That Was Then 7.14.06: You Scratch My Back, I'll Stab Yours - The History Of the Clique Part 2
Posted by Sam Caplan on 07.14.2006
Having almost complete control as the top headliners in the business, the Clique became some of the most famous headliners of the 90s. However, their newest member would take his lessons from his friends and use them to become the tope headliner in the business today.
Oh man, I've been having so much fun these past two weeks saying things people know, but don't want to admit to, that I really didn't want to run this for quite some time if at all. But the dreaded life outside of wrestling (yes, there is such a thing) intervenes this week, and we're forced to return to our regularly scheduled program a little earlier than planned. But rest assured, I'll be back to tell you more cool stuff next week. I promise.
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When we last left off in 1996, the Clique had been split in two. Diesel, Razor Ramon, and the 123 Kid had gone off to WCW to form the New World Order, leaving Shawn Michaels and Hunter Hearst Helmsley in the WWF, the latter of whom was being buried because of his role in the MSG Incident in May of 1996. But you can't keep a good backstage faction down, and in 1997 they rose once more to power in the WWF.
Part I: Degeneration X
After the departures of his buddies, Michaels spent most of 1996 and early 1997 as WWF Champion, defending against everybody thrown in his path, including Vader, Mankind, and Goldust. He briefly dropped the WWF Title to Sid, but regained it at the 1997 Royal Rumble. Storylines at the time seemed to indicate that Michaels was being steered toward a second Wrestlemania match against Bret Hart, whom he had defeated the year before to win his first WWF Title. However, an unfortunate (and according to some, phony) knee injury took him out of Wrestlemania, and he gave up the WWF Title a month before the big show.
Although he returned briefly to team with Steve Austin and win the WWF Tag Team Title, he spent most of mid 1997 in a verbal war with Bret Hart. Bret had no respect for Shawn or the way he carried himself as WWF Champion, and Shawn felt Bret took himself too seriously and needed to get off his high horse. But the verbal jabs became more and more personal, and got to the point where the animosity carried over into a legit backstage brawl in June 1997, and Shawn disappeared from the WWF again for weeks afterward. A second match between the two was planned several times in 1997, but because of the animosity the plans kept getting pushed further and further back until it seemed that the match would never go off.
A major turning point in Shawn's career took place at Summerslam 1997, where he was the guest referee in the main event as Bret Hart challenged the Undertaker for the WWF Title. A stipulation was set that if Michaels didn't call the match fairly, he would never be allowed to wrestle in the United States again. During the match, Bret continually tried to provoke Michaels, and when Bret spit at him, Shawn had finally had enough and swung a chair at Bret, but the Hitman ducked out of the way and the chair hit the Undertaker and knocked him cold. Hart made the cover and Michaels had no choice but to count the fall and hand the WWF Title to his most hated enemy.
Following Summerslam, the fans turned on Shawn for costing the Undertaker the match, and for his part, Shawn didn't appreciated taking the blame for the whole thing and turned on the fans as well, going full blown heel after teasing the turn all year. Of course, now he had not only Bret Hart out for his blood, but the Undertaker as well. Similar to when he hired Diesel several years earlier, Shawn felt he needed somebody to look out for him, and to that end he brought in Cliquemate Hunter Hearst Helmsley, as well as Hunter's bodyguard Chyna and (for about two months before he ditched the WWF for WCW) the "Insurance Policy" Rick Rude.
Michaels and Helmsley (who now preferred to be known as Triple H) began acting very immature, mocking everybody who crossed their path, including Bret Hart and WWF Commissioner Sgt Slaughter. They also began doing weird, anti-establishment things such as playing strip poker in the middle of the ring, playing the video of the MSG Incident on the Titantron, and freely interfering in other people's matches whenever they felt like it. This was cutting-edge stuff that nobody had ever done in the WWF before. They were truly degenerates, and hence they named their new group Degeneration X.
The new attitude paid off for Shawn, and he used the buzz created by it to launch himself to several key victories, first over Davey Boy Smith in his home country of the United Kingdom to win the European Title, then over the Undertaker in the first Hell In A Cell match, and finally over Bret Hart in the infamous Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series 1997. Since Bret and his family left the WWF following the Survivor Series, there was almost nobody left who could be considered on the same level as himself in terms of backstage clout, and Michaels became open on television about his unwillingness to job and the fact that he and Triple H ran things in the WWF.
They still met some resistance from Commissioner Slaughter, but it seemed that no matter what the Commissioner tried to do to cut them down to size, they always emerged victorious. Slaughter tried booking Michaels to defend the European Title against Triple H so they'd be forced to fight one another, but when it came time for them to get in the ring, Michaels laid down and Helmsley covered Michaels to be handed the European Title. DX continued harassing Slaughter, and even beat him down several times, leading to a Boot Camp match between Slaughter and Triple H at the D-Generation X PPV, but Helmsley won that as well.
DX seemed unstoppable, but soon ran into a major bump in the road. Michaels defended the WWF Title against the Undertaker in a Casket Match at the Royal Rumble in 1998, but took an over the top rope bump on the casket and severely injured his back. It soon became clear that this was a very serious injury, and Michaels wasn't going to be able to continue wrestling much longer. He didn't work at all between the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania 14, where he dropped the WWF Title to Steve Austin and disappeared.
Triple H saw this as not a loss, but as an opportunity. He came out at the beginning of Raw the night after Wrestlemania (where he had successfully defended the European Title against Owen Hart) and said that Shawn had dropped the ball, and as a result Triple H was booting Shawn out of DX and was taking over the group. He said that he was going to build himself an army, and the first man to join that army was the 123 Kid, who had returned to the WWF from WCW and now wanted to be called X-Pac. Later in the show, Triple H, X-Pac and Chyna were joined by the New Age Outlaws.
This new version of DX was quite successful. Although Triple H lost the European Title to D-Lo Brown, X-Pac won it back from him, and Triple H picked up the IC Title from the Rock. And the New Age Outlaws briefly lost the Tag Team Title to Kane & Mankind, but they won them back only weeks later. However, their past came back to haunt them when Shawn Michaels made his return to the WWF. His back was still in no condition to wrestle, but Sgt Slaughter had stepped down as WWF Commissioner and, ironically, Shawn Michaels accepted the post. He briefly put on a facade of being on DX's side, but soon showed his true colors when he gave X-Pac a shot at new WWF Champion the Rock, then cost him the match by hitting him with a chair.
For several weeks, Michaels tried to bring down his former partners, but the results weren't good enough for Vince McMahon, who soon fired him, and received a superkick as payback. Because of the attack, Michaels was now in danger of attack by the Corporation, and turned to DX for help. DX took him back, but karma came back to bite Michaels. It was all a ruse as revenge for Michaels turning on them, and DX left him alone in the parking lot with the Corporation, who beat and bloodied him and left him for dead. Michaels wasn't seen for months afterward.
Even though Michaels had been disposed of again for the time being, other trouble between the members of DX had started when Chyna turned on Triple H and joined the Corporation. Although she seemed to change her mind at Wrestlemania 15 when she helped Triple H in his match against Kane, we soon found out that while Triple H and Chyna had reunited, it was actually Triple H who had turned on DX and had joined the Corporation. Triple H gave the Pedigree to X-Pac and cost him a match for the European Title at Wrestlemania. Triple H and X-Pac met at Backlash the following month, and Triple H defeated his former partner, then went on to win the WWF Title several months later.
DX briefly reunited as flunkies for Triple H that autumn, but soon fell apart for good when Billy Gunn and X-Pac went down with injuries, Road Dogg got fired, then Triple H himself tore his quad and was out of action for almost a year. Degeneration X was finished, but the Clique would come back together a year later.
Part II: The Reunion
In February of 2002, Vince McMahon brought the New World Order to the WWF, and it wasn't the watered-down, bloated monster it had become, it was the original three members: Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall (formerly known in the WWF as Razor Ramon) and Kevin Nash (formerly known in the WWF as Diesel). They made an immediate impact in the WWF, first by costing Steve Austin a shot at the WWF Title, and then by Hulk Hogan challenging the Rock to a match at Wrestlemania X-8. Hogan lost the match, and was immediately beaten down by Hall and Nash and booted from the NWO.
Now short one member, they started another membership drive. Their old Clique buddy X-Pac was brought in to rejoin the group, and they also brought on the Big Show (who was an NWO member twice in WCW) and new recruit Booker T. Hall was soon fired from the WWF because of his personal demons, but the NWO's numbers would be filled again within weeks by Shawn Michaels. Michaels, who was still on the shelf following his back injury from four years earlier, had given an interview mere days before joining the group suggesting that Shawn Michaels would never return, but that appeared to be a ruse as he joined his buddies in the ring on Raw.
Now that Nash, X-Pac, and Michaels were together again in the New World Order, there only remained one missing piece: the final Clique member, Triple H. For weeks, the Clique members in the NWO pressured Triple H to join the group and, while Triple H was noncommittal, he also wasn't hostile toward his friends. Before he was able to make a decision, the group unexpectedly dissolved once and for all. X-Pac reinjured his neck (and was soon fired), Nash tore his quad in the exact same injury that Triple H had suffered the year before and was on the shelf, and Booker T and Big Show went off to do their own thing. However, Michaels still wanted to reunite with his former partner, and was instrumental in Triple H picking Raw when the brand extension took place.
After weeks of trying to get Triple H to rejoin him, Triple H seemed to concede, and for the first time since 1998, Shawn Michaels and Triple H came to the ring on Raw as Degeneration X, wearing DX shirts and entering to the DX music. However, as they ran off their old DX catchphrases, Triple H attacked Michaels and laid him out with the Pedigree. Michaels was back at Raw the next week looking for Triple H to even the score, when he was brutally attacked, severely beaten and bloodied, and carried out in an ambulance. Triple H was aghast at this turn of events, and vowed to find whoever had attacked Michaels. Michaels, however, got his hands on a security video of the attack, and revealed that the attacker was, in fact, Triple H. Triple H finally admitted that yes, he had attacked Shawn, then he gave his reasons. When DX first formed in 1997, it was all about Shawn Michaels. Triple H was there to support him and make sure Shawn kept the World Title, and Michaels did nothing in return. Now Triple H had surpassed Michaels, and not only didn't need Shawn anymore, but in fact resented Shawn's proposal of a reunion. He said that he no longer needed Shawn, Shawn needed him. Shawn, for his part, said that despite the attack, he would recover, and would recover in time for Summerslam, then challenged Triple H to a streetfight at the show, which Triple H accepted.
Shawn stepped in the ring for the first time in four and a half years at Summerslam, and the big question was whether Shawn's back would be able to hold up in his first match back. As it turned out, Shawn's back held up very well, and despite a brutal assault on Shawn's back by Triple H, Michaels was able to reverse a Pedigree attempt into a rolling cradle for the three count. Shawn was successful in defeating his former friend, but Triple H wouldn't let Michaels have the last laugh, and left Shawn laying again with a pair of sledgehammer shots to Shawn's back.
Shawn was on the shelf again, but recovered and came back after Triple H again, this time in the Elimination Chamber at Survivor Series 2002. The match came down to Michaels and Triple H, and Michaels hit the superkick to score a second win over Triple H, this time for the World Title. Shawn's celebration was short lived however, as Triple H won the title back a month later in a 2 Out Of 3 falls match at Armageddon.
Michaels and Triple H continued feuding off and on throughout the winter, but as spring began, Kevin Nash returned from his quad injury and tried to stop the feud. He got between the two men and tried to get them to stop fighting one another and instead have the three of them join together again, because he thought that as a group, they would be an unstoppable force. However, neither man would have it, and both men told Nash that they were not interested in reuniting, and that Nash would have to choose. Nash continued trying to get Michaels and Triple H to reconcile rather than side with one or the other, but his decision was made for him when Triple H, who was sick of waiting, attacked Nash from behind on an episode of Nitro.
Now realizing for sure that there would be no reunion with Triple H, Nash sided with Michaels and began feuding with Triple H. Despite his earlier success in the WWF, Nash was not as successful against Triple H as he may have been during his heyday in the 90s. Triple H pinned Nash to win a six man tag team match at Backlash 2003, but Nash thought he could beat Triple H in a singles match. Nash beat Triple H by DQ at Judgment Day, but when they had a rematch in Hell In A Cell at Bad Blood 2003, Triple H scored a decisive victory over his former friend, and Nash was gone from WWE soon afterward.
Now Triple H and Michaels were the only two members of the Clique left in WWE, and it was inevitable that they would meet once again. They finally met again on the last episode of Raw in 2003, as Michaels challenged Triple H for the World Title. Michaels hit the superkick and flopped on top of Triple H for the three count, but Shawn covered with his own back down, and his shoulders were on the mat as well. Both men's shoulders were down, so the match was called a draw and the title stayed with the champion. A rematch was signed for Royal Rumble 2004, again for the World Title, and this time it would be a Last Man Standing match. Again, Shawn hit the superkick on Triple H and knocked him out, but Michaels had had too much taken out of him and he collapsed as well. Neither man was able to answer the three count, and the match was again declared a draw and Triple H retained the title.
It seemed that Triple H had put Michaels behind him, as he was still the champion and was set to defend the title against Chris Benoit at Wrestlemania since Benoit had won the Royal Rumble match. However, Michaels insisted that he should get the shot at Triple H since Triple H hadn't actually beaten him in their previous two meetings. A compromise was made by making the main event of Wrestlemania a Triple Threat match, with Triple H defending the World Title against both men. Triple H and Michaels again went at it, but in the end it was Benoit who won the match and walked out with the title by making Triple H tap to the Crippler Crossface. A Triple Threat rematch was signed for Backlash 2004 and the three men climbed back in the ring, and again Benoit won, this time making Michaels tap to a Sharpshooter.
At this point, after six months, nothing had been settled between Triple H and Michaels, and they decided to forget about Benoit and the World Title for now and just settle things between themselves. So a final match between Triple H and Michaels was signed, only this time it would be in Hell In A Cell and there would be a decisive winner. For over 45 minutes, Triple H and Michaels brutalized one another in the match that neither man had ever lost, but in the end Triple H hit the Pedigree and pinned Michaels for the three count. to become not only the winner of the feud, but with this victory also became the dominant member of the Clique.
Conclusion
The Clique had become famous for not only their domination of the WWF/WWE over the years, but also for their ability to use each other to get themselves over, and none of them had played the game better than Triple H. Starting out as a junior member who had come in towards the end of their original run in the 90s, Triple H learned from the best in the business, and used each and every one of them to get himself pushed to a higher position than any of the others had ever achieved. One by one, he feuded with Hall, Nash, X-Pac, and Michaels, and defeated them all. When it was all over, Hall, Nash, and X-Pac were gone from WWE, Michaels is now playing second fiddle to his former lackey, and Triple H had become the top headliner in WWE and the heir to the company.
