\" class=\"wp-image-23419974\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/Ven_06252006rf_1099-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1366 1366w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/Ven_06252006rf_1099-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/Ven_06252006rf_1099-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=683 683w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/Ven_06252006rf_1099-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=341 341w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption>Triple H and Shawn Michaels. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">WWE<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cYou might have not pushed the envelope quite as much because you&#8217;d have a little sense or sensibility,\u201d Michaels said.  \u201cBut I&#8217;m not sure that everybody could have reached their maximum potential that they did without those inhibitions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m not sure, certainly from my standpoint, I&#8217;d be able to go to a lot of those places because in real life I don&#8217;t like to talk that much, I don&#8217;t like to stick out that much in public  Without some of that, I&#8217;m not sure those walls would have been broken down.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p>Michaels and Triple H are now channeling their creative juices behind the scenes in WWE, having worked closely together with the NXT brand the past four years before Hunter recently took over as head of WWE creative after Vince McMahon&#8217;s retirement.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the both of us, we&#8217;re the same as we&#8217;ve always been,\u201d Michaels said.  \u201cWe&#8217;ve always been like-minded and of one mind.  He can start something and I can finish the sentence.  I can have an idea and he knows exactly where I&#8217;m going.  That&#8217;s just something you have and you learn over time from being friends with each other and also having a similar interest and a similar vision for the way the business needs to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just like they did with D-Generation X.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pro wrestling is at its best when it blurs the lines between reality and what you see on TV. D-Generation X did that as well as anyone. The legendary group&#8217;s inception was born out of friends Triple H and Shawn Michaels&#8217; real life frustration and need to rail against Vince McMahon&#8217;s stale, outdated and underperforming &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/dxs-rebellious-wwe-legacy-explored-in-ae-biography\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">DX&#8217;s rebellious WWE legacy explored in A&#038;E &#8216;Biography&#8217;<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[17418,307,12434,5543,632],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17296,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/goldberg-on-guilt-of-hurting-bret-hart-ae-doc-wwe-return\/","url_meta":{"origin":44302,"position":0},"title":"Goldberg on &#8216;guilt&#8217; of hurting Bret Hart, A&#038;E doc, WWE return","date":"July 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Professional wrestling always will be second best in Bill Goldberg's heart, but he knows it was where he was meant to be. 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Shawn Michaels went from the \"Heartbreak Kid\" to one of the founding members of one of the most revolutionary factions the pro wrestling industry had ever seen at the time.Michaels and other members of D-Generation X will be featured on A&E Network's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29816,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wwes-vince-mcmahon-retired-from-the-company-with-3-billion-and-still-holds-voting-control\/","url_meta":{"origin":44302,"position":2},"title":"WWE&#8217;s Vince McMahon retired from the company with $3 BILLION and STILL holds voting control","date":"July 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Vince McMahon has retired from WWE with $3.4 billion in his pocket - and still holds voting control, paying $14.6 million over sexual assault despite out. 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Roman Reigns is still WWE's undisputed top guy despite fans regularly questioning the future of his historic title reign. However, recent updates suggest that WWE might save a massive match for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32966,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wwe-summerslam-recap-triple-h-first-ppv-in-charge-was-a-success\/","url_meta":{"origin":44302,"position":4},"title":"WWE SummerSlam recap: Triple H first PPV in charge was a success","date":"August 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"After the seismic shift in WWE with the departure of Vince McMahon over sexual misconduct, Saturday's SummerSlam was the first test of the new regime.The first major show was a success, both artistically and aesthetically, with 40,117 fans at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. 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