YMMV / D-Generation X

• Arc Fatigue: The 2006 Reunion is not quite as remembered fondly, primarily because DX became even more Lighter and Softer. The 2009 Reunion is also frequently hit with this complaint (since this was during the height of the PG era), to saying nothing of the induction of Hornswoggle into the group, but most either ignore it or give it a pass since it was DX's final run before Shawn Michaels retired permanently the following year.
• Awesome Music: Bow to the masters... BREAK IT DOWN!
• Base-Breaking Character: Casual fans/big fans of the Attitude Era tended to love the DX reunions. The workrate crowd, er, not so much. Which is somewhat funny since the two main members of D-X, Shawn Michaels and Triple H are considered to be excellent workers.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: As Brian Zane pointed out in his video on the 2006 reunion, DX may have been rebels in the Attitude Era, in 2006 Triple H and Shawn Michaels were both husbands, fathers, multiple time world champions, company veterans with considerable backstage power and, in Shawn’s case, a born-again Christian. In other words, they were the establishment they claimed to rail against. Like everything else, this was lampshaded by DX themselves during their 2019 Hall of Fame speech.
• Critic-Proof: Shawn and HHH on their own aren't, especially with their well-known backstage antics and politicking being the most highly criticized points of their careers. Same with Road Dogg^note Especially nowadays as a member of Smackdown Live!'s creative team, Billy Gunn^note For his single push and growing opinion of him being overrated X-Pac^note For obvious reasons and Chyna^note With her own antics and bridge burnings. Only Rick Rude seems to be immune to the critics. All of them as DX on the other hand, especially the "full-band" reunions? They aren't. DX is so iconic and so adored that a) X-Pac only needs to appear with them in order to get cheered, b) HBK can go to Canada, and especially Montreal and be cheered when with them, and c) face HHH is (most of the time) associated with DX (especially these days with its other association).
• Draco in Leather Pants: Nearly all of them.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: During the WWF's apex of popularity in 1999, the New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn) were ranked #3 in merchandise sales only behind "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Hornswoggle in DX? What is this that you speak of?
  • The Nation of Domination parody skit tends to get hit with this due to the fact that most of DX is in blackface during it.
• Harsher in Hindsight: DX began its WWE Hall of Fame induction with Triple H telling the others that Vince McMahon should never be mentioned in a HOF speech, with the obvious reaction being that every other member of DX started calling his name and even got the crowd to do the same. However, behind the scenes, a writer (Robert Evans) did get fired on the spot that same day by VKM himself for writing a speech that mentioned him, meaning that Trips, while good-natured and joking, was indeed telling the truth.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • During the group's reunion for RAW 1000, Triple H segued a joke in his Catchphrase about him being the only guy among them with a full head of hair. Fast forward to his involvement in The Authority storyline, where he has basically had a sleek buzz-cut in line with his role in the stable and with his Real Life obligations outside the ring.
  • Remember that hilarious State of the Union promo? Fast forward nearly two decades, and Hunter's mother-in-law went into politics for real and was eventually nominated to be Head of the Small Business Administration by President Donald Trump.
  • The New Age Outlaws were formed when Billy Gunn turned on Honky Tonk Man. Now, both DX (with the Outlaws as part of the group) and Honky Tonk Man are announced as the first two inductees of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2019.
  • The "I just kicked Stan" segment is even funnier 10 years later because, after several trips through developmental, Stan became well-known as Tye Dillinger.
  • Apparently the original working name for DX was The Elite.
  • Both Triple H and Shawn Michaels currently hold executive-level positions at the WWE. Not only that, both are also currently in charge of booking for WWE's weekly programming with Hunter in control of WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown while Shawn handles WWE NXT. Yes, D-Generation X has finally taken over the WWE.
• Memetic Mutation: DX is responsible for a ton:
  • "Are you ready? NO! I SAID AAAAARREEEE YOUUUUU REAAAADDDYYYY?!?"
  • "LLLLLLLLET'S GET READY TO SUCK IT!"
  • "And if you're not down with that, we've got two words for you - SUCK IT!"
  • "OH, YOU DIDN'T KNOW? YOUR ASS BETTER CAAAAAAALLLL SOMEBODY!"
  • "I JUST KICKED STAN!"
  • The D-X Tank^note When WCW was trying to kill Raw's audience in the south by constantly scheduling Nitro in arenas in the same city for lower ticket prices, relying on Vince running out of money before Turner did, DX pulled a stunt where they drove a jeep up to the Norfolk Scope arena to stage an "invasion". In recent years it's become a meme due to how often WWE brings it up (and in particular WWE's claim that it was a tank when actually it was a Jeep), and fans exaggerate it to the point where the D-X "Tank"/Jeep single-handedly won the Monday Night Wars.
• Most Wonderful Sound: "ARE YOU READY?" *cue green sound wave* "BOM BOM." *guitar chord*
• One-Scene Wonder: Jason Sensation's Owen Hart parody left fans wondering why no one else in wrestling ever brought him in for anything. Although he did eventually kill his popularity with wrestling fans by tweeting a fake suicide threat in 2019.
• Values Dissonance: Their parody of The Nation of Domination. Given that the Nation at the time had a Token White guy in Owen Hart, this means three out of five members of DX were in blackface. It's especially bad with X-Pac as "Mizark", given he gives him a Simpleton Voice parodying Fat Albert. The only one even slightly acceptable is Triple H's "The Crock" since his "costume" looks more like a bad surfer tan than a man in blackface. The crowd then ate it up, nowadays most DX Fans want to pretend it never happened. Apparently at least the Nation actually enjoyed it.

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