"DX Member, Shawn Michaels"
 

I've kinda mentioned it in a few posts here and there, but am I the only one who feels that by being associated with the DX name heading into WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels really comes across as a weak challenger?

I mean, it's strange because he has been a headline solo act for well over a decade, yet seeing him in the green and black gear, with the DX Band music and TitanTron, and even being announced on the way to the ring as "DX Member, Shawn Michaels".... it all makes him come across as one half of a tag team. Since when has one half of a tag team ever challenged for the WWE title at a WrestleMania. An active, ongoing, regular tag team I mean, of course.

There can only be one of three reasons for keeping DX alive (with HBK wearing all the gear, coming out to the DX music and video and being announced as "DX member...", shilling the DVDs etc):

i) so Triple H can keep getting a nice paycheck while he's sat on the sidelines

ii) so Triple H can turn heel on his return, and betray HBK who kept DX alive for months only to have it thrown back in his face

iii) so the group stays hot for when Triple H returns.

All of those options revolve around the same person: Triple H. The man who isn't even active at the moment, for fucks sake.

This does not benefit Shawn Michaels (who apparently dislikes the DX angle anyway), it does not benefit WrestleMania (which is traditionally WWE's biggest money-spinning event of the year and thus all promotional activities, storylines and focus should be directed towards it at this time of year), and it will only serve to benefit WWE (if it even does) many months down the line, when the damage to both Shawn and WrestleMania has already been done.

With the "one half of DX" label attached, Michaels is made to look weak. In fact, to newer WWE marks, he is probably considered the weak link of DX anyway. That's no way to build up a credible main event for WrestleMania.

It may only be the tiniest minutiae in the grand scheme of creating a main event program, but often it's the little touches that make all the difference.

I know it's not exactly the same, because Michaels has been a solo star and champion in the past, but would you have watched WrestleMania VII if the main event was Hulk Hogan vs Jerry Saggs?

Or WrestleMania X if Yokozuna had defended the gold against Quebecer Pierre?

Hows abouts WrestleMania 15, Steve Austin vs Headbanger Thrasher?

WrestleMania VIII, Ric Flair vs Kato.

Okay, you get the idea with that....

You could use that comeback on every single thread on the forum.

Shawn Michaels speaks for himself pretty much tho. He came out to DX music and in DX gear at Wrestlemania 14 and that was a huge main event for the company and him. He wasn't lost in the name.

I certainly see what you're saying tho. Keeping DX alive is certainly a financial decision. They want Cena vs DX Michaels, as opposed to just simply Cena vs Michaels.

As you said, the only problem I see with it is how he's made to look weak. I don't think hes as much made to look weaker by being a DX member as it is that he had taken the backburner for Triple H since they reformed. Because of Triple H's equal stature, and Shawn Michaels reduced attitude and personality, it has made hiim go from the leader of DX to just one half.

To me, that sucked. But I'm gonna have to go ahead and say that for the most part that wrong has been righted in the past 2 months since HHH went down and they've booked Shawn stronger, edgier and more angry. Hopefully they really have him go vicious and be a degenerate or at least hard edge in the next few weeks.


Shawn, god will forgive you its just entertainment. Be a degenerate, be an asshole, cuss, tell Cena to suck it, blow some coke. Just for a few weeks. Do it for the company, do it for the fans, do it for...The Rock!!

I am 100% positive it is so they can set up for a triple H heel turn.

Also, I dunno, I havn't got that stigma about him at all. Maybe its cause I feel so sure about the HHH heel turn and how well it could work. WHich actually means they probably won't do it.

The difference is that at WrestleMania 14, Michaels was the leader of a DX faction, a Ric Flair-like role. This time around he's half of a tag team. And a diluted, pale imitation of the original at that.

I'm not knocking Michaels' performances or attitude, though. Michaels is Michaels. It's the "DX member" intro and gear that keeps reminding me that he is still one half of a tag team, and it's a cynical money making ploy. Hard to turn off and just enjoy Michaels' work when he's such a corporate whore nowadays.

I'm just gonna be disgusted if Shawn wrestles his heart out (obviously will) and Cena goes over. Shawn will carry Cena to the match of his career. Even with Cena, nothings gonna stop Shawn from having the match of the night. Its Wrestlemania.

The problem is, if Taker goes over which I think he should, you know that in the next title match that Cenas gonna retain. They're not going to have both their golden boys job the title over to their veterans.
Thats why I support the Edge swirve. You put taker over, then put Edge over him. That way you have a young heel win, and a veteran face win. sigh

I recall that the, uh, "rumours" doing the rounds when DX first reformed was that Triple H wanted to turn face for the "rest of his career".

Which was never going to happen, anyway, but Trips is going to be a sympathetic figure when he gets back from injury, plus the word is that Triple H will not be able to work a full-time schedule anymore thanks to this latest injury.

In fact, some reports say that it is questionable if Triple H will ever return (I'm calling bullshit on that one), but if there IS any question, they really should end DX right now.

yea I def agree with that, pretty much said the same thing in my above post

You guys are forgetting the most basic reason of all: money.

They are pushing this DVD (which was no doubt in the works before HHH got injured). They have to keep the DX name out there to promote it, simple as that. Also, they can push all the DX merchandise they can while still pushing HBK's solo shirts.

DX is a potential goldmine, whether HBK goes it alone or not, that's why it's not going away.

I said it was a purely financial decision in my post too.

Yeah but is Triple H the WWE's main guy because of his talent (which he does have, don't get me wrong) or because of his wife?

Nepotism is nothing new to wrestling, but people often overlook the fact that Vince McMahon has every reason to push HHH as his top guy, because he is the one guy on the roster least likely to ever walk out and leave him. So maybe it isn't all ego and Triple H's will, but maybe this big push is as much Vince serving himself as serving his son-in-law.

But take away the Stephanie factor, and there's no way Triple H should still be the focal point of WWE. He has been on top now for 9 years. Who has ever had such a prolonged run at the top of the company in the VKM years? He's nipping at Hogan's heels on that one, and Trips is nowhere near Hogan's league (in every aspect of the business bar the in-ring product).

Nobody has EVER had such a long push at or near the top of the card, with that sole exception of Hulk Hogan, and believe me it has never been because Triple H's sheer talent makes it impossible NOT to push him. In the ring, he stunk until 1998 when he modified his style and finally got a bit of charisma and got over. He improved until eventually he reached his peak as a performer in 2000.... His prime lasted for one year. That was 7 years ago. He has occasionally shown flashes of his former brilliance since then, but that is not enough. And he hasn't been a draw since 2002 either.

It's been said before, I'll say it again: Triple H is a good, sometimes great, performer but if he had never married Stephanie McMahon he would be mid-card or working elsewhere right about now.

Agreed.

I don't think there is a wrestler in the world, who is better main event heel. Backstage politics or not, I don't give a damn, because there is no one else in wwe or tna who has as much talent in all the different aspects of the business.

That was responding to Fallen Angel's post, that wasn't just a random rant, by the way.

Of course it's a financial decision (and I bet Triple H had a hand in the decision to keep pushing it) but Shawn doesn't have to be adorned in the DX brand to sell the stuff. An ad here or there would suffice.

And the fact that it's all money money money is what turns me off to it. There was a time, before WWE went public (which was the biggest fuck-you-to-the-fans in wrestling history, in hindsight), when show quality came above money making, but now it is the other way round. Raw and SmackDown are basically 2 hour adverts for WWE products... PPVs, T-shirts, DVDs...

I realised there was trouble ahead when suddenly nearly every wrestler in the company started walking to the ring in their own T-shirts rather than in traditional ring wear... even Austin forsook his leather vest for a Stone Cold T-shirt at a WrestleMania once. The DX shilling gimmick, whilst meant to be funny, angers me that WWE is so blatant about shilling that they're turning it into an angle. All WWE cares about is money. I wish it was 1998 all over again, because all they really cared about then was ratings and putting on the best show, and guess what.... they probably sold more Steve Austin T-shirts back then than every T-shirt in the WWE put together today.

I will say, even though a shameless plug, the King Booker review of See No Evil promo was pretty rofl

I thought that was a pile of shite. That sort of hammy, unrealistic booking really kills SmackDown for me. Remember that Orton/Taker angle, where we were seeing through Orton's eyes? With the blood all over Cowboy Bob's head, and when Bob was talking with the Undertaker's voice? Hate that stuff.

Also hated the "Voices in Kane's head/May 19th" shit from last year, because WE COULD HEAR THE FUCKING VOICES THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE INSIDE HIS HEAD. For fuck's SAKE.

Really pisses me off.

The Booker thing wasn't AS bad, but still....

I was rofl at Booker inserting himself into the movie, and his spoken review of it. I'm sorry if it was cheesy trash and a shameless plug, it was just too damn absurd and hilarious for me not to laugh.

I was hoping when Shawn did the "The Showstopper is back" promo that we'd see "HBK" Shawn Michaels come out to "Sexy Boy". Personally, I think the DX shit will sell even without schilling it 24/7. Plus, HBK looks fucking stupid wearing DX sweatbands around his arms (even though everybody looks fucking stupid with sweatbands around their arms).

I watch Raw every week, rarely miss it. If it is on 51 weeks of the year, I probably watch at least 45 of them live. I rarely, if ever, watch SmackDown.... even if it is on while I am at home, doing nothing. I keep up with the goings on, and I watch the SmackDown only PPVs if they interest me or if they are free... but the show itself? I have no desire at all to watch it.

So, on a very rare occasion that SmackDown ends up on my screen, one of the first things I see is that Booker T skit. Booker played it for laughs, fair play to him. It was the "horror" aspect that made me cringe.

Now I, a self-professed hardcore wrestling fan who just told you I stay up until 4am watching Raw live every week, cringed and felt embarrassed watching the half hour of SmackDown I accidentally found on my TV last week. Imagine how a casual or non-fan would react to that scene? It was hokey, it was intelligence-insulting and was just more ammunition for the "wrestling sucks" crowd to throw at us fans. I'm just glad there was nobody in the room with me while it was on.

It's for a bad reason, but let's face it. IT doesn't hurt Michaels, because Michaels is too big a name,.

May 19th was done by a real person and was really supposed to be happening. Remember that fake Kane? He was fucking around with the AV.

It was stupid but...Unrealistic? About as unrealistic as DX taking over the sound truck.

Michaels in 1998 = The Man
Michaels Now 2007 = Triple H's Lackee.

WTF. WWE booking is terrible.

I'm kind of torn on this. It is a financail situation, an ad here and there won't sell as much as hearing that music and seeing the neon green. I have no problem with HBK in DX but they should just announce him as himself, and leave out the "DX member". The problem lies in the fact that it's just Shawn Michaels. It's not HBK, the show stopper, the main event, the icon. They need to build him up going into mania. He can keep the DX stuff but they need to focus more on him, than have goofy HHH lacky plugging their shit.

So if they're keeping this DX thing going so that HHH can come back and possibly turn on HBK doesn't that mean that "DX" will be around for another 6 months or so?

So for 6 months Shawn Michaels will be "DX"? No new members! No old members! Just HBK on his own...being a stable.

Can't see that getting old any time soon!

It's quite a brillaint payoff, eh XL?

Hell, they may as well just call him "The Degenerate" Shawn Michaels.

This is the way I see things going down. HBK will use the DX theme music up until WM where he wins the belt.

The next night on Raw, HBK will come to the ring with his old music, and this will be the subtle (or not) set up for the HHH/HBK feud down the road.

Only this time, I hope its HBK turning on HHH. Kinda like "You came on Raw after WM 14 and said I dropped the ball? Fuck you Hunter"

This came out much better in my head.

Was this ever revealed? I'm not looking to "call you out" on this or anything, but I don't recall it ever being made at all clear that it was the second Kane that was saying all that stuff to the original Kane, and that whole thing was just something that always bothered me, much like the Orton thing that Carl mentioned.

I reckon they are gonna swerve you all at Mania and have Michaels come out inside a giant heart, and then he 'breaks' through it while wearing a crown and cloak.

Cena will come down with a gun and call himself Marshall before kneecapping Howard Finkel.

That he was messing with him? Even before fake Kane showed up, Kane was talking about "him," the guy who was behind it. Did they ever specifically say "he tapped the PA system to mess with me?" No. But they did make it relatively clear it wasn't in his head, and I just extrapolated that one specific detail.

That's what I was wondering, although that makes enough sense.

...who will have turned on Cena and rejoined DX on the previous Raw. :shifty:

Yeah, just clarifying.

*Talking on the phone to Vince:
"No I TOTALLY understand your logic and booking."
*Shakes head rapidly"

Thing with the fake Kane (don't you love the way these topics veer off on such random tangents??) that I was most specifically thinking of when I posted my last comment was the very first time, when we saw him clutching his head in the corridor whilst hearing the voices in his head.

Later incidents, such as the voices over the PA, made a bit more sense - you could just about come up with an explanation - but the first week or two of build up was dire.