It didn’t take long for that report making the rounds after Elimination Chamber to be made official.
ESPN got the scoop, and WWE.com followed up with their own version of the story minutes later. D-Generation X, and specifically Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chyna, X-Pac, Road Dogg & Billy Gunn, will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2019.
Of these six names being an amalgam of two different eras of the group - the original D-X which included Michaels (and Rick Rude, who doesn’t seem to be joining HBK in the two-timers club) and the larger group he led when Shawn was out dealing with back issues - Triple H told ESPN, “I think it’s the most meaningful for us all to go in together and to be recognized together, because I think both groups were [just] as impactful.”
Haitch, who’s also a member of WWE’s upper management faction in his role as Executive Vice-President under his Paul Levesque gimmick, addressed what’s already many people’s big takeaway from the announcement, Chyna’s induction. While Joanie Lauer being represented in any way is a positive, some still think anything less than inducting her on her own is a slight to Laurer’s legacy.
“Look, people believe what they want to believe. When I said a few years ago on the Austin podcast, or show, or whatever you want to call it, there’s complexities around it. But absolutely, definitely deserves to be in there. It’d be tough to pick a female that was more impactful on the business. She did something that was completely so out of left field that it wasn’t even being considered when we first brought it up for her to come in. It wasn’t even a consideration... it wasn’t an easy thing, and against all odds she did all of that. She earned everybody’s trust. She won over the fans. She won over the boys. She did all of it.
From that standpoint, absolutely 100 percent deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, and should probably be more than once -- as a group, but individually as well. There’s more complexity to that than meets the eye, but here we are. I’m just happy that it’s here. I’m happy for her family, the people that she was close to, that hopefully this is super meaningful to them. I know it would be to her. It’s a great thing -- very deserving.”
That doesn’t shut the door on Chyna joining Michaels & Ric Flair as multiple-time inductees. Which seems like a good starting point on a hot topic in what should be an interesting induction process (any reference to the group’s blackface parody from the Nation of Domination feud will play differently now than it did in 1998, for instance).
For now we’ll say congrats to the group, and especially Lauer’s family, friends and fans who’ve waited a long time for recognition from WWE for her impact on the wrestling business.