A word about The Kliq - Democratic Underground

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Tue Aug-12-08 03:56 PM
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A word about The Kliq

The Kliq (sometimes spelled as Clique) was a backstage group in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) during the mid-1990s, which some claim held virtually all booking power and were accused of refusing to be fair to anyone outside of the group. The Kliq was the primary catalyst for the two most controversial stables in wrestling history: D-Generation X in the WWF, and the New World Order in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Shawn Michaels and Triple H founded DX, and Scott Hall and Kevin Nash founded the nWo. Michaels and Sean Waltman were members of both.

The members of The Kliq include Michael Hickenbottom (Shawn Michaels), Kevin Nash (Diesel/Oz/Vinnie Vegas), Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), Sean Waltman (1-2-3 Kid/Syxx/X-Pac/Syxx-Pac), and Paul Levesque (Terra Ryzin'/Triple H/Hunter Hearst Helmsley).

Bret Hart claims in his autobiography, Hitman, that he was actually asked if he wanted to be part of the group, as his relationship with Michaels was far less adversarial back then: "The thing I remember most about that tour was Shawn, Razor, and Nash talking to me in Hamburg about the idea of forming a clique of top guys who strictly took care of their own." Hart declined the offer

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Curtain Call: The MSG Incident

One of the more talked-about actions involving the Clique was the Madison Square Garden Incident (MSG), which took place on May 19, 1996 and involved all of the Clique except for Waltman.<2> At the time of the incident, Hall and Nash were about to leave the WWF for rival World Championship Wrestling.<3> At a major WWF house show in Madison Square Garden, Michaels and Levesque (as Helmsley) worked separate singles matches with Hall and Nash.<2> Earlier in the card, Levesque worked a match, as a heel, with Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon).<2> Later, in the main event, Michaels, as a face, worked a steel cage match with Nash (as the heel Diesel).<2> Immediately after the match, Hall hugged Michaels, and this was not seen as a problem, since both Hall and Michaels were faces in the storylines.<2> But after Hall and Michaels hugged, Levesque joined the hug, despite working a match earlier in which he was a heel.<2><3>
Paul Levesque was the sole member of the Clique punished for the MSG incident.
Paul Levesque was the sole member of the Clique punished for the MSG incident.

Their actions in the "Curtain Call" scandalized WWF management, who at the time wanted to maintain the illusion that the supposed antipathy between faces and heels was real and that they were not friends outside the ring.<4> WWF chairman, Vince McMahon was reported to be initially okay with the incident, but did not expect them to take it so far.<3> McMahon also did not expect a fan in the audience to sneak a camcorder into the event and capture the entire incident on tape, which was later procured by the WWF and aired on the October 6, 1997 episode of Raw is War by Michaels and Levesque who, in storyline, used the footage to irritate McMahon.<5> Because Michaels was the WWF Champion at the time and was one of the promotion's biggest drawing cards, he could not be punished.<3> Hall and Nash were soon to leave for WCW, so they also escaped punishment.<4> The punishment fell solely on Levesque, who was demoted from championship contender to a jobber,<6> Levesque went from main event matches to opening matches, wrestling inexperienced or lesser experienced wrestlers.<6> He, however, did win the WWF Intercontinental Championship five months later.<7> The Undertaker stated in HHH: The Game DVD that when HHH first arrived in the WWF, he saw him as an arrogant person he only saw out for himself, but when HHH took his punishment and did not complain, he earned his respect. This punishment turned out to have a major impact on the WWF's future. Before the MSG Incident, Levesque had been booked into the finals of the King of the Ring tournament during the following summer, but his place would instead go to Steve Austin. The winner of this title traditionally received a large push toward stardom. Austin's win (and subsequent "Austin 3:16" speech) started his rise toward mainstream superstardom and helped the WWF defeat WCW in the Monday Night Wars.<4><3> Levesque's punishment only delayed his rise to prominence in the business, as he would go on to win the following year's King of the Ring and later went on to become a twelve time world champion, beginning with his WWF Championship victory over Mick Foley the night after SummerSlam 1999.<8>