Clique (professional wrestling)

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The Clique (sometimes referred to as the Kliq) was a backstage group in the World Wrestling Federation of the mid-1990s, which some claim held virtually all booking power (the power to make matches and determine storylines), and were accused of refusing to put over (elevate, usually by losing a match) anyone outside the group. The group was made up of the following members:

Triple H
Kevin Nash (Diesel)
Shawn Michaels
Scott Hall (Razor Ramon)
Sean Waltman (1-2-3 Kid)

The five were best friends in real life; most of them remain close friends today. Other wrestlers were on the fringes of the Clique from time to time—most notably Aldo Montoya now better known as Justin Credible — but the core group remained the same. After Nash and Hall left WWF for WCW, Michaels and Triple H formed the nucleus of D-Generation X with Chyna, which started out as a heel stable but frequently turned between face and heel, (also known as a tweener).

Some fans use the terms Clique and Kliq interchangeably. "Kliq" was originally used by the WWF to describe Shawn Michaels' fanbase at one period in 1996. It is widely believed that "Kliq" was a nod to smarks who knew of the existence of the Clique.

The infamous MSG Incident.

Contents

1 Curtain Call: The MSG Incident
2 The Clique and the nWo
3 Trivia
4 Quotes
5 External links

Curtain Call: The MSG Incident

One of the more talked-about actions involving the Clique was the MSG Incident, which took place on May 19, 1996 and involved all of the Clique except for Waltman. At the time of the incident, Hall and Nash were about to leave the WWF for WCW. At a major WWF house show in Madison Square Garden, Michaels and Levesque (as Helmsley) worked separate singles matches with Hall and Nash. Earlier in the card, Levesque worked a match, as a heel, with Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon) in which the departing Hall would job to Levesque to put him over. Later, in the main event, Michaels, as a face, worked a steel cage match with Nash (as Diesel), as a heel, in which the departing Nash would job to Michaels to put him over. Immediately after the match, Hall walked towards the ring, came in, and hugged Michaels. This was not seen as a problem, since both Hall and Michaels were faces in the storylines. But after Hall and Michaels hugged, Levesque walked towards the ring, got in, and also hugged Hall, despite working a match earlier in which Hall was a face and Levesque was a heel. Then, Nash stood up after being pinned by Michaels and all four shared a prolonged group hug.

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. Because Michaels was the WWF Champion at the time and was one of the promotion's biggest drawing cards, the WWF feared that punishing him would hurt its business. Hall and Nash were soon to leave for WCW (Hall arrived just over one week later, Nash three weeks later), so they escaped punishment. The punishment fell solely on Levesque; he was demoted from championship contender to jobber to the stars, although he did win the Intercontinental Championship five months later.

This punishment turned out to have a major impact on the WWF's future. Before the MSG Incident, Levesque had been booked to win the King of the Ring tournament late that spring. The winner of this title traditionally received a large push toward stardom. However, the incident led the WWF to change the booking for the tournament. The King of the Ring title would instead go to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin; his win (and subsequent "Austin 3:16" speech) started his rise toward mainstream superstardom and helped the WWF defeat WCW in their business wars. 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 hold the World Heavyweight Championship for an extremely extended period.

The Clique and the nWo

When Hall and Nash went to WCW, they formed the New World Order stable, or nWo; when Waltman later jumped to WCW, he also joined the nWo. Many fans often criticized Kevin Nash for his booking tenure in WCW since it displayed the same bad behavior associated with Clique on an even larger scale. Fans often pointed to Nash booking for himself to win the title from Goldberg and the subsequent Fingerpoke of Doom as the most grievous of his "offenses".

In 2002, after WCW had gone out of business, the nWo was re-formed, originally with Hall, Nash and Hollywood Hogan, the group's initial members. Hogan soon left the group, and other former members, including The Big Show and Waltman, joined, as did Booker T, against his will. When the brand extension took place, the nWo became affiliated with RAW.

The biggest nWo-related shock came when Shawn Michaels, after years away from the ring, joined the group. He literally kicked Booker T out of the group (he used his "Sweet Chin Music" superkick on him) soon afterward, and promised the rest of the group that he would soon deliver Triple H.

Shortly thereafter, Nash suffered a torn quadricep (after returning the same night after time off due to a bicep injury) during a ten-man tag-team match, and the following week Vince McMahon disbanded the nWo. Eric Bischoff (acting as the RAW brand GM) later on tried to make Shawn Michaels Triple H's manager. This lead to a reformation of D-X but that was short lived as Triple H turned on him the same night, setting off a long and heated feud that had taken about a year to resolve. The year after, Nash returned from injury as a face, and sided with Michaels against Hunter, Ric Flair, and Randy Orton.

Trivia

Screenshots from the fan video.

Although there is no actual WWE produced footage of the event, an audience member caught the incident on a camcorder. (WWE has since seized possession of the footage since it is illegal to film a WWE house show.).
This "bootlegged footage" was used on an episode of RAW is WAR on October 6, 1997. Following the WWF In Your House: Badd Blood pay-per-view in which Michaels defeated The Undertaker in a hell in a cell match, Michaels, along with Helmsley and Chyna entered the ring. Under the pretense of showing highlights from the match, Michaels called for the production team to put up the highlights, but instead, showed the curtain call footage. As Michaels and Helmsley feigned ignorance and bewilderment, the camera cut to a visibly irked Vince McMahon, who was commentating at ringside, as Michaels and Helmsley taunted him from the ring.
Chyna was not a member of the clique or connected with them in any way, she did not join the WWF until several months after Hall and Nash left.
The only members of the Clique to be in both the nWo and D-Generation X were "HBK" Shawn Michaels and "Syxx-Pac" Sean Waltman. It should be noted that Rick Rude was also a member of both factions, but he was not a member of the Clique.
Lex Luger came up with the name "The Clique".
The term "Kliq" has been easter-egged into WWE SMACKDOWN! Video games as a logo for created wrestlers.

Quotes

"Bret, you didn't destroy the Clique. Don't confuse expansion with destruction. The Clique owns this business and at Survivor Series, the Kliq and the Heartbreak Kid are going to own you."

-Shawn Michaels, RAW is WAR October 6, 1997, following the departure of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash for WCW, and shortly before the 1997 Survivor Series, after which Bret was not seen on WWE programing until he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in April of 2006, nine years later. (see: Montreal Screwjob).

External links

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