10 Small WWE Character Tweaks That Became DISASTERS!
7. X-Pac Is A Leader Not Follower
You know you're dealin' with the X-Factor?
X-Pac sinking from viable WWF Title challenger and D-Generation X lightning rod between 1998-2000 to the kind of wrestler fans wanted to see the back of in 2001 should be studied. It was unfair, because Sean Waltman was still one hell of a worker in-ring, but '01's "X-Pac heat" was the audience's way of telling the company they'd seen enough.
Pivoting, chiefs plucked X-Pac from DX and framed a brand new faction around him: X-Factor. Pac teamed with Albert and incoming former ECW man Justin Credible from February onwards. They'd linger as a group until the WCW/ECW invasion angle gathered steam in the summer. In other words, X-Pac was a stable leader for mere months.
One of the biggest problems became clear within weeks. Pac was better suited to being part of a faction rather than the focal point of one. He needed workers fans still cared about to drag him up, not a ragtag bunch of midcard misfits who didn't really have any steam behind them following his lead.
This was always doomed to fail, being brutally honest about it.