Triple H says D-Generation X nearly got fired for going too far during their on-air segments… and then got thanked for it.
Speaking on LADbible TV’s SPORTbible Stories, Triple H spoke about the Attitude Era and the rebellious nature of D-Generation X. Triple H explained how they kept pushing the envelope with their promos and actions, and it ultimately drew the ire of USA Network.
“When we first started doing DX, when Vince first put us together, we hadn’t even necessarily called ourselves DX yet. We were getting, I mean literally getting threatened to be fired every week when we would come back [by] Vince. Vince, but he was getting letters from USA. There’s a very famous skit that we did where USA had been on us for weeks, ‘These guys cannot say that stuff, they cannot do those gestures, they have to stop it.” We would go out and do it the next week, and we would come back, and Vince would tear us apart. ‘You guys are gonna get us thrown off the air.’ He was pissed, but he wasn’t doing anything about it, right. We felt like there’s a lot of threatening going on, but he’s not really doing anything.
“Numbers are starting to tick up a little bit. So there’s a moment in time where we get this letter from the USA Network that, it literally, the whole letter is, DX has gone too far. This D-Generation X group has gone too far. Between the eight o’clock and then nine o’clock hour, they are no longer allowed to use these words. They are no longer allowed to refer to their genitals. It’s written out, and then from ten to eleven, they are no longer allowed to say these things. They can use these words, they can do this, they can’t do that. Vince brought us the letter, he’s like, well, here it is, and if these things aren’t met, if these demands aren’t followed to a tee, you will no longer be on the air on USA Network. Either they get fired, or you’re no longer on the air.”
He went on to explain that Vince finally asked what they would do about the situation, and Triple H said they could turn it into a comedy segment. Vince agreed and said it’d better be funny, and they ended up doing a State of the Union-style segment that ultimately drew praise from the network.
“We did like a presidential podium and the three of us got up there, as if Shawn was president and we were standing behind him. We went through the list of words, and they beeped the words we weren’t allowed to say, and we said, this is direct from USA, we in D-Generation X apologize for our attitudes. We will no longer say the words, and we went through the list. We will no longer refer to our massive genitalia, we went through this whole thing and then got into arguments about it. ‘Goddamn, you can’t say that. ‘Well, sh-t, I didn’t know.’ so turned it into this comedy routine.
“It was right at the point when Bill Clinton had just given the ‘I did not sleep with that young intern’, and that’s how we ended it. Shawn Michaels said, ‘I did not sleep with that young intern. As a matter of fact, I was up all night.’ We did it as a skit, put it on the air, did the rest of the show. Next day, we got a letter from USA that said, ‘Congratulations on the ratings last night. What DX did with our letter was hilarious. Congratulations on the success. Here’s to many more years.’ It just flipped. We were sort of were of that mentality going into those things like, look, if the numbers go up, what are we doing wrong? Isn’t the whole point to get more viewers? If more viewers are coming in, clearly we’re doing something right here.”
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