The FIRST TIME Wrestlers Had Their Million Dollar Idea
6. "X" Marks The Spot
It might seem crass or trivial to celebrate the specifics of pointing towards one's genitals, but when Shawn Michaels and Triple H traded their long-standing Kliq-centric "suck it" gesture for one that made an X, they turned a burgeoning and brilliant act into something that could be monetised even beyond the scale of their WCW counterparts in the nWo. Sean Waltman was credited with getting the original point going during a particularly miserable WWE European tour in the mid-1990s, and by 1997, all five members of the backstage group were doing variations of the gesture on both Raw and Nitro, but crossing those arms? That's imitatable!
It came all at once for Michaels and Hunter on the October 13th 1997 edition of Monday Night Raw. Having coined the D-Generation X stable name during a segment with The Hart Foundation earlier on that very show, they spent the rest of the evening making as much mischief as they possibly could. This included claiming an ill-gotten victory over Flash Funk after he'd been decimated by boxfresh monster Kane. It was obnoxious enough to even imply that the contest had been competitive, but "obnoxious enough" was typically the first line the original DX aimed to cross at the time.
The group celebrated on the ramp, with both flanking Chyna in order to perform crotch chops for her. While still laying on the ground, Michaels decided to make X mark the spot as commentators riffed on how classless and childlike he was. They weren't wrong - forget the dollars, a million detentions were caused in that very moment.