In 1993, The 1-2-3 Kid became an unlikely overnight sensation in WWE. Despite, by all indications, working as a jobber, he stole a pin off borderline main eventer Razor Ramon on an early episode of Monday Night Raw and instantly became a popular underdog babyface. The Kid would carry on in this role for two years before a heel turn. Just as fans grew weary of the villainous version of Sean Waltman, he defected to WCW to play Syxx. Showing his natural attitude and working alongside other top cruiserweights, he elevated his stock as part of the New World Order, before bouncing back to WWE, rebranded as X-Pac—Triple H’s running buddy in D-Generation X. A funny thing happened in the years to follow, though, as X-Pac shifted from a popular mid-card act to a controversial talent whom quite a few fans actively hated.
DX Without Triple H Overstayed Its Welcome
D-Generation X kicked off with real-life buddies Shawn Michaels and Triple H at the fore. Michaels was solidly in the main event mix at the time, already a two-time WWE Champion. Triple H was a rising star with all the tools to believably make the main event himself one day.
When Michaels entered his first retirement, Triple H gamely took his place as DX’s leader, still aligned with Chyna and adding another real life ally, X-Pac to the mix. The New Age Outlaws joined them before long to carry on as WWE’s hottest faction. However, when The Cerebral Assassin himself left the group—turning heel when the group was face—and took Chyna with him, it just didn’t feel like DX anymore. Largely because Road Dogg and Billy Gunn were a tag team, X-Pac came across as the de facto leader as a singles talent, but fans didn't buy him in that role. The faction overstayed its welcome in this less than ideal state, and X-Pac bore the brunt of it with the fans.
Competitive With Kane
One of the best new stars of the Attitude Era was Kane. Glenn Jacobs had established his in-ring ability when he played sillier gimmicks like Isaac Yankem and The Fake Diesel. Positioned as The Undertaker’s brother, though, he emerged as an unstoppable monster.
Kane and X-Pac’s storyline as friends in 1999 was an enjoyable one. X-Pac returned to his undersized underdog roots that made him so appealing as a babyface, and Kane started to show his human side as he spoke on the mic for the first time and entered a romance angle with Tori. Having X-Pac turn heel on Kane wasn’t necessarily a bad idea. However, having the diminutive X-Pac “hang” with Kane—competitive in one-on-one and various tag team scenarios—stretched disbelief. Kane was still so over as a top tier talent, and his size advantage indicated he should have crushed his smaller opponent. At this stage, the confluence of the booking and an emergent Internet wrestling community led to the phenomenon known as X-Pac heat. Fans didn’t so much boo X-Pac's heel character as legitimately consider him over-pushed, and want him off their television screens.
The X-Factor Faction
One of the latter stages of X-Pac’s career as a full-time, in-ring talent for WWE saw him lead his own stable, X-Factor. The group’s lineup was interesting, with Justin Credible coming off of good work in ECW, and Prince Albert offering a big man presence. Nonetheless, it felt like the group simultaneously tried to tap into the coolness of DX, but lacked a true main event star to give it credibility. The Uncle Kracker song that played as the group’s theme music proved particularly unpopular with fans at the time as well.
To compound the challenges X-Factor was up against, the group's existence largely coincided with the Invasion angle that saw forces from WCW and ECW align to challenge WWE. That angle itself was poorly received, but also all-consuming to the point that the super faction completely overshadowed X-Factor, rendering it little more than a forgotten footnote of The Alliance era. Ultimately, Credible defected to join The Alliance, dsibanding the group. In the end, the ineffectual, forgettable nature of X-Pac’s faction felt emblematic of where he stood as a WWE Superstar, a bit past the point fans were interested or invested in him, ready to recede to the background.
Sean Waltman was a very good wrestling talent whose work behind the scenes and as a podcaster have reinforced that he has a great mind for the business. However, between how he was used, over-pushed, and placed in charge of lackluster factions, fans turned on him in a big way for the latter stages of his WWE career.
