Curtain Call: How An Unscripted Goodbye Changed The Course Of Pro Wrestling
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“I was plan B," Austin says. "None of this would have ever happened had they not done that Curtain Call. Triple H would have got that win.”
A great hero needs a great villain to do battle with, and Triple H was the biggest heel during the later years of the Attitude Era. The wildly popular D-Generation X stable played up his friendship with Shawn Michaels and frequently referenced the Kliq, and his eventual rise to the main event level even utilized his Curtain Call punishment directly. In an interview with commentator Jim Ross on a July 25th, 1999 episode of Sunday Night HEAT, Hunter had the following to say:
“This goes back a long way. This goes back to the Kliq. This goes back to Madison Square Garden. Me walking in the ring and saying goodbye to my friends. Every day, it eats a hole in my fucking stomach. I walk to the ring to say goodbye to my friends. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Shawn Michaels...who got punished for that, J.R.? Me. I did. You know why? Because you didn’t have the balls. Nobody in the office had the balls to do it to anyone else. They did it to me. Why? Because I was the easy one. I was the one that would take it. Good ol’ Triple H, he’ll rise to the occasion later on. Don’t worry about it, he’ll come through. We can take care of that now, punish him, get rid of that...he’ll come back later. Well, you know what? That makes me sick in my stomach. Every time I look at you guys, it makes me sick to think of what you did to me, holding me back. You guys talk about being students of the game? I am the fucking game, J.R. There is nobody that eats, sleeps, or breathes this business more than me. Now it’s my time to prove that to the world. Summerslam is my time to take what is mine, and that’s becoming WWF champion."
This utilization of real-life events started becoming commonplace after the Curtain Call, with the rise of the internet causing an increase of "smart" fans that better understood the real machinations of the industry. Acknowledging that wrestling was predetermined and not an actual sport would have been sacrilege in the strictly kayfabe earlier decades. Despite this, Vince McMahon opened Monday Night Raw on December 15, 1997 by outlining a new direction for the creative element of the product.
"We in the WWF think that you, the audience, are quite frankly tired of having your intelligence insulted," McMahon said. "We also think that you're tired of the same old simplistic theory of good guys versus bad guys. Surely the era of the superhero who urges you to say your prayers and eat your vitamins are definitely passé."
Kayfabe has never been officially killed off, as wrestlers have obviously still performed in character post Curtain Call. However, the doors were now open for reality to invade this industry that was once purely fantasy. The inner workings of the industry proved fascinating to its fans, and McMahon clearly understands and leverages this fact. His own authoritative heel persona was created after the infamous Montreal Screwjob incident that saw him legitimately "screw" Bret Hart as he departed for WCW in 1997. CM Punk's rise to the WWE Championship began with his infamous 2011 "Pipebomb" promo that drew off his real-life frustrations with the company. Reality proves to be more compelling than predictable "heroes versus villain" stories that have been done countless times in wrestling's past. Would this change in tone and loosening of kayfabe restrictions have happened without the Curtain Call?
Without Steve Austin being swapped in as King of the Ring in place of the punished Triple H, would the Stone Cold phenomenon had occurred in time to save WWF from being crushed by its competitor? The NWO would have still occurred without the Curtain Call, meaning WCW would have taken over the ratings regardless. With no rabid Stone Cold fans in Austin 3:16 shirts, it's entirely possible that WWF would have never recovered from WCW's 84-week trouncing. The man that watched the Curtain Call from backstage at Madison Square Garden turned into the bonafide face of the company, and his ascent may never have happened if those four friends hadn't said goodbye in front of that vocal New York City crowd.
EPILOGUE
The five men of The Kliq went on to have vastly different experiences after the closing of WCW. Nash and Hall attempted an NWO revival (complete with Hogan) upon their 2002 return to WWE, but the storyline fizzled out despite early fanfare. After spending seven years in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Nash returned to WWE once again for brief storylines and cameo appearances.
Hall and Waltman struggled for years with drug and alcohol abuse, with the former eventually sobering up with the help of his friend Diamond Dallas Page. Waltman wrestled in Mexico and the independent circuit for much of the 2000s, with frequent legal troubles, drug arrests, and a suicide attempt.
After missing the bulk of the Attitude Era thanks to a back injury and substance issues, Shawn Michaels returned from a nearly five-year hiatus with an entirely transformed personality. Now a devout Christian, this newly sober and seemingly less narcissistic Michaels went on to further enhance his legacy thanks to a string of stellar WrestleMania matches with the likes of Ric Flair, The Undertaker, and even Vince McMahon himself. He eventually retired at WrestleMania XXVI in 2010 after a memorable and emotional battle with The Undertaker.
Many wrestling fans respect Michaels more than any other member of The Kliq thanks to his unparalleled in-ring résumé. Despite this, Triple H is clearly the member with the most overall impact on the direction of the industry. The sole member of The Kliq to be punished for the Curtain Call wound up being the biggest benefactor, as he eventually worked his way up the card, main evented numerous WrestleManias, married Vince McMahon's daughter Stephanie, and is poised to eventually take over the company along with his wife.
Four of the members of The Kliq had a brief reunion as Shawn Michaels was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011. This time in suits, Michaels, Nash, Hunter, and Waltman embraced onstage in a clear nod to the event that kicked off a series of events that forever changed the wrestling industry (Hall decided not to attend, as he felt it would be a threat to his attempted sobriety).
The legacy of the Curtain Call hasn't been forgotten, either in the minds of fans or the lore of WWE. So many critical elements of wrestling's boom period share their roots at that house show in Madison Square Garden. Austin 3:16, the NWO, D-Generation X, Raw's eventual triumph in the Monday Night Wars, and Triple H's rise to WWE's executive level are some of the biggest stories in the history of the wrestling industry, and all of those elements would have been drastically changed or never occurred whatsoever if not for the actions of Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Paul Levesque on May 19th, 1996.
REFERENCES
Austin, S. Scott Hall. The Steve Austin Show - Unleashed. [podcast] July 25, 2013.
Austin, S. Kevin Nash. The Steve Austin Show - Unleashed. [podcast] May 14, 2013.
Austin, S. X-Pac. The Steve Austin Show. [podcast] October 17, 2013.
Jericho, C. Steve Austin. Talk is Jericho. [podcast] December 4, 2013.
nWo: The Revolution. WWE, 2012. Film.
Shawn Michaels: My Journey. WWE, 2010. Film.
Bam Bam Bigelow Shoot Interview. Harrington Talents, Inc. 2002. Video.