D-Generation X (commonly known as DX) is an active professional wrestling tag team (formerly a stable) currently wrestling on the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Their gimmick is that of a group of rebels who do and say what they want, no matter how provocative. DX is generally considered one of the most popular stables in pro wrestling history. The group's original run was from 1997 to 2000, undergoing several roster changes during that time. After one-off returns in 2000 and 2002, DX reformed in June 2006 as the duo of Triple H and Shawn Michaels.

DX is believed to have been heavily influenced by World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) New World Order (nWo) (although WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has denied this on many occasions), and was likely created to battle with WCW in the ratings war ^{[citation needed]}. It also was one of the two main contributing factors to the World Wrestling Federation's Attitude Era (along with Stone Cold Steve Austin). Incidentally, DX and the nWo included members of professional wrestling's The Clique.

History

D-Generation X was formed during the genesis of what would become the WWF's highly successful "attitude era" in the latter half of 1997. Real-life friends and reported Clique members Shawn Michaels and Hunter Hearst Helmsley (who began being known simply as Triple H) were the original two members, along with Helmsley's bodyguard, Chyna and Michaels' "insurance policy", Rick Rude. On October 13, 1997, the group officially referred to themselves as D-Generation X for the first time and debuted their signature slogan, "Suck it!" They were often shown on television practicing sophomoric humor and rebelling against authority figures in the company. Their trademark "crotch chops" became one of the most popular gestures in pro wrestling while their "D-Generation X" T-shirts enjoyed considerable sales.

The name D-Generation X was possibly taken from an opinion column by Phil Mushnick which appeared in TV Guide, in which Mushnick lambasted wrestling's primarily Generation X fanbase as degenerates, dubbing them "Degeneration X". On the other hand, Michaels' autobiography would suggest that it was in fact then-WWF head writer Vince Russo who first conceived the moniker for the popular faction.

On-screen, however, the name was taken from Bret Hart who claimed that Shawn Michaels and Triple H were nothing more than degenerates. D-Generation X's first feud came against Bret Hart and his Hart Foundation. This feud ended at Survivor Series 1997 in the infamous Montreal Screwjob which led to Bret leaving the company along with two of the remaining three members of the Foundation. The only member that remained in the WWF, Owen Hart, continued to feud with DX, specifically Triple H.

"D-Generation X" was later used as the title for a WWF In Your House pay-per-view telecast on December 7, 1997.

DX army

On March 29, 1998, at WrestleMania XIV, Shawn Michaels was the WWF Champion while Triple H was the European Champion and they had recruited boxer Mike Tyson to act as the "Special Enforcer" in the main event of the night featuring Michaels against Stone Cold Steve Austin. At the end of the match, Tyson turned on D-Generation X and cost Michaels the match. Michaels, who would take a long hiatus due to a real-life injury, was now out of DX. The next night on RAW, Triple H declared himself to be the new leader, saying that Michaels had "dropped the ball". He recruited a re-debuting X-Pac and the New Age Outlaws, to reform DX in an incarnation that came to be known as the "DX army". In his debut, X-Pac, who had just been released from World Championship Wrestling, cut a now-famous promo where he responded to then-WCW wrestler Hulk Hogan's live interview that alluded to X-Pac's recent release from the promotion.

This incarnation of DX became extremely popular and eventually turned face. During this time they would be involved in several storylines and skits - including a feud with rival faction Nation of Domination and The Corporation. DX parodied the Nation and The Corporation where they dressed as the members of the respective factions and impersonated their characteristic mannerisms. They also made a video package where they "raided" Atlanta, the home of WCW. At one point the they even attempted to "invade" (with a tank and military dress) a live broadcast of WCW Monday Nitro in Norfolk, Virginia, across Hampton Roads from where WWF Raw is War had their live broadcast in Hampton, Virginia (they made it to the front gate of the Norfolk Scope arena, but were barred entry). This incarnation of the faction lasted about a year.

The end of an era

DX began falling apart in the early part of 1999. On January 25, Chyna turned on DX by attacking Triple H and joining Vince McMahon's Corporation stable, and three months later Triple H also joined The Corporation after turning on X-Pac at WrestleMania XV. DX, now down to The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac fell apart further two months later when Billy Gunn turned on X-Pac during a match in May, leaving DX and starting a feud with Road Dogg. In June, Triple H informed Gunn that Road Dogg and X-Pac were still getting royalties from the DX name

, which led to a feud that culminated in a match where X-Pac and Road Dogg defeated Gunn and Chyna for the rights to the D-Generation X name.

Reformation

On October 25, 1999, the group reformed as heels to include every member except for Shawn Michaels, Chyna and Rick Rude (who had died that April). From then until mid-2000, DX remained a strong and united group. In early 2000, however, Billy Gunn was placed out of action for several months after suffering an injury against The Dudley Boyz. Gunn's storyline involved him getting thrown out of DX when he lost his cool. X-Pac teamed with Road Dogg, but the two never reached the heights of the New Age Outlaws. At WrestleMania 2000, Vince McMahon turned on The Rock and aided Triple H in retaining his title. This marked the start of what many fans nicknamed "Corporate-DX" (much like the Corporate Ministry from the previous year). However the group was officially dubbed the McMahon-Helmsley Faction (it had earlier gone by the name "McMahon-Helmsley Regime").

The following month The Rock defeated Triple H at Backlash in a match which featured Steve Austin's brief return to the WWF. Though Triple H would regain the title the following month at Judgment Day, the group gradually broke apart. By late 2000 Triple H was a solo star, while other members went the same way. On the November 6, 2000 edition of RAW is WAR the group temporarily rejoined (save for X-Pac, who was injured) to take on Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn (The Radicalz) in an 8-man tag team match which DX won. The match included the group doing their old DX entrance as well as telling the crowd to "Suck it!" It was the symbolic end to D-Generation X. However, the members of DX (excluding Triple H) along with K-Kwik, then Road Dogg's tag team partner, went on to have a feud with the Radicalz that month, eventually leading up to a match at Survivor Series 2000, involving the same 8 wrestlers except for Triple H, who was replaced by K-Kwik, which The Radicalz won.

After that, DX would remain unseen and largely unspoken of until Shawn Michaels returned to the WWE in 2002. On July 22 2002, on the episode of RAW, a week after the breakup of the nWo, Triple H handed Shawn Michaels a DX t-shirt and stated he "had an idea", suggesting that the two reform the group. The duo later came out that night to their old music and crotch chops to the delight of the crowd. However, this did not last as Triple H turned on Michaels that very show; he had teased the reunion as a ploy to appease Michaels and lure him to the ring before giving him a Pedigree. This act lead to the in-ring return of Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam 2002 and the genesis of a long feud between the two.

Return

In 2006, a series of events occurred which hinted at a DX reunion. At WrestleMania 22, former members Shawn Michaels and Triple H performed the crotch chop during their matches, which was met with loud cheering from the fans in attendance. The two continued to deliver chops in the following episodes of RAW as Michaels feuded with Vince McMahon and Triple H focused on the WWE Championship, repeatedly running into Vince McMahon in the process.

On the June 12 RAW, the events came to a head, when, during Triple H's gauntlet match against the Spirit Squad, Shawn Michaels came in to help his former companion. After the duo had defeated the Spirit Squad, the two men began to perform their crotch chops. The reunited DX continued their brash antics at the expense of the Spirit Squad, Vince and Shane McMahon and Jonathan Coachman for several weeks and repeatedly took part in blatantly camp product placement during RAW promos. Most of their antics involved practical jokes on Vince, and various double entendres such as claiming that Vince "loves cocks" and "chokes the chicken" while pretending to be oblivious to the puns.

On the June 26 RAW, they added to the list of parodies with Triple H impersonating Vince McMahon, talking about his love of "Dicks" (referring to Dick Ebersol, Dick Clark and Dick Cheney) while Shawn impersonated Shane McMahon. (This episode is also for being the "Holy S***" episode due to excrement being dumped on Vince and Shane McMahon and the entire Spirit Squad.) During their feud, DX defeated the Spirit Squad at Vengeance and Saturday Night's Main Event, as well as The McMahons at SummerSlam. At Unforgiven in a handicap Hell in a Cell match that featured The Big Show on The McMahons' side, DX again came out victorious.

DX's next feud was with Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton). At Cyber Sunday, the fan selected special guest referee, Eric Bischoff, allowed the illegal use of a chair to give Rated-RKO the ill-gotten win. With this, Rated-RKO became the first team to defeat DX in a tag team match since their reunion coming in June 2006. At Survivor Series 2006 Team DX defeated Team Rated-RKO, in a clean sweep.

At New Year's Revolution 2007, during their match with Rated-RKO, Triple H suffered a (legit) torn right quadriceps muscle, prompting Rated-RKO to claim victory not only of the match (which was ruled a no-contest) but over DX as a whole. Shawn Michaels, however, vowed to support Triple H through his injury and to get revenge on Rated-RKO for him, delivering on that vow the next week when, he "took out" Randy Orton with a one man con-chair-to while Edge looked on from the entrance ramp.

Members

• Current members

• Shawn Michaels (co-founder) - September 20, 1997-March 29, 1998; January 4, 1999; June 12, 2006 - present
• Triple H (co-founder) - September 20, 1997-March 28, 1999; October 25, 1999-December 12, 2000; June 12, 2006 - present

• Former members

• Chyna - September 20, 1997-January 25, 1999
• Rick Rude - September 20, 1997-November 17, 1997
• Bad Ass Billy Gunn - March 30, 1998-May 2, 1999; September 23, 1999-February 28, 2000
• Road Dogg Jesse James - March 30, 1998-August 24, 2000
• X-Pac - March 30, 1998-August 24, 2000
• Tori - January 27, 2000-June 25, 2000

Signature taunts

Crotch chop

When DX formed they began doing a gesture where they would put one arm on each side of their crotch and point down. This was known as the "crotch chop". There is an alternate version of the "crotch chop" where instead of pointing down on each side of their sides, they point down and make their arms in an "X" formation, over their stomach/crotch. However, when DX reformed in 2006 Michaels said he felt uncomfortable doing the real "crotch chop" so he would do the alternate version, as he had become a born-again christian since the last D-Generation X incarnation.^[1]

When DX enters the ring they do a pyro routine. Green X pyrotechnics go off three times, with DX crotch-chopping at each firing. They then pause for a few seconds, then chop once more as the pyrotechnics fire again.

Suck it!

"Suck it" is DX's signature slogan. This is also used in their popular "Let's get ready to suck it" routine, originally a parody of Michael Buffer's "Let's get ready to rumble!"

The routine starts when Triple H asks the audience "Are you ready?" He then shouts the same sentence to get a louder reaction from the crowd. He continues and says "Then, for the thousands in attendance, and the millions watching at home. Let's get ready to suck it!" Shawn Michaels then ends the routine by saying "And if you aren't down with that, then we got two words for ya." before sticking up the microphone up in the air for the crowd to scream "Suck it!" As well, Triple H will often say the match is for someone else, varying on their recent exploits and who they're about to wrestle (e.g., "and for Vince McMahon, who is home right now choking his chicken" when they had previously sent Vince home injured.)

Another taunt DX performs, is crossing their forearms above their head, making an "X" formation.

Videos and DVDs

While these videos where released eight years apart, they are the same product, although the DVD edition has all profanity and nuidty censored. The DVD edition also includes eight bonus matches.

• WWF - D-Generation X (1998, VHS)
• WWE - D-Generation X (June 2, 2006, DVD)
• The New and Improved D-Generation X (February 20, 2007, DVD)

On February 20, 2007, a three-disc DVD set showcasing D-Generation X reformation was released. The DVD is called The New and Improved DX

The DVD includes the early hints from WrestleMania, through the skits, promos, chaos, and matches that reunited the duo, making life miserable for Mr. McMahon. This DVD has all the D-X highlights including backstage interviews and segments, their imitation of the McMahons, the hijacking of the RAW production truck, taking over RAW for a night, vandalizing WWE's property etc.

External links

• WWE.com DX subsite
• Shawn Michaels's WWE.com Profile