Website Uproxx had a recent interview with Sean Waltman (X-Pac) discussing the 20th anniversary of D-Generation X’s debut. Some of the topics discussed included his thoughts about the anniversary, regretful moments he had while in the group, the importance of Chyna for the group, and the origins of the Outlaws becoming members.
On the topic of his feelings towards the anniversary, Waltman stated he didn’t realize it had been 20 years since the group’s debut till the day of the anniversary. He only found out because people were celebrating the group on Twitter.
No. It caught me off-guard yesterday when I woke up. All these tweets. Really cool. I’m at a point in my life right now where I’m not caught up in, “Oh. Those were the good old days.” Because they were. They were great, but that doesn’t mean there’s not still some good days ahead of us. I do. I look back with a lot of fondness, man. There’s some things that I kind of like, “Ah, [that’s embarrassing].” You know?
When asked if he had any regretful moments while in DX, Waltman stated the Nation of Domination parody was his biggest regret. Mainly in regards to using blackface to mock Mark Henry and others in the Nation. Said at the time he wasn’t aware of the origins of blackface nor minstrel shows and became horrified years later when he found out the real meaning of blackface.
“Actually the only thing that I can honestly say I really regret now is the blackface thing. I did not understand. Here’s the thing: I consider myself pretty well, for somebody that didn’t go to high school, pretty well educated. I know a lot of things, but I never saw an actual minstrel show, blackface thing. Recently, I saw something about it and I was horrified, horrified at how mean-spirited all that stuff was. I look at it way different now.”
On the topic of Chyna and her importance to D-Generation X, Waltman stated she was the “magical ingredient” for the group’s early success.
“It was just a regular group [otherwise]. Not a regular group, because it was extraordinary talent, but there’s been a lot of groups with extraordinary talent. She was just so unique. It’s just that’s how I feel about it. I just wanted to acknowledge that. Then Brian James [acknowledged it] too [after I tweeted].”
During the interview, Waltman revealed the New Age Outlaws becoming members was Triple H’s idea. It was part of Triple H’s plans for moving the group in a new direction as its new leader. Both being close friends of Waltman and Triple H for years was also another reason for their inclusion.
“Before Shawn left, before WrestleMania where he dropped the title, they had been doing some stuff thinking about bringing them in on it. When Paul contacted me about being DX, he told, ‘We’re thinking about having Brian [Road Dogg] and Billy [Gunn],’ and that’s exactly how it happened. They were getting over on their own. …We all had really good rapport with each other. We all traveled a lot and hung out a lot together before that when I was there the first time when Billie was in the Smoking Gunns and Road Dog was with Jeff Jarrett. It was pretty easy for that to work.”