Memorable Moments in Wrestling (5) - MSG Curtain Call

• The Kliq

The Kliq was formed by real-life best friends Michael Hickenbottom (Shawn Michaels), Kevin Nash (Diesel), Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), Sean Waltman (123 kid), and Paul Levesque (Hunter Hurst Helmsley). Michaels claims that the name "The Kliq" was originally coined by Lex Luger, due to the closeness of the 5 friends backstage. Peter Polaco (Aldo Montoya) was also close friends with the group and is sometimes referred to as a member. "Kliq" was originally used on-air by the WWF to describe Shawn Michaels' fanbase at the height of his popularity in 1996.

By 1995, The Kliq controlled the booking power (the power to schedule and decide who wins matches) in the WWF. In October 1995, The Kliq complained about a decision to let Shane Douglas (Dean Douglas) win the WWF Intercontinental Championship from Hickenbottom at In Your House 4: Great White North. They finally decided, however, that Hickenbottom would lose the title to Douglas by forfeit because he did not want it to seem like he legitimately lost it. At the pay-per-view event, Douglas won the title by forfeit, but later in the night lost it to fellow Kliq member Scott Hall (Razor Ramon). Dean Douglas gets credit for the shortest Intercontinental Championship reign in WWE history. Douglas was so enraged by the events that he threatened to sue the company and went to work for rival ECW.

Another incident occurred shortly after at a house show in Montreal, involving Carl Ouellet (Jean-Pierre Lafitte). Lafitte was booked to win a match against then WWF Champion Diesel (Kevin Nash) as it was Lafitte's home-town. Shortly before the match, Ouellet was involved in a backstage argument with Hickenbottom as Ouellet did not want to make Nash look good by losing to him. The match between the two ended in a double-countout. In his book, Michaels said that "we (The Kliq) buried him (Ouellet)" as he did not want to put Nash over. Lafitte was released by WWF soon after.

Bret Hart claims that he was actually asked if he wanted to be part of the group, as his relationship with Michaels was far less adversarial back then: "The thing I remember most about that tour was Shawn, Razor, and Nash talking to me in Hamburg about the idea of forming a group of top guys who strictly took care of their own." Hart however declined the offer.

• Curtain Call: The MSG Incident

One of the most talked-about actions involving The Kliq was the "Curtain Call: The MSG Incident", which took place on May 19, 1996 at Madison Square Garden and involved all members of The Kliq except for Waltman (who was injured at that time).

At the time of the incident, Hall and Nash were about to leave the WWF for rival WCW. At a major WWF house show, Michaels and Levesque worked separate singles matches with Nash and Hall respectively. Levesque worked a match as a heel Helmsley(bad guy) with Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon) who was a face (good guy). Later, in the main event, Michaels, as a face, worked a steel cage match with Nash (as the heel Diesel).

Immediately after the main event match, Hall returned to the ring and hugged Michaels and this was not seen as a problem, since both Razor and Michaels were faces in the storylines. But after Hall and Michaels hugged, Levesque returned to the ring as well and joined the hug, despite working a match earlier in which he was a heel against Hall. Nash (also a heel) who was lying in the ring soon got up and the 4 Kliq members hugged together and celebrated in front of the audience as Hall and Nash bidded farewell.

Their actions in the "Curtain Call" scandalized WWF management, who at the time wanted to maintain the illusion that the supposed antipathy between faces and heels was real and that they were not friends outside the ring. WWF chairman, Vince McMahon was reported to be initially okay with the incident, but did not expect them to take it so far. McMahon also did not expect a fan in the audience to sneak a camcorder into the event and capture the entire incident on tape. The incident was later procured by the WWF and aired on the October 6, 1997 episode of RAW by DX who, in storyline, used the footage to irritate McMahon.

• Aftermath

As Michaels was the WWF Champion at the time and was one of the promotion's biggest drawing cards, he could not be punished. Hall and Nash both left for WCW, so they also escaped punishment. The punishment fell solely on Levesque, who was demoted from championship contender to a jobber; Levesque went from main event matches to opening matches, wrestling inexperienced or lesser experienced wrestlers. Mark Calaway (The Undertaker) stated that when HHH first arrived in the WWF, he saw him as an arrogant person he only saw out for himself, but when HHH took his punishment and did not complain, he earned his respect.

This punishment turned out to have a major impact on the WWF's future. Before the MSG Incident, Levesque had been booked to win the King of the Ring 1996 tournament but his place would instead go to Steve Austin. Austin's win (and subsequent "Austin 3:16" speech) started his rise toward mainstream superstardom and helped the WWF defeat WCW in the Monday Night Wars.

• nWo and DX

Because WWF officials disliked the Kliq and their influence in booking matches, Hall and Nash's contracts were allowed to expire to break up the group. When Hall and Nash went to WCW, they formed the New World Order (nWo) stable, along with Hulk Hogan. Waltman later left WWF as well and joined the nWo as Syxx. The nWo's hand sign, often referred to as the "Wolf Head", was originally used by the Kliq members in the WWF. In the nWo, Hall and Nash brought the hand sign with them, and it became widely used by the nWo members and fans worldwide.

Meanwhile, Levesque and Michaels began to persuade WWF management to let them pair up on screen, but management was hesitant and wanted to keep The Kliq separated on-screen. They, however, eventually aligned together in the faction D-Generation X (DX), alongside Chyna and Rick Rude.

In 1998, Waltman return to the WWF to join DX as X-Pac, DX made numerous references to their friends in the WCW (though not by name) in their non-match and pre-match appearances and speeches. They even went so far as to stage a protest/paramilitary take-over of the WCW office in Atlanta. Triple H, riding in a Humvee, chanted "Let our people go!" through a megaphone during the incident. Waltman also called out "we just wanted to say hey to our buddies Hall and Nash" during the WCW invasion segment. But any hope of Nash and Hall jumping ship to the WWF did not materialize until WCW eventually folded.

Links:

1) A song tribute to The Kliq

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWiXzGJt_Pw (Thanks to InternationalBoy)

2) Curtain Call - The Madison Square Garden Incident

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-aC1dcxExw&feature=related (Thanks to brad33441)

3) DX showing the MSG incident on RAW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVtpCrpML-0&feature=related (Thanks to TASKABOYkindJack)