Stables and factions have been a staple of the wrestling business for decades. From The Four Horsemen to The Nation Of Domination to The Shield, there have been some iconic groups that have left indelible marks on the industry. However, when discussing who the best faction of all time is, there are a couple of groups that always come to find. The two teams that are normally vying for the top spot alongside the aforementioned Four Horsemen. The nWo and D-Generation X.
Although The nWo formed a year earlier than DX, both teams are associated with the same period in wrestling history. The five years during the latter half of the 1990s when WWE and WCW went to war. Fans pondered dream matches between The Undertaker and Sting, Stone Cold and Goldberg, but also between DX and The nWo. Without either of those teams, the way the Monday Night War would have unfolded could have been very different.
Too Much Of A Good Thing
Although Nitro had already launched by the time The nWo formed, it was the group's formation that really solidified WCW as a legitimate competitor to WWE. Fans were tuning in to see what Hogan, Hall, and Nash would do next. WWE's reaction to losing ground and then losing in the ratings to Nitro was to inject its project with attitude. Thus DX was born. A very different trio to their counterparts in WCW made up of Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Chyna.
Wrestling has a habit of riding a concept until the wheels fall off. If something generates interest then keep it going until the well has run dry. Both The nWo and DX suffered from that. The two factions were so popular with fans that neither WWE nor WCW wanted to let up. The problem is since wrestling doesn't have an off-season, even the most popular stars can get stale fast. Acts also need to evolve, and while that evolution worked for The nWo off the bat, it would ultimately become its downfall and sadly be one of the main things the group is remembered for.
The addition of X-Pac to the group was a success. That's why when The nWo was inducted into the Hall of Fame, X-Pac was a part of it. While there are certainly arguments to be made that others should have been a part of the group's induction, things got pretty silly very fast once the group started to get new members. The faction would split into two, Wolfpac and Hollywood, then reunite, then get a lower card version. It was all too much, and by the time nWo 2000 formed, yes yet another variation, the letters meant almost nothing.
DX Needed New Members
DX traveled a similar but also very different path. Vince McMahon didn't give the group new members to keep things fresh, but more out of necessity. HBK was hurt which meant Triple H needed some new running buddies. The Game got three of them: Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, and the biggest get of all, X-Pac. X-Pac opened his DX account by ripping into WCW and The nWo live on WWE TV on his first night back. The closest the two factions were ever going to get to actually wrestling back then was a war of words, and X-Pac hit his old buddies with a serious body blow that night.
DX did not splinter and split off into warring factions. Perhaps McMahon had seen the dilution of The nWo and learned what not to do. WWE's mistake with DX was something it still does to this day. A reliance on something that worked in the past still working years later. DX would reunite again, and again, and again, right up until someone convinced HBK to step back in the ring at a Saudi Arabia show. He and Triple H competed against The Undertaker and Kane in what will go down as one of the worst matches in WWE history, forever tainting the legacy of DX.
DX And The nWo Finally Meet
WWE would eventually buy out WCW, of course, which meant McMahon could also bring back The nWo whenever he liked. Something that could have and really should have been very cool, but it ultimately fell flat. The nWo in WWE just didn't work, especially when Michaels was added to the group's ranks which made almost zero sense. Even back then, both The nWo and DX had already overstayed theit respective welcomes.
Fast forward to WrestleMania 32 and members from both teams came to the ring to play a part in Triple H versus Sting. Despite the sides some of the wrestlers chose being a little confusing, it made for a very cool moment. Now imagine how cool a moment it would have been had it been 17 years since we had seen either of them. Pretty darn special. Milking an act or a gimmick until fans are sick of it is just something that happens in wrestling, though. The nWo and DX aren't the only ones to have suffered from it, and thankfully the respective groups' highs were so damn high that for the most part, they are still remembered fondly as two of the best factions of all time.