During a recent edition of his “Grilling JR” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and AEW commentator Jim Ross commented on the formation of Degeneration X, how much input Shawn Michaels and Triple H had on its conception, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Shawn Michaels and Triple H’s input on the formation of DX: “Shawn and Triple H had so much to do with the creative evolution of DX. They were helping Vince, they were in his ear. That would get them some heat from the talent. I would tell talent, ‘You know you have the same opportunity yourself to get involved in your storylines or to pitch a story or outline an angle. There’s no reason you can’t do the same thing. But if you don’t put out the effort to get time with Vince or pitch your ideas, it’s never gonna happen.’ That always aggravated me. The talents were pissed off at Hunter and Shawn for being close with Vince, and consequentially, believing that their relationship is the only thing that got their stories told. Of course, I don’t agree with that at all. But they were deeply involved in the booking of their angle.
“And here’s the funny thing about that. Me, a guy that got in the wrestling business in the mid-70s, when Bill Watts would bring a top hand into the territory, you didn’t bring in three or four top guys. You brought in a heel to let’s say work with Cowboy. He’s a 300-pound babyface, so the heel had to be big and aggressive and a badass. The other thing that heel had to do was to contribute to his creative and help with ideas…..so you would expect and count on your talents to contribute to their creative. That was part of the deal back in the old days, and that was a hell of a deal for the talents because they got paid 100 percent on the gates. The more you draw, the more money you’re gonna make, so guys were motivated to make suggestions on their booking. So it’s been around forever.”
On his reaction to their controversial segments: “I don’t know that I was comfortable, but it didn’t matter how I felt. It was supposed to make us uncomfortable. It was a TV-14 show with a very controversial act called DX, and that’s the kind of humor they did.”
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(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
