In the mid to late 90s two letters defined the then WWF and three letters defined WCW…DX & nWo
The Kliq was allegedly a very powerful group backstage in the WWF in the mid 90s. Razor Ramon, Diesel, 1-2-3 Kid, Shawn Michaels and Hunter Hearst Helmsley rode together to the shows and due to (mainly) Shawn & Diesel’s stroke backstage they upset a lot of other wrestlers because they allegedly ‘had Vince’s ear’. Shawn’s version of the relationship is that The Kliq were the only people, barring one or two others, that had the balls to tell Vince what they thought of certain things. The infamous MSG incident featuring The Kliq, minus 1-2-3 Kid, just before Razor & Diesel left for WCW broke kayfabe in a time when you simply didn’t even fracture kayfabe.
So the two wrestlers known best to fans as Diesel & Razor Ramon show up on Monday Nitro to a shocked crowd and state “We’re taking over!”. Not long after that The Outsiders as they were dubbed – Scott Hall & Kevin Nash shocked the world when Hollywood Hulk Hogan aligned himself with them to form the New World Order of wrestling. In the summer of 1996 the nWo was the hottest thing in wrestling – period! They kick started the Monday Night Wars and spearheaded WCW’s dominance in the ratings for well over 18 months. Who helped the WWF take back the ratings? Well there was the Stone Cold / Vince McMahon feud, there was the emergence of The Rock, Mankind & Undertaker killing each other and a couple of guys and a girl known as D-Generation X.
Now I’ve gone on enough about legacies that we’re already all familiar with so I move forward to 2006; ten years after the nWo were tearing up Nitro on a weekly basis. The founding members of DX are back together after four years of feuding and eight years apart. Everybody said they would part again after their feud with the McMahon’s as there’s no logical competition for them to face…enter the nWo!
1-2-3 Kid (The Kliq), Syxx (nWo), X-Pac (DX) – whatever you want to call him – shows up in a Tampa ring at a WWE house show to crotch chop with Michaels and Triple H to a massive reaction from the fans. Scott Hall is talking about being ready to return to the ring. Kevin Nash is back on TV playing a part in TNA’s X-Division of all things. That means that potentially all of The Kliq, four of which comprise the founding members of both DX and the nWo, are fit and able to wrestle.
For me there’s only three factions that will forever have a legacy in wrestling…The Four Horsemen, the nWo and D-Generation X. Evolution paid tribute to the Horsemen with their suits and style and of course, having Ric Flair in the group only added to the comparisons made between the groups but Evolution’s legacy will never match that of The Andersons, Blanchard, Flair and their manager JJ Dillon.
DX and the nWo, as I have already said, defined the mid to late 90’s and although each group ran their course the WWE are currently experimenting with nostalgia more now than ever. Would DX v nWo draw money? I have no doubt! It may be too soon to see them arrive to lead to a Survivor Series multi man tag match. If the New Age Outlaws were brought in (doubtful but it has been rumoured) and added to the mix and the nWo went out for young brash renegades like Shelton Benjamin, Chris Masters and Johnny Nitro we could see a 5-on-5 match featuring all 5 men from DX’s two incarnations and a selected five from the nWo.
Maybe, if it is too late for Survivor Series, we could see a feud leading up to and culminating at WrestleMania 23 where the losing group disbands.
Now I am not one for fantasy booking normally but I’m getting carried away at the moment here so here’s what I would like to see if this feud was to happen in the near future on RAW…
DX recruits X-Pac and The Hardy Boyz to make a five man faction and the nWo add some of the following to the group: Shelton Benjamin, Chris Masters, Johnny Nitro, maybe Rob Conway as I’m mainly thinking of guys who could be elevated by being alongside Nash & Hall. If Nash & Hall aren’t fit enough to wrestle enough top matches then the nWo would need a top level heel – Randy Orton! Hey I’m getting so carried away now…why not bring back Eric Bischoff to lead the group as they ‘take over’?
This feud may never happen but if it does then I, for one, will enjoy it – if done right! So I pose a question to you all…Are you ready? I am and I hope they’re taking over!
