As a way to solidify the urban myth of the "clique," Shawn, Diesel, Razor and Hunter engaged in a "group hug" in the center of the ring in Madison Square Garden after the final match between Diesel and Shawn Michaels. This is widely regarded as an inexusably egotistical breaking of kayfabe on everyone's part. Shawn could not be punished for the incident due to his status as WWF champion, but Hunter was "de-pushed" and reduced to the rank of JTTS for the remainder of the year as punishment.
In late 1997, as part of the "DeGeneration X" angle, Shawn and Hunter showed a video of the incident on live TV. The angle was that Shawn was trying to get fired so he could join the nWo in WCW, but in reality it was all a part of the storyline.
I found this somewhere on CRZ's RSPW-M web site... ...oh, here's the FAQ.
What? When did the WWF ever run an angle with Shawn trying to get fired to join his friends in the nWo? That's not how I remember it going down. When Shawn and Hunter showed that clip they said they were showing it to prove that the clique rules wrestling, and, as Shawn said, "you shouldn't confuse extinction with expansion." In other words they were trying to make it seem that that DX and the nWo were in cahoots, and that Nash and Hall were doing their work for them in WCW. The clique was expanding to multiple federations in order to contrl all of wrestling is what they were going for- not Shawn trying to get himself fired.
(edited by Eradicator on 7.5.03 1322) "The Universe is shaped exactly like the Earth. You go straight long enough you end up where you were."
IIRC that was WWF(E) cleverly doing something they're ham-fisting now -- trying to get a pop out of playing The Clique. It was basically Vince playing the same card he was suing Turner over. (ie, Hall and Nash as rogue WWFers sent down to take over WCW)
It was that weird middle between huge work and worked shoot which never really, er, uh, works. The people who got what they were saying knew it was a work, and the ones who didn't were totally lost.
And a current way of thinking I read... somewhere says that the HHH depush (which led to SCSA winning KOTR that year, the Austin 316 speech, and the rest is history), is why HHH will give someone else the spotlight when you pry it from his cold, dead still huge nose.
Did I mix enough metaphors there? I know I got in the requisite Levesque bash...
The greatest irony of all: The MSG Incident led to Vince becoming a billionaire (at one time), and WCW folding. Had the Incident not occurred, Trip wins KOTR '96, and does a bland job of it, getting a token push during the year. Remember, the snob gimmick would have been kept, and there would have been no Foley feud/Shawn returning from 'losing his smile' as there was after Trip won in '97. Meanwhile, Austin does not get the momentum from winning the Tourney/breaking out the Austin 3:16 line, thus there is no need to push the Bret feud later in the year that began Austin's rise into the stratosphere. If not for this occurring, its doubtful WCW would have faced stiff competition in Spring '98 when they were coasting along with their long rating winning streak.
Let me see if I understand this. The Red Sox #2 starter is now the closer on days he doesn't start? And it's only May? And I thought working on the doctorate would have been the thing to cause full blown alcoholism.
ah , Mae Young & Moolah helped alotta women break in to wrestling without them and others , there wouldn't no Trish's Lita's ect, granted no one wants to see Mae's puppies (yuck) LOL, but they did help the biz.
what a sweet talkin' honey with a little bit of money can turn your head around
Back to Shawn trying to get fired, I remember that as being part of the angle.
Word got out on the newsboards (there were seven thousand on the net at that time) that Shawn was getting huge heat from management over telling a female fan at ringside to "suck it". The phrase is tame to us now but hearing "suck it" back then caused a spit take. (Ba-dump-bump-CHING!) There was also word that DX was told to stop doing crotch chops or pointing to their dicks. (Turner also eventually nixed it.)
The next week Shawn saunters down to the ring cordially crotch chopping every fan along the way while telling them to suck it.
The time Shawn, Hunter and Chyna sat at the top of the ramp with their own signs ("Who booked this?" and "I'd Rather Be In Chyna", etc) happened around that part of the angle too.
It did eventually disappear but it was there for a time.
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