The Kliq (sometimes spelled as Clique) was a backstage group in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) during the mid-1990s, composed of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Sean Waltman. Several of the men, most notably Michaels, Nash, and Hall, wielded an immense amount of power within the company at the time, which they used to positively influence one another's careers.
In May 1996, The Kliq broke character at a live event at Madison Square Garden in an unscripted incident referred to as the "Curtain Call", which had far-reaching ramifications for the WWF specifically and the wrestling world as a whole. At a time when professional wrestling organizations worked to maintain the illusion of storylines and characters, the Curtain Call marked the first time that such high-profile performers had so publicly broken character, forcing the WWF and other wrestling organizations to begin acknowledging the scripted elements of their programming.
The Kliq was also the primary catalyst for two of the most controversial stables in wrestling history: the New World Order (nWo) in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the WWF/E, and D-Generation X (DX) in the WWF/E. Of the Kliq, Michaels and Waltman would serve in both groups; Triple H was a member of DX while Nash and Hall performed with the nWo.
History[]
Formation and early history[]
The MSG "Curtain Call"[]
The nWo and D-Generation X[]
Real life feud with James Harrison[]
Between 1997 and 2002 members of the group had a real life feud with fellow wrestler James Harrison. The feud allegedly began when Harrison began working very stiff with Shawn Michaels, after Triple H began reporting Harrison for his stiff working the feud intensified. Harrison later said he didn't realise he was working too hard as he had been trained in the UK and Japan and no-one had informed him that he shouldn't work as hard.
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