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D-Generation X (commonly known as DX) is an on and off professional wrestling tag team (formerly a stable) wrestling for World Wrestling Entertainment.

The group originated in the midst of the WWF’s “Attitude Era” from 1997 to 2000 and helped change the face of sports entertainment. Their gimmick was that of a group of rebels who did and said what they wanted, no matter how provocative. DX is generally considered one of the most popular stables in pro wrestling history.

After its original run, the group underwent several roster changes, and disbanded in 1999. After a brief reunion in 2000, and a teased reunion in 2002, DX re-formed in June 2006 as the duo of Triple H and Shawn Michaels, until Triple H’s quadricep injury at New Year’s Revolution 2007.

Formation
DX was formed during the genesis of what would become the WWF’s highly successful “Attitude Era” in the latter half of 1997. Real-life friends and reported Clique members Shawn Michaels and Hunter Hearst Helmsley (who began being known simply as Triple H) were the original two members, along with Helmsley’s bodyguard, Chyna, and Michaels’ “insurance policy”, Rick Rude. Triple H and Michaels united together after Michaels turned heel after hitting The Undertaker with a chair at SummerSlam 1997. On October 13, 1997, the group officially referred to themselves as Degeneration X for the first time and debuted their signature slogan, “Suck it!” They were often shown on television practicing sophomoric humor and rebelling against authority figures in the company. Their trademark “crotch chops” became one of the most popular gestures in pro wrestling while their “D-Generation X” T-shirts enjoyed considerable sales.

The name D-Generation X was possibly taken from an opinion column by Phil Mushnick which appeared in TV Guide, in which Mushnick lambasted wrestling’s primarily Generation X fanbase as degenerates, dubbing them “Degeneration X.”[citation needed] On the other hand, Michaels’ autobiography would suggest that it was in fact then-WWF head writer Vince Russo who first conceived the moniker for the popular faction.[citation needed]

On-screen, however, the name was taken from Bret Hart who claimed that Shawn Michaels and Triple H were nothing more than degenerates. D-Generation X’s first feud was against Bret Hart and his Hart Foundation. This feud ended at Survivor Series 1997 in the infamous Montreal Screwjob which led to Bret leaving the company along with two of the remaining three members of the Foundation. The only member that remained in the WWF, Owen Hart, continued to feud with DX, specifically Triple H.

“D-Generation X” was later used as the title for a WWF In Your House pay-per-view telecast on December 7, 1997.

DX army
On March 29, 1998, at WrestleMania XIV, Shawn Michaels was the reigning WWF Champion, and Triple H was the reigning European Champion. They recruited boxer Mike Tyson to act as the “Special Enforcer” in the main event of the night featuring Michaels against Stone Cold Steve Austin. At the end of the match, Tyson turned on D-Generation X and cost Michaels the match. The night after this occurred, Michaels, who had to end his wrestling career at the time due to back injuries, was gone from the group. Triple H assumed full leadership of D-X and recruited X-Pac and the New Age Outlaws into his new “D-X Army,” a face version of this stable.

Reformation in 1999
On October 25, 1999, the group reformed as heels and included Triple H, X-Pac and the Outlaws. From then until mid-2000, DX remained a strong and united group. In early 2000, however, Billy Gunn was placed out of action for several months after suffering an injury against the Dudley Boyz. On screen, Gunn’s storyline involved him getting thrown out of DX because “he lost his cool”. X-Pac teamed with Road Dogg, but the two never reached the heights of the New Age Outlaws. At WrestleMania 2000, Vince McMahon turned on The Rock and aided Triple H in retaining his title. This marked the start of what many fans nicknamed “Corporate-DX” (much like the Corporate Ministry from the previous year).[citation needed] However the group was officially dubbed the McMahon-Helmsley Faction (it had earlier gone by the name “McMahon-Helmsley Regime”).

The following month The Rock defeated Triple H at Backlash in a match which featured Steve Austin’s brief return to the WWF. Though Triple H would regain the title the following month at Judgment Day, the group gradually broke apart. By late 2000, Triple H was a solo star. On the November 6, 2000 edition of RAW is WAR, the group temporarily rejoined (save for X-Pac, who was injured) to take on Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn (The Radicalz) in an 8-man tag team match, which DX won. The match included the group doing their old DX entrance as well as telling the crowd to “Suck it!” It was the symbolic end to D-Generation X. However, the members of DX (excluding Triple H) and K-Kwik, Road Dogg’s then-tag team partner, feuded with the Radicalz that month, eventually leading to a match at Survivor Series 2000 involving the same 8 wrestlers, except for Triple H, who was replaced by K-Kwik. The Radicalz won the match.

After that, DX remained unseen and largely unspoken of until Shawn Michaels returned to WWE in 2002. On July 22, 2002, on the episode of RAW, a week after the breakup of the nWo, Triple H handed Shawn Michaels a DX t-shirt and stated he “had an idea,” suggesting that the two reform the group. The duo later came out that night to their old music and crotch chops to the delight of the crowd. However, Triple H turned on Michaels on that same night; he had teased the reunion as a ploy to appease Michaels and lure him to the ring before giving him a Pedigree. This act led to the in-ring return of Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam 2002 and the genesis of a long feud between the two.

[Reformation in 2006
In 2006, a series of events occurred which hinted at a DX reunion. At WrestleMania 22, former members Shawn Michaels and Triple H performed the crotch chop during their respective matches, which was met with loud cheering from the fans in attendance. The two continued to deliver chops in the following episodes of RAW as Michaels feuded with Vince McMahon and Triple H focused on the WWE Championship, repeatedly running into Vince McMahon in the process.

On the June 12 RAW, the events came to a head, when, during Triple H’s gauntlet match against the Spirit Squad, Shawn Michaels came in to help his former companion. After the duo had laid out the entire Spirit Squad, the two men began to perform their crotch chops. The reunited DX continued their brash antics at the expense of the Spirit Squad, Vince and Shane McMahon and Jonathan Coachman for several weeks and repeatedly took part in blatantly camp product placement during RAW promos. Most of their antics involved practical jokes on Vince.

On the June 26 RAW, they added to the list of parodies with Triple H impersonating Vince McMahon, talking about his love of “Dicks” (referring to Dick Ebersol, Dick Clark, and Dick Cheney), while Shawn impersonated Shane McMahon (this episode is also famous for being the “Holy Shit” episode due to excrement being dumped on Vince and Shane McMahon and the entire Spirit Squad). During their feud, DX defeated the Spirit Squad at Vengeance and Saturday Night’s Main Event, as well as The McMahons at SummerSlam. At Unforgiven in a handicap Hell in a Cell match that featured The Big Show on The McMahons’ side, DX again came out victorious.

DX’s next feud was with Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton). At Cyber Sunday, the fans selected Eric Bischoff to be the special guest referee for the match. Bischoff allowed the illegal use of a chair to give Rated-RKO the win. With this, Rated-RKO became the first team to defeat DX in a tag team match since their reunion in June 2006. At Survivor Series 2006 Team DX (DX, The Hardys, and CM Punk) defeated Team Rated-RKO (Rated-RKO, Gregory Helms, Johnny Nitro, and Mike Knox), in a clean sweep.

2007
At New Year’s Revolution 2007, during their match with Rated-RKO, Triple H suffered a (legit) torn right quadriceps muscle. This prompted Rated-RKO to claim victory not of the match (which was ruled a no-contest) but over DX as a whole. Michaels, however, vowed to support Triple H through his injury and to get revenge on Rated-RKO. The next week, he (kayfabe) took out Randy Orton with a one man con-chair-to. After Triple H’s knee injury, Michaels was involved in feuds with Randy Orton, Edge, and John Cena.

Despite performing solo, Michaels still used the DX gimmick and theme music, but this was eventually phased out, leading to the end of the latest incarnation of DX. Michaels was then kayfabe injured by Randy Orton at Judgment Day, but in reality was taken off television for knee surgery. After Michaels and Triple H returned from their respective injuries, they reunited as DX on three occasions. On the October 29, 2007 edition of RAW, Mr.McMahon announced that DX would reunite for one night only on the November 5, 2007 edition of RAW where they defeated Randy Orton and Umaga in a tag team match. On December 10, 2007, during the Raw 15th Anniversary special episode the duo made a cameo return, celebrating as DX after Michaels attacked Mr. Kennedy. On December 24, 2007, the duo reunited once again during Raw’s Tribute To The Troops, defeating Umaga & Mr. Kennedy Despite DX reforming for one night only occasions, both Triple H and Shawn Michaels have used the “crotch chop” since the one night only returns.

Thank You to Wikipedia.org for putting together the above information.