WWE: 10 Ways The Kliq Conspired To Take Over The Wrestling Industry

By Grahame Herbert /

How do you go from being a complete nobody in the wrestling business, to pretty much owning the entire industry in the space of less than 20 years? Paul 'Triple H' Levesque must have to pinch himself every day. The low level jobber lumbered with a terrible gimmick ended up becoming the most powerful and influential pro wrestler in history. He has gone from being an unproven kid with a few thousand dollars, to being a 13 time world champion with a billion-dollar corporation operating under his will. Is it all down to natural coincidence? Or was the rise of Triple H all an orchestrated plan masterminded by Shawn Michaels €“ a plan whereby Michaels himself cleverly plotted to protect his own interests and those of his friends. The group that would come to be known as 'The Kliq' were five lower-to-upper mid card guys who got together to talk wrestling. They would all end up becoming multi-millionaires and celebrated pillars of the industry. Shawn Michaels was the leader, with Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Triple H and Sean Waltman making up the rest of the group. Their influence and ideas would have extraordinary repercussions. Concepts that are taken for granted in today's wrestling scene were originally ground-breaking innovations suggested by these men. Vince McMahon listened and took pointers from the group as if they were some sort of higher power. It would cause controversy and bitterness, and lead to conspiracy theories that the group had plotted all along to progress their own interests at the expense of their peers. The fact that one of the group is now just about running the entire company raises many eyebrows. Here we take a look at the extraordinary story of The Kliq, and 10 ways they conspired to take over the wrestling industry...