Clique (wrestling)
The Clique was a backstage group in the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) of the mid-1990s, made up of the following members:
The five were best friends in real life; most of them remain close friends today. When all five were in the WWF together, they held virtually all the booking power (the power to make matches and determine storylines), and refused to put over (elevate, usually by losing a match) anyone outside the group. Other wrestlers were on the fringes of the Clique from time to time—most notably Chyna (Joanie Laurer), who was in a real-life relationship with Levesque for several years—but the core group remained the same. The five formed the nucleus of D-Generation X, which started out as a heel stable but became fan favorites over time.
Some fans use the terms Clique and Kliq interchangeably. "Kliq" was originally used by the WWF to describe Shawn Michaels' fanbase at one period in the mid-90s. It is widely believed that "Kliq" was a nod to smarks who knew of the existence of the Clique.
The MSG Incident
One of the more talked-about actions involving the Clique was the so-called MSG Incident, which took place early in 1996 and involved all of the Clique except for Waltman. At the time of the incident, Hall and Nash were about to leave the WWF for WCW. At a major WWF house show in Madison Square Garden, Michaels and Levesque (as Helmsley) worked seperate singles matches with Hall and Nash. Earlier in the card, Levesque (as Helmsley) worked a match, as a heel, with Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon) in which the departing Hall would job to Levesque to put him over. Later, in the main event, Michaels, as a face, worked a steel cage match with Nash (as Diesel), as a heel, in which the departing Nash would job to Michaels to put him over. Immediately after the match, Hall walked towards the ring. He got in the ring, and hugged Michaels. This was not seen as a problem, since both Hall and Michaels were faces in the storylines. But after Hall and Michaels hugged, Levesque walked towards the ring, got in, and also hugged Hall, despite working a match earlier in which Hall was a face and Leveqsue was a heel. Then, Nash stood up after being pinned by Michaels and all four shared a prolonged group hug.
Their actions scandalized WWF management, who at the time wanted to maintain the illusion that faces and heels were not friends outside the ring. Because Michaels was holding the WWF championship belt at the time and was one of the promotion's biggest drawing cards, the WWF feared that punishing him would hurt its business. Hall and Nash were beyond punishment, as they were soon to leave for WCW. The punishment fell on Levesque; he was demoted from championship contender to "jobber to the stars" for about a year.
This punishment turned out to have a major impact on the WWF's future. Before the MSG Incident, Levesque had been booked to win the federation's King of the Ring "tournament" late that spring. The winner of this "title" traditionally received a large push toward stardom. However, the incident led the WWF to change the booking for the tournament. The King of the Ring "title" would instead go to Stone Cold Steve Austin; his "win" started his meteoric rise toward mainstream superstardom and helped WWF defeat WCW in their business wars. Levesque's punishment only delayed his rise to prominence in the business, as he would go on to win the following year's King of the Ring.
The Clique and the nWo
When Hall and Nash went to the WCW, they formed the "New World Order" stable, or nWo; when Waltman later jumped to WCW, he also joined the nWo. Then, blurring the fourth wall even further, rumours began to spread among smarks that Shawn Michaels wanted to be fired from the WWF so he could join his friends in WCW, which was more popular at the time. These fans eagerly watched every new episode trying to see what Michaels would do to get himself fired. Michaels kept doing controversial acts, including things which were supposedly edited out. It was later revealed that the WWF itself had started this rumour to help attract the viewership of those smarks.
