The Influence of Sean Waltman
Odds are Sean Waltman probably influenced you whether you know it or not. If you’ve ever thrown a “too sweet” into the air or pointed at your nether regions for a “suck it” crotch chop, you have the man known as The 1-2-3 Kid, Syxx and X-Pac to thank.
According to Kevin Nash, Sean was the Kliq member that introduced the now infamous hand signal to the rest of the crew while touring Europe. They called it the “Turkish Wolf” (do your Googles). In 1996, Nash and Scott Hall left the WWF for WCW and used the wolf as the official hand gesture for the New World Order. Waltman left The Federation and joined his buddies in the nWo later that same year.
About 2 years later, Sean returned to the WWF and joined fellow Kliq member Triple H plus Chyna and the New Age Outlaws to form version 2 of D-Generation X. By now, the crotch chop was seen weekly on Monday Night Raw. You might credit founding DX member Shawn Michaels with bringing the “suck it” to television (and even then, you’d be wrong), but guess who he got it from. Here’s the story straight from HBK himself:
“The first place I remember seeing it was Sean Waltman, who was then known as 1-2-3 Kid and later X-Pac, doing it over in the UK,” the 57-year-old Michaels said. “Then all of a sudden, we were doing it as a group, to each other, kind of thinking it was funny.”
What does all of that mean today? For starters, the last 10 years of pro wrestling saw the rise of another super group: the Bullet Club. Prince Devitt (now known as Finn Balor), AJ Styles, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, Adam Cole and Cody Rhodes are just a few of the former members. Hell of a list. But how’d the BC become so popular?
Aside from dope matches in New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor, they caught the attention of nostalgic Monday Night War/Attitude Era fans by using that old wolf sign (christening it the “Too Sweet”) and crotch chop. Thousands of t-shirts were sold and you can even draw a straight line from the Bullet Club to the formation of All Elite Wrestling.
That means they borrowed the cool shit from Waltman.
Let’s not ignore the in-ring because the man could go. He became the ultimate undersized underdog after his upset win over Razor Ramon on episode 17 of Monday Night Raw. There was the clinic that he and Bret Hart put on in 1994. He tagged with Razor to face the Heartbreak Kid and Big Daddy Cool on the Action Zone. As 1/3 of The Wolfpac (with Hall & Nash), he took on Ric Flair, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and the NFL’s Kevin Greene. He had bangers against Malenko, Guerrero, Mysterio and Jericho. He feuded with Shane McMahon over the European Championship and won the tag titles with Kane. You can pretty much throw on any random Sean Waltman match and be entertained. He didn’t miss.
So here’s the bottom line: the next time you create a list of the most influential pro wrestlers of all time, save a spot for The Kid.