Just something I was curious about but not sure I ever saw answered; how did the 1998, post Wrestlemania version of D-X come about? What led to the NOA being part of the small faction and when was it decided to turn them face?
Brian
The addition of the Outlaws had been planned for a while, because they were hinting at it back around Survivor Series when DX and the Outlaws teamed up to shave Hawk's mohawk, and then more seriously with the dumpster angle which was kind of played as them auditioning for the group. The addition of X-Pac was just one of those wonderful happenstances, as he got fired at the perfect time to heal up and come in when his no-compete expired. As far as I can remember from the WON at the time, Shawn was getting fired from the group over the title loss and would feud with DX as a babyface, but obviously the injury was so severe that it was dropped and DX went in a different direction completely. The babyface turn was just one of those organic things where people started cheering for them over the "WCW invasion" stuff, and Russo went with it.
It was pretty obvious they had to turn the new DX face the night after WrestleMania when they attacked Cactus and Funk inside the steel cage and all the crowd did was cheer and chant for Austin. That was the basis for Foley's awesome heel turn a few weeks later too. "I gave you Cactus Jack!"
ReplyDeleteI've always found it interesting that HHH's promo after WM, when he basically declares himself leader of the new DX, never gets brought up in the various navel gazing retrospective shows the WWE does. It's the moment which began HHH's ascension to the top, for better or for worse and moreso, was more of a mission statement moment for the WWE than the overrated "DX Invasion" bit they push instead.
ReplyDeleteWait, I thought it was well known enough by that point that Shawn was done following WM14. I never heard he was in the plans to go opposite DX.
ReplyDeleteI always found that to be Foley taking those "Austin" chants the wrong way. I thought it was clear the crowd was chanting for Austin to run in, not so much to help Cactus and Funk but to take out the new version of DX. He was feuding with them up to Mania.
ReplyDeleteSame. Ultimately it doesn't matter he took it the wrong way or if the crowd really was chanting for Austin because they didn't care about Mick because it turned into a fun heel run and then eventually the terrific babyface run.
ReplyDeleteFun (?) fact: A shoot Russo (and Ed Ferrera) did noted that Russo was not in favor of pushing the NAO and putting them in DX since he didn't really see anything special in them but it was Vince McMahon who really pushed for the NAO, they went with it and it worked out great.
ReplyDeleteThat's true. I guess Foley's heel promo was so convincing that I just bought into it. Plus, back then whenever anyone got beatdown the fans would chant for Austin. Damn he was OVAH!
ReplyDeleteWait wait wait. The crowds cheered for them and they turned them face?
ReplyDeleteI don't understand. Where's the losing streak? Where's the sudden, unneeded heel turn where they're still getting the loudest pops?
I'm so confused.
I remember marking out at the return of 123 Kid (or whichever awkward name you want to call him). That's a weird memory in retrospect.
ReplyDeleteAfter Wrestlemania 15 there were rumors that Scott Hall had gotten out of his WCW contract. It would have been interesting if that were true and he'd returned to takeover DX and feud with Triple H after the corporate turn. Presuming Hall could have cleaned up enough to do so is quite the 'if' but it would have been a big move to keep the stable going.
Ah, the good ol' days when the idea was to always (try to) put everyone in a position for maximum success out of fear they'd get fed up and go to a rival company.
ReplyDeleteNow we can't let anyone get too over or else they might leave the business and do something else with their WWE "fame". And we also have to ensure that we don't let anyone get too big of a head because we want to make sure that everyone knows they're lucky to even have the opportunity to be employed by WWE.
Why did they start feuding with the Nation? What was the on-screen incident that caused it?
ReplyDeleteGiven that they brought back Rock and Brock to big numbers, you'd think they'd WANT to have more guys leave and use their WWE fame elsewhere. Then they can come back later and return the favour.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if 15 years from now we will be treated to people parroting the same endless complaints over and over
ReplyDeleteAnd
Over...
Well in 15 years we'll be looking back at the glory days of when WWE really knew how to use it's talent and had hot feuds and killer booking.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair to Mick, Austin has the greatest peak in WWF history
ReplyDeleteOr people will look back at this being a self repeating 1994-96.
ReplyDeleteAustin, DX, Taker, Kane, The Nation, a red hot heel Foley, tag teams, wow we were spoiled in 1998.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but they had to really open up their wallets for the guys who have pride. It's better when you have a guy like John Cena and a roster full of talented workers that you've negged into an abusive relationship.
ReplyDeleteI'm just going by memory here, I haven't checked the back issues for a while.
ReplyDeleteAm the only person who did not like the Attitude Era?
ReplyDeleteshortly before Fully Loaded 98 So im guessing late June-ish?
ReplyDeletecuz i know Owen joining up was explained as he hated HHH, based off their Euro-title feud.
But HHH had his eyes on Rock's IC belt. Im guessing cuz Rock took the belt from him on Thursday RAW a year ago.
they had a couple of brawls, but then Russo gave the Nation gimmicks, then the Nation parody really did it.
Yep.
ReplyDeleteMick talks about it on the new DVD. I think he seemed more pissed off that him and Terry were taking a beating (and there were some pretty stiff shots into the cage during that beat down) and the crowd chanted for Austin. I didn't get the impression he another any resentment for Austin over it as they went on to do great business together. Its still pretty obvious though that the match he is really proud of is the Mindgames one against Shawn.
ReplyDeleteOwen was the trigger, but it started a bit earlier.
ReplyDeleteThe April 27th Raw featured the DX invasion of Nitro in Norfolk. Also on this show, Owen Hart turns heel, brutally attacking Ken Shamrock and joining the Nation of Domination.
On the May 4th Raw, DX still appeared to be booked as heels, facing LOD and DOA in an 8-man tag match, that ended when their opponents started fighting amongst themselves.
The May 11th Raw had footage of DX invading the CNN Center in Atlanta, then when they came to the ring to gloat about it, Owen Hart interrupted and challenged HHH to a match, with the Nation providing backup.
By May 18th, DX was running down the nation, leading to a tag match with Rock/Owen against the New Age Outlaws, and there was now a full-on DX vs Nation feud, and DX were clearly full babyfaces by this point.
At Over the Edge, Owen pins Triple H with the Pedigree to win a 6-man tag match, seemingly setting himself up to possibly regain the European title, but he never even gets another shot at it, at least not on Raw. Owen goes on to face X-Pac at KOTR before renewing issues with Shamrock at the next 2 PPVs.
Owen joining a black power group never made sense, no matter how much they tried to justify it in who he was fueding with.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it at the time because I was in the perfect demographic (young, male, undergraduate university student). I certainly don't miss them constantly trying to push the envelope to get media attention, like Katie Vick. I also don't miss the underwhelming midcard scene (until the Radicals came in, anyway).
ReplyDeleteI don't think a lot of it has honestly aged well, but that might be just me.
I always wondered if the "edgy pushing the envelope" content would have caught on if Stone Cold wasnt there.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. Most of it is nostalgia and revisionist history. Most of the Attiitude era was short, bad matches and spastic booking decisions mixed with angles that insulted the intelligence. It worked because Austin and DX were red hot and the business was in a hot period. The match quality didn't improve until 2000, but I would argue that the roster today is just as talented.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the matches sucked in 98 for the most part, but there were some red hot characters for sure.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I never heard that about Hall. He was pretty much lost in the shuffle at that point in WCW/nWo, so arriving in the WWF could have been interesting
ReplyDeleteA lot of PPVs were hit or miss that year. Even part of 99 was brutal wrestling wise.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I can't think of a 1999 ppv that was particularly good wrestling-wise. Royal Rumble 2000 was a huge boost after an unremarkable year in '99 (in the ring).
ReplyDeleteIt's a fair point. Without Austin and DX setting the tone, the rest might have fallen flat. People tend to forget how utterly retarded stuff like Val Venis/Kaientai, Mark Henry/Mae Young, and a million other skits were in that timeframe. Honestly, with the shitty TV finishes, short matches, and poop jokes, the Attitude era wasn't THAT terribly different than what we have right now. It's just that Austin, Rock, and DX made for much higher "high points" to the TV shows and revisionist history has sort of swept the remainder under the rug.
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