Pro-Wrestling Degeneration X is back with a vengeance Page Pro-Wrestling Degeneration X is back with a vengeance Page
Last updated 15 January 2000
The formula is simple.
Four new shirts. An X-Pac boot to the head. Mix with Billy Gunn, Road Dogg Jesse James and HHH and there it is: the regeneration of Degeneration X. One big crotch-chopping family.
This time around, the group promises it won't be as nice as it was the first time.
DX wants to be tougher. But will it be better?
Why bring back DX now? With HHH holding the WWF title and getting substantial fan response, why align him with a group? The New Age Outlaws were making headway, once again, in an exciting tag-team division. Does having HHH as their "leader" force them to take a back seat? Was the decision based on X-Pac? What happens with Chyna? Are new members on the horizon?
"I think the fans like DX being together," Gunn said. "The WWF is about giving the fans what they want. I think you'll see a group tearing it up and having fun. That's what we are all about. We like each other out of the ring and we enjoy working together."
One glaring omission from the party was Chyna. Though she has been aligned with HHH her entire WWF career, Chyna has made a name for herself in the ring and has become a fan favorite. She could return to DX, but, more likely, Chyna will allow the boys of DX to be boys.
On their first appearance after the reunion, DX arrived to cheers. After attacking Austin, Kane and The Rock, however, it is apparent that this DX is using the strengths of each member to make up for the weaknesses of the others.
After winning the King of the Ring, Gunn was put in position to vault himself to main-event status in the singles ranks. The push, however, did not turn out the way Gunn and the federation thought it would.
X-Pac was in a similar position. Though popular with the fans because of his work ethic, X-Pac was wrestling with Kane, meaning matches with bigger and stronger workers. The style was not compatible to X-Pac's strengths.
James was doing fine. After taking time off to record an album, he returned to the ring as popular as ever, due to his mike skills, and his merchandise sales lag behind only Austin and The Rock.
Currently, HHH is the WWF champion and drawing plenty of boos. Without the same kind of star power that former champions Austin, The Rock and Mankind had, it was time for a change.
The move was also preemptive for the WWF. With former lead writers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara with WCW, the WWF knows legitimate competition has returned.
The WCW's comparable group to DX, The Outsiders, is beginning to make its own comeback with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash and it potentially could reform the original NWO with Hogan.
DX members said the move was geared to changing the landscape in the WWF and having fun. Gunn said new members are a possibility. Members working against each other is another possibility. Currently, he said the four are focused on having a good time and entertaining fans by being DX.
"This business is about adjusting," Gunn said. "Adjusting and working your butt off every night you're out there. We like to work with each other in the ring and we have a blast outside the ring. Right now, it's all about having fun and putting on a great show."
WWF DOLL REMOVED FROM WAL-MART
The WWF simply wants people to "Get it." In Georgia, the slogan isn't catching on. The "SummerSlam '99: Road Rage Al Snow" doll was pulled form Wal-Mart stores Tuesday after complaints from Sabrena Parton, an assistant professor of communications at Kennesaw State University near Atlanta, and from the manager of a Cartersville (Ga.) Wal-Mart. Both said the doll, which carried a female doll's head with "Help Me" written across its forehead, makes light of violence against women. Snow no longer comes to the ring with the head.
"My sons are 6 and 11," Parton said. "What kind of message would this toy send them about brutalization of women?"
WWF senior vice president for marketing Jim Byrne said this was the first such complaint against the doll.
"This is the first complaint we've had about the toy," Byrne said. "Al Snow's act with the mannequin head is as silly as it gets - loads of fun."
ON THE STONE COLD TRAIL
Stone Cold Steve Austin will be part of Wrestler's Week on A&E Biography the week of Nov. 15. Austin kicks off the week on Monday, followed by Owen Hart, Mick Foley, Jesse Ventura and Andre the Giant.
For Austin's Biography, A&E visited The Rattlesnake's hometown, Edna, Texas. In mid-September, the network shot footage in his childhood home, where his parents still live.
Debra McMichael and Austin are still dating, but don't expect Debra, formerly Jeff Jarrett's valet, to appear in the ring anytime soon. McMichael is traveling with Austin to his appearances and to wrestling events, but she has little desire to return to television.
INBOX
Q: In the 70s, I know the country was broken up into territories, with regional promoters controlling each territory. If regional promoters controlled the territories, who controlled the alliances? Were there some promoters doing double duty as alliance heads and promoters? Christopher Baty Paris, France
A: In the South, most of the territories were aligned with the NWA. Vince McMahon's territories were in the Northeast. Most of the southwest territories were controlled by Fritz Von Erich. For the most part, you had guys like Von Erich and "Cowboy" Bill Watts running most of the territories in the Southwest, and then Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler running out of Memphis, which farmed out to the NWA.
The NWA and the WWF did not become huge until these territories began to loan out their wrestlers to the alliances. This is how Vince McMahon Jr. made it big. He went out and bought the territories and forced their workers to become part of a larger organization and began making workers identifiable under one character or name. Until that point, wrestlers would be a part of several different territories. For example, the Freebirds were the most hated men in Dallas when they wrestled under Von Erich. But, when they went to Memphis or to Atlanta, they were faces. McMahon changed all of that. He conglomerated the small territories and made his company the only wrestling to watch. The people in the South resisted McMahon and used the thinking that the smaller territories could work. It backfired because McMahon was using their workers as independent contractors and putting them on a semi-national stage, giving each a name, character and face. When those workers went back to the independent promoters, it failed because they were known as other characters.
PINPOINTS
Harvey Schiller, head of Turner Sports, has taken a position with New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Schiller will be working with YankeesNet, which includes the Yankees and the NBA's New Jersey Nets. Schiller was WCW's chief liaison to the rest of Turner Broadcasting. Mark Lazarus will take Schiller's position, but WCW will now be placed under the entertainment wing of Turner. ... Smackdown was the second-most watched show on television last Thursday among men aged 18-54. ... WCW's Mayhem, which features its entrance themes, will be in stores Nov. 16. ... WWF The Music: Volume 4 hit stores Tuesday. ....ABC's 20/20 feature on "The Making of a Pro Wrestler" will appear Nov. 18. Also, ABC's World News Tonight will begin a series on "body imaging" beginning Nov. 15. The series will feature WCW's Goldberg. ... Speaking of Goldberg, the WCW star will be featured in upcoming articles in the Jerusalem Post and Golf. ... WCW's Bret Hart will be in England Nov. 2-6 for a promotional tour. ... ECW on TNN was down to a 0.8 rating (one ratings point equals 675,000 homes) last Friday after a 1.2 last week. ... UPN will air a special one-hour Smackdown on Nov. 30. ... Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart is back with the WWF. He will be part of the talent development team. ... Bob Holly and Steve Blackman signed contract extensions with the WWF. ... Terry Taylor is back doing broadcast work with the WWF after taking two weeks off. He still has not signed the no-compete clause in his contract. ... The NWA tag-team champions, Dallas-based Team Extreme, will be in Gainesville, Fla., to take on the Florida tag-team champions, Southern Sensation.