September, 1999
by Kevin Kelly
DX was riding high. The pulse-pounding beat that preceded their arrival into an arena elicited screams of anticipation. When the group finally appeared following the "Break it down!" lyric, those screams turned into pandemonium. They were like rock stars-- DX was truly larger than life.
Then it was over. Needing players on the "bad" side of the fence, the writers had to split up the D-Generates. Thankfully, all the members of the group have prospered, despite what was at the time a shocking and less-than-popular decision. In this ground-breaking article, RAW Magazine offers insight into the performers and what they truly feel about the roles they play and the emotions they feel when their identities and direction change completely.
Kevin Kelly: How did you feel when word of the breakup was handed down?
Triple H: Mixed reactions. For us, DX was something we believed in and something as a group we all enjoyed doing. Some of my fondest and most fun memories will be doing stuff as DX. On the other hand, it was a great opportunity for me to break away and do other stuff on my own and make a name for myself without others around me. Without having to have DX around me, without having to have Shawn Michaels around me, without having to have these other people always around me, it gave Chyna and me a chance to shine on our own.
Chyna: People really don't like change. It was comfortable and a happy thing and a cool thing and people liked that. I think we were nervous that when you break up a good thing... it was really working and there was no reason to break it up. People wondered why we were breaking up a good thing. If the shoe fits, wear it, right? But it was really necessary for Hunter, I feel. And he has the ability to move above and beyond that. It was time. It's a nerve-wracking experience, because you wonder when you step out of something that good, there's a 50/50 chance you could fall or rise. I knew that, ability-wise, he could do that, but it was still a very nerve-wracking position to be in.
X-Pac: To be honest, [the writers] had been trying to do that and we were fighting to keep DX together for damn near a year. They wanted to break the damn thing up a couple months into it almost. At different times we fought it. And finally it was inevitable and they weren't going to have it any other way. It was kind of a weird feeling after having so much fun with it. All of us are very close. We had a great bond. It was kind of a special thing.
Road Dogg: I didn't like it. I knew my royalty checks were going to drop incredibly. I couldn't believe they were going to do it, to tell you the truth. It was such a good thing-- it was so hot and the people loved it so much. I would have hated to do too long and let it die down, but I don't think it was ready to die yet. I think they killed it prematurely.
Mr. Ass: I thought it ran its course. To me, what more could DX accomplish that they hadn't already done? What else could Road Dogg and I have done as a tag team? There's only so many times you can win the belts-- and the people were digging that-- there's only so much stuff you can do as a tag team. Face it, we did everything that you could possibly do. We won the tag belts three times together-- we did all the crazy stuff. We virtually had run its course as a tag team. I feel we will go down as the greatest team ever in the World Wrestling Federation because all around, we had it all. We had the looks, the yack on the mic with Road Dogg; we had the charisma, talent and everything all on one team that you never had before.
Kevin Kelly: How much of a financial concern was the breakup?
X-Pac: There might have been a thought, but it wasn't anything I dwelled on. Money is not the number one priority, but it's important and I'll fight for it. But it doesn't take precedence over other things in my life. When I have creative satisfaction in my job... that's great. Don't get me wrong-- I'm here to make money. I've been busting my ass for 12 years for this opportunity to make money in this wrestling boom I wondered was ever going to happen again. So, I'm going to get my money. But it's just that... if I don't have the creative satisfaction, money doesn't mean shit.
Mr. Ass: Of course, being over the money comes along with that. The merchandise and the stuff we were selling, they were selling DX and Outlaws stuff hand over fist. Right when all that stuff came out you couldn't keep it on the shelf. There was big money there. That's where a lot of your big money comes from-- videos and things like that. When you pull yourself into the singles, you wonder if the people won't stay behind you. If you worry about that, then you worry about where all your money is going to come from.
Road Dogg: We had New Age Outlaws shirts that were selling well and we had DX shirts that were selling good, and now they were going to take away all of that. It was going to decrease my royalty paychecks, like I said, a great deal. And I was worried I wouldn't get over and that would affect my payday in general. I thought the breakup was bad timing. I understand what they wanted to do. I just thought it was bad timing.
Kevin Kelly: Did the risk of failure weigh heavily on your minds?
X-Pac: I wasn't worried about being on my own. I feel comfortable and confident to do whatever, whether it's by myself. The thing with Kane has been great. But as far as the crowd reaction, I think it got much stronger after WrestleMania XV.
Triple H: DX was very successful from a marketing standpoint. And from the business standpoint it was probably the second hottest thing since babyfaces in this company. To make that change is a big transition. For me to make the change... you know I was a big part of DX for a long time, whether it was the original DX or the five of us as DX. It was a change for me completely. It was a change from my entrance to my look to my attitude in the ring to my music to my persona. It was a lot of change. Hunter is still the same person as far as a lot of things, because a lot of it is me. But there's a lot I had to change as far as catch phrases and things in the ring. And when you make those big changes there are certainly going to be some questions whether what you're doing is the right thing or if you should be doing it at all. But you have to have that faith in your ability that you can rise to the occasion, like Chyna said, and I think we've done that and more.
Mr. Ass: I love being a heel, but could I be the number one guy? I had confidence I could be. I wasn't worried about that. I was worried about being comfortable and losing the fact that we might lose being over. I didn't want to pull myself out of that, and it was like... here I go starting over again, because of the thing I had done before after breaking up with Bart. That would be enough to kill anyone's confidence as a singles guy.
Kevin Kelly: Was it easier to get that creative satisfaction when you were with DX?
X-Pac: Sort of... only because there's strength in numbers. I have no problem going to bat for something I feel strongly about, but when you have several other people with the same passion fighting for the same cause, it is more effective.
Road Dogg: Five is definitely more powerful than one. It seems that sometimes some of the individuals had more power and I considered myself the least powerful on the totem pole. So when we broke up, I felt I lost a lot of stroke and the ability to give creative advice. I felt like some of the other members had more stroke than I did.
[Mr. Ass added the following comments on the amazing individual successes of the former group's members.]
Mr. Ass: I never had any doubt in anybody's ability, talent-wise, to carry the load. But when they turned me, the only thing that concerned me was that I thought the people would be more... I thought that would be my big heel thing. I thought everybody would just crap all over me. Now when I come out, I get a huge pop-- and I think that's because I take my clothes off. I think the people dig that because it's like they can't believe I take my clothes off. I don't know why they didn't come with me a little bit more on the heel part after I turned on all of them. They're still with Road Dogg as much as can be. Hunter's turn was good. I think they can put some steam on him, and they can still put more steam on me. And X-Pac-- because he's got that big lion heart thing going-- people are into that, too. I think everybody is doing great.
[ Dogg Timeline || Dogg Articles || Dogg Gallery || Dogg Bio || Dogg Links ]
