As first reported by ESPN, the WWE has now officially confirmed that D-Generation X – the full stable of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Chyna, X-Pac and the New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn) – will be inducted into the 2019 Class of the WWE Hall of Fame.
BREAKING: As first reported by @espn, D-Generation X are the first inductees in the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2019. https://t.co/rIPCM14ewY
— WWE (@WWE) February 18, 2019
We’ve documented D-X’s history extensively before, but the real story of the induction is the long-overdue induction of Chyna into WWE’s Hall of Fame. Chyna has long been regarded as one of the WWE’s most pioneering women in the company’s history, establishing a strong female character who was more than willing to go to toe to toe with the men, more so that her peers in the women’s division. Chyna had long been ignored initially due to her entering the field of adult entertainment, but even after she left that avenue, she was still kept at bay, largely due to her anti-WWE sentiment and still wild party ways. As WWE has shown with waiting on other legends with substance abuse issues, like Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Scott Hall, they preferred to help them clean themselves up beforehand. Filmmaker Rob Potylo, who was working on a documentary of Chyna prior to her death, stated that they were in talks with the WWE to enter WWE sponsored rehab, but she passed away before everything was finalized. WWE Hall of Famer Sunny (aka Tammy Sytch), who has had her own substance abuse issues and WWE sponsored rehab, said that she was hoping to enter WWE-sponsored rehab with Chyna that very week Chyna died.
Many of her peers have called for her induction since her death and Chyna’s body of work definitely warrants it, on her impact as a woman in the WWF alone. In 1999, she became the first woman to hold a major men’s singles title in the WWE, when she defeated Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Championship, a title she would hold three times.
Triple H talked to ESPN today about the induction, which would also be his first induction, and mentioned all the rumors and reports prior and comments he’d said in regards to her induction in the past. “Look, people believe what they want to believe. When I said a few years ago on the Austin podcast, or show, or whatever you want to call it, there’s complexities around it,” Triple H said to ESPN. “But absolutely, definitely deserves to be in there. It’d be tough to pick a female that was more impactful on the business. She did something that was completely so out of left field that it wasn’t even being considered when we first brought it up for her to come in. It wasn’t even a consideration … it wasn’t an easy thing, and against all odds she did all of that. She earned everybody’s trust. She won over the fans. She won over the boys. She did all of it. From that standpoint, absolutely 100 percent deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, and should probably be more than once — as a group, but individually as well. There’s more complexity to that than meets the eye, but here we are. I’m just happy that it’s here. I’m happy for her family, the people that she was close to, that hopefully this is super-meaningful to them. I know it would be to her. It’s a great thing — very deserving.”
Chyna’s official Twitter account, run by her family and PR teams, were ecstatic at the news and relished it proudly.
We did it!!! They are letting Chyna in!! She's in!! #LetChynaIn #TheyAreLettingChynaIn #WWEHOF #WWE #Chyna https://t.co/eG8WRPGmeV
— Chyna (@ChynaJoanLaurer) February 18, 2019
While some fans are angered she’s going in with a stable, Triple H did mention that this opens the door for her to “probably” be in individually as well. And a Hall of Fame induction is still a Hall of Fame induction, as many great Hall of Famers have gone in with the stables or tag teams that made them the Legends they are, such as the Road Warriors, Freebirds, and Four Horsemen before them.
https://twitter.com/NikkiCrossWWE/status/1097543594339168259
