First of all, this is a difficult debate, primarily because of the first half of my opening statement (which I believe even Lee would agree with):
X-Pac is a career jobber/stepping stone, but especially was in the WWE
Sean Waltman has had many gimmicks throughout his career. From debuting in the WWE/F as the many faces of a jobber, to temporarily settling on the horrendous 1-2-3 Kid gimmick, to jumping to WCW as Syxx, and then back to WWF/E as X-Pac, Waltman spent the majority of his career finding his niche in the world of professional wrestling… all of this while battling inner demons, depression, and alcoholism. However, as we all know, Waltman spent the majority of his pro-wrestling career bouncing between WWF/E and WCW. But if you truly break it down, the more important role of his lackluster career was during his tenure with WCW. Allow me to explain…
Initial failure and flounder in the WWF…
Waltman began his horrendous journey of professional wrestling in 1993. He repeatedly made appearances on WWF Superstars and the new television concept of Monday Night Raw with a revolving door of gimmicks, such as the "Kamikaze Kid," "Cannonball Kid," (my personal favorite) the "L. Kid" (or Lightning Kid, duh), and just plain "The Kid." He was given a minor push in 1993 by defeating Razor Ramon on Monday Night Raw, thereby being dubbed the "1-2-3 Kid." He would then spend the next two years as a glorified jobber by getting tossed around by the midcard, winning and losing his matches at will, until he turned heel on Razor Ramon and joined the Million Dollar Corporation, where he spent the rest of his WWF run until 1996.
Analysis: This period of time that Waltman spent in the WWF was a complete waste. He did hardly anything of importance, except a few lackluster tag title runs with Marty Jannetty(?!?) and Bob Holly(?!?) for a whopping total of 8 days as a champion. His time with the Million Dollar Corporation was another bust, as no members of the entire faction ever won a title. An absolutely pitiful period of time spent in a wrestling organization.
Jumping to WCW: Paving the Way for his Legacy
When Waltman decided to jump ship to WCW, he was basically a nobody with hardly any notoriety. As explained previously, he came from an organization that gave him failed gimmicks and angles that basically got him nowhere in the pro-wrestling industry. That is, until he entered WCW.
The day he walked into WCW in 1996, he was shown on camera during the broadcast. Just like Scott Hall and Kevin Nash before him, Waltman’s appearance at the live event and on camera was intriguing to the audience. This is what made the nWo such a successful faction… it made fans of the WWF jump ship to WCW because they thought these defunct superstars were taking over the competition. It also immediately elevated Waltman from lower-midcard in the WWE to upper-midcard/main event status from joining the nWo in WCW. Finally, Waltman was given an angle and gimmick that made the audience look at him as more than just a “jobber.” Because of copyright infringement, he was renamed “Syxx,” and took a front seat in the now as one of the first members to join to faction after its formation by Hogan, Nash, and Hall. He made an immediate impact on Nitro in 1996 by triggering a remote control to release nWo paraphernalia from the ceiling to reveal his new membership with the faction. This was far and away the biggest push of his career and an elevation like no other. After spending over three years with the WWF and going nowhere, it took one day for him to walk into WCW and make a major name for himself.
He immediately made an impact by taunting members the Cruiserweight division, which at the time was becoming one of the most important and entertaining divisions within WCW. At the same time, he began a feud with Eddy Guererro for the WCW United States Championship by stealing his title. Therefore, Waltman was given a role to antagonize two major divisions within WCW at the same time, which is something that you don’t see very often in professional wrestling. This lead to an exciting ladder match with Guererro at Souled Out which Waltman lost, but made another contribution with his new wrestling organization that completely shadowed anything he has done in the past.
The very next month, Syxx defeated future hall of famer Dean Milenko to capture the WCW Cruiserweight Championship at Superbrawl. At the time, the WCW Cruiserweight Division was one of WCW’s biggest focal points, compared to the Intercontinental Division of the WWE at the time, whose champion was Rocky Maivia, who was enjoying a failed title run after defeating Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Waltman lost the title after having to defend it twice in one night, losing to Chris Jericho only minutes after defeating Rey Mysterio, Jr.
Then, Syxx was given something that would have been completely unheard of in the WWF… a feud with one of its biggest draws… Ric Flair. Syxx was even given an opportunity to parody Flair’s role in the Four Horsemen, which led to a memorable War Games match pitting the nWo versus the Four Horsemen at Fall Brawl. Syxx was chosen as a representative of one of the biggest and most important wrestling factions in history to face the most influential and important faction in the history of professional wrestling, the Four Horsemen, and WON. This is a huge milestone for a young superstar.
As large as the nWo had become with its endless star-power, it needed someone to take Kevin Nash’s in defending the WCW tag team titles held by the Outsiders. Who did they choose? None other than Syxx. Even though this was a brief substitution and they wound up losing the titles, it was still an honor for Syxx to be chosen out of all of the members of the nWo at the time.
In the same month, Waltman injured his neck, and in a way of throwing his weight and power around, Eric Bischoff fired him while he was injured to send a message to the backstage politicians.
Analysis: The character Syxx is what made Sean Waltman’s career… period. During his time in WCW, he walked into the promotion’s biggest draw and top faction, played a HUGE part in beating the WWE in the ratings war, gained notoriety throughout the world of professional wrestling, and became a star. His elevation in this promotion set the tone and provided him direction for any next step that he would take in his career.
Second run in the WWE: Wasted in the Land of the Factions
Upon Waltman’s return to the WWE, he was coming off his instant popularity and the notoriety that he gained in WCW as Syxx. Because he was extremely well known in the professional wrestling world at the time (and because of his personal relationships), he was immediately chosen as one of the newest members of the reformed Degeneration X and renamed X-Pac (following HBK’s leave from the WWE after a serious back injury and losing the world title at Wrestlemania 14).
At the time, the WWE’s top titles were the WWE Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, and the Tag Team Championships. Instead of following in the stride that WCW created for him in chasing top championships, X-Pac immediately took a back seat to the New Age Outlaws and Triple H and was stuck chasing the European championship until Wrestlemania 15, where Triple H turned on him and left DX in the dust for his focus on the WWE Championship division.
X-Pac spent the next year and a half bouncing between different divisions and storylines, forming and breaking factions with Kane and Justin Credible, winning and losing lackluster and midcard titles, reforming and breaking up the floundering Degeneration X, diving deeper into alcoholism, and coming in and out of the spotlight from injuries. He never got another chance to build the momentum that he gained in WCW.
Analysis: Waltman went from a top star and taking the front seat in the top faction in WCW to being stuffed in the trunk of the WWE’s top faction, only for it to crumble and send X-Pac to the land of the midcard failures. In his defense, I don’t think it was completely his fault, but he was given sufficient television time, microphone time, good matchups, and many chances to shine. He just couldn’t get it to lead anywhere like he did in WCW.
Overall Summary
All in all, Sean Waltman accomplished more in just over 2 years with WCW than he did in over 7 years and two separate runs in the WWF/E. He made a name for himself in WCW and paved the way for what should have been a successful career when he jumped ship to WWF/E. However, he failed miserably. He was given many chances and numerous angles and storylines for him to shine, but he came up short, compared to the success he attained in WCW.
Good luck, Lee. I look forward to a challenging response.
