When fans think back to the greatest factions in wrestling history, the New World Order and D-Generation inevitably come up in the conversation. Yes, groups like the Four Horsemen and The Bullet Club arguably enjoyed greater success, at least in terms of longevity. The nWo and DX each enjoyed their heydays in the Monday Night War era when wrestling had more eyes on it than ever before, though. Moreover, their influence is beyond compare in terms of highlighting top tier talents, shaping how wrestling companies looked at factions moving forward, and moving merchandise to this very day.
While the nWo and DX were dominant, there were those handful of stars who got the better of them here and there. This article looks at five stars who benefited from besting one of these iconic stables.
10 10. Bested The nWo: Diamond Dallas Page
As the New World Order grew and largely dominated WCW programming, Diamond Dallas Page was also rising through the ranks. DDP wound up one of the greatest beneficiaries of a push opposite the heel super group. He rejected an offer to join them, instead becoming arguably the first wrestler booked to outsmart the nWo, nailing Scott Hall with a Diamond Cutter to assert his WCW loyalty.
Page would go on to a memorable feud with Randy Savage in particular that established DDP as a main event player, particularly for pinning the Macho Man cleanly, again getting the better of the nWo.
9 9. Bested DX: Steve Austin
When D-Generation X was originally founded, Shawn Michaels was the undeniable leader of the group—the only established main eventer and an active part of the WWE Championship picture. That momentum and HBK’s role at the forefront of the faction would come to an abrupt stop when Stone Cold Steve Austin came calling.
Austin pinned Michaels in the WrestleMania 14 main event to win his first world title, and in so doing to reveal that Mike Tyson - who counted the pin - wasn’t loyal to the faction after all. While DX had gotten the better of so many top talents and authority figures at that time, Stone Cold put them in their place.
8 8. Bested The nWo: Roddy Piper
As the New World Order gained momentum, Hollywood Hogan stood at the helm, reigning as WCW Champion. He won the title off of The Giant and turned back challenges from marquee challengers like Ric Flair. But for Starrcade 1996, another icon came calling: Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Piper’s main event match with Hogan at Starrcade wasn’t a title match, but WCW nonetheless sold it as a clash of legends. That Piper put Hogan down with a sleeper hold marked a rare loss for the still-new faction, particularly at the very top of its ranks.
7 7. Bested DX: Kane
D-Generation X and Kane had an intertwined history as they worked together at key moments - including against a common enemy of The Undertaker - but also found themselves at odds more than once. As The Big Red Machine grew more humanized, he got wrapped up in a story with Tori as his love interest, and X-Pac as his friend and tag team partner.
X-Pac, Tori, and DX turned their back on Kane, which wound up unleashing the monster’s fury. Kane didn’t always win against the faction, but certainly had his moments, including a televised scene when he tore through the group en route to Tombstoning Tori, as well as picking up the pin over X-Pac in a tag team match at WrestleMania 2000.
6 6. Bested The nWo: Sting
A part of what made the New World Order so successful in its early days was how dominant the group was, crushing most challengers WCW could put forward. A year and a half into the story, we arrived a climax when Sting returned to in-ring action to challenged Hollywood Hogan.
The match didn’t live up to expectations. As Eric Bischoff has discussed at length on 83 Weeks, Sting didn’t show up in ideal shape and confusion followed about the intended finish. Nonetheless, at the last PPV of a white-hot 1998, Sting made Hogan submit, and in so doing relieved the nwo of the world title.
5 5. Bested DX: Rated RKO
Years after DX’s heyday as a faction, Shawn Michaels and Triple H had an on-again-off-again super team pairing under the DX banner that spanned the latter stages of HBK’s in-ring career. The pairing was largely dominant, not necessarily winning every single match, but getting the better most every rivalry they got into. That was little surprise, given the men’s respective star power and in-ring talent.
However, Rated RKO - the team of Randy Orton and Edge - ultimately got the last laugh over DX. The signature match between the two star pairings at New Year’s Revolution 2006 was officially a draw. Nonetheless, Triple H was legitimately injured and out for months, which allowed Rated RKO to reasonably take credit for putting an end to that run of DX.
4 4. Bested The nWo: Goldberg
One of the key symbols of the New World Order’s dominance over WCW was Hollywood Hogan holding the WCW Championship for the overwhelming majority of the group’s original run. Lex Luger and Sting would each take the title off him, but short reigns or controversy surrounding their victories would limit the feeling that the nWo had truly been beaten back.
By contrast, Goldberg rode a historic undefeated streak all the way to a clean title win over Hogan (not to mention that he neat Scott Hall earlier in the same night). He’d go on to reign for a half year before the nWo could catch up to him.
3 3. Bested DX: The Undertaker
DX had its on and off confrontations with The Undertaker over time and across iterations, and often managed to use the numbers game and various scheming to topple him.
However, WrestleMania 28 saw a unique iteration of DX vs. The Undertaker. Triple H was facing off with The Dead Man inside Hell in a Cell, and Shawn Michaels entered the proceedings as the guest referee. Michaels was ostensibly on Triple H’s side, except for a bit of intrigue around the fact that HBK never could beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania, here Helmsley came along trying to do just that. The DX implications became especially clear, though, when Michaels nailed The Dead Man with Sweet Chin Music, turning him around into a Pedigree. This signature DX spot looked like a death knell for The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania. Remarkably, he kicked out. Not only that, but he did ultimately pinned The Game, asserting his dominance over DX, if only for that night.
2 2. Bested The nWo: The Rock
When The New World Order came to WWE, they garnered a big push out of the gate, which included booking them opposite the biggest stars at WWE’s disposal, including Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock.
At WrestleMania 18, not only would Austin pin Scott Hall, but in the far more famous match, The Rock toppled Hollywood Hogan. Not only was this a big victory for The Great One, but the aftermath saw outright destruction on the nWo as Hall and Nash turned on Hogan, only for The Rock to help Hogan fend them off. The nWo carried on for months to follow, but was never the same, or be believable as a main event threat in WWE after The Rock put them in their place.
1 1. Bested DX: Triple H
Few wrestlers are more synonymous with D-Generation X than Triple H. After all, The Game was a charter member of the group alongside Shawn Michaels, Chyna, and Rick Rude, and went on to lead the next generation of it, featuring X-Pac and The New Age Outlaws. From there, Triple H was involved in reunions, particularly in his tag team with HBK a decade after the group was originally founded.
But Triple H also turned on DX at WrestleMania 15, when he and Chyna pulled one over on the then-face faction, defecting to The Corporation. DX would carry forward with the nucleus of X-Pac and the Outlaws, but not be the same without a legit main event star. Both in storyline and in reality, Triple H proved himself bigger than the group at the time, and shunted them down the card.