The WWE announced Monday that DX will be inducted as a group into the WWE Hall of Fame over WrestleMania weekend at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The group entering the Hall of Fame will consist of Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, and the late Joanie Laurer a.k.a. Chyna.
News of the group’s induction began to circulate Sunday evening from a local ad that was out promoting DX entering the Hall of Fame.
On Monday, the news was made official by the WWE with a story on ESPN, including an interview with Paul Levesque on the group and the decision to include Chyna:
When I said a few years ago on the Austin podcast, or show, or whatever you want to call it, there’s complexities around it. But absolutely, definitely deserves to be in there. It’d be tough to pick a female that was more impactful on the business.
There’s more complexity to that than meets the eye, but here we are. I’m just happy that it’s here. I’m happy for her family, the people that she was close to, that hopefully, this is super meaningful to them. I know it would be to her. It’s a great thing — very deserving.
The group initially consisted of Michaels, Triple H, Chyna, and Rick Rude, the latter leaving in late 1997 to join World Championship Wrestling. Following Michaels’ serious back injury and departure from in-ring competition in 1998, Hunter took over the group and added the New Age Outlaws and a returning Sean Waltman to the stable.
Waltman returned to the company the night after WrestleMania 14 in March 1998 and cut a scathing promo about his time in WCW, and insulted Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. The company was heating up and was coming off the fumes of WrestleMania and the publicity Mike Tyson generated along with a red hot babyface in Steve Austin becoming WWF champion. Two weeks later, the company beat out Monday Nitro in the ratings on the April 13, 1998 episode built around the tease of Steve Austin wrestling Vince McMahon in the main event.
As the company heated up, DX was a big part of the presentation along with Austin, The Rock, Mankind, Sable and Vince McMahon as the major characters on the show.
In 1998, house show attendance skyrocketed with their average jumping from 5,826 in 1997 up to 10,006 the following year, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
In 1999, the group fractured as Triple H turned heel at a time when DX merchandise was red hot. The other members continued to be marketed as DX until reuniting as a heel group under Triple H, who was aligned with Vince McMahon in the fall of 1999.
In 2006, a reunion of Shawn Michaels and Triple H as DX sparked business as the two feuded with the Spirit Squad, Vince and Shane McMahon, and later the team of Edge and Randy Orton. Triple H suffered a second torn quad during a January 2007 pay-per-view match that halted plans and took him off television until August that year.
Over the past few years, there were several DX reunions on television with Road Dogg and Billy Gunn brought back to the company but none of the reunions ever included Chyna. Gunn was released by the company in November 2015 and is now serving as a producer with All Elite Wrestling.
Joanie Laurer died in April 2016 and had been pushing to be brought back by the company and inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The announcement of their induction coincides with tickets to the Hall of Fame going on sale this Friday at Noon Eastern.
The Hall of Fame ceremony will take place Saturday, April 6th from the Barclays Center.
