Sean Waltman

Sean Michael Waltman (born July 13, 1972) is an American wrestler. Waltman is perhaps best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names 1-2-3 Kid and X-Pac, World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Syxx and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Syxx-Pac.

Early Career
After training under Eddie Sharkey, Joe Malenko, and Boris Malenko, Waltman began his career as The Lightning Kid, working his way through various independent organizations such as Pro Wrestling America (PWA) and the Global Wrestling Federation (GWF), winning the PWA Light Heavyweight title[4], the PWA Iron Horse TV Title[5] and the GWF Light Heavyweight Championship[6] Throughout the early part of his career, Waltman worked extensively with Jerry Lynn in both North America and Japan. The duo even teamed up to win the PWA Tag Team titles twice in the spring of 1993.[7][8]

World Wrestling Federation (1993–1996)
Waltman at a WWF event in 1995When he arrived in the World Wrestling Federation he was made a jobber and given a number of different names such as the Kamikaze Kid, Cannonball Kid, and The Kid. After a few months of this he suddenly won an "upset" over Razor Ramon on the May 17, 1993 episode of WWF Monday Night Raw after which the crowd chanted "1-2-3!" to mock the then-heel Ramon. Waltman then renamed himself the 1-2-3 Kid.[8] This win and the Kid were worked into Ramon's feud with Ted DiBiase with DiBiase taunting Ramon repeatedly over losing to a nobody until he too was pinned by the Kid.[3]

For the next two years, Waltman's character played the role of the natural underdog and displayed a rebellious attitude until the Raw before Survivor Series 1995 where he was the guest referee in a match between Razor Ramon and Sycho Sid and turned heel. While Razor was attempting the Razor's Edge, The Kid pulled Sid down and fast counted Razor, giving Sid the win. Doing this, he joined Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation.[8] 1-2-3 Kid remained with this faction until the end of Waltman's first WWF run. In his first run, he held two WWF World Tag Team titles, once each with Marty Jannetty and Bob Holly,[9] and came close to defeating Bret Hart for the WWF title in July 1994.[8]

World Championship Wrestling (1996–1998)
He continued using the 1-2-3 Kid name until his departure for World Championship Wrestling in 1996. Upon joining WCW, he immediately became a part of the nWo. Waltman appeared, sitting at ringside, during a live episode of WCW Monday Nitro on September 16, 1996. At one point in the show, he stood up and used a remote control to release nWo propaganda from the ceiling, revealing himself as the newest member of the recently-formed heel faction. To play upon his previous gimmick of 1-2-3 Kid, he was given the name Syxx, supposedly because he was the sixth member of the nWo.[8] Waltman, now known as Syxx, immediately began taunting the cruiserweights, going as far as to steal Eddy Guerrero's WCW United States Heavyweight Championship title belt, an act that led to a ladder match for the title at Souled Out 1997, which Syxx lost.[8]

In February 1997 at SuperBrawl VII, Syxx had another opportunity for championship gold, defeating Dean Malenko to officially become the Cruiserweight Champion.[10][8] In June 1997, he dropped the Cruiserweight Title to Chris Jericho at a non-televised webcast house show in Los Angeles, California minutes after a successful defense against Rey Mysterio, Jr.. Syxx then began a feud with Ric Flair, losing to Flair at Road Wild in August. Syxx was then involved in a controversial parody of the Four Horsemen stable, where he portrayed Ric Flair.[8] This led to the WarGames match at Fall Brawl, with Syxx teaming with Kevin Nash, Buff Bagwell, and Konnan to face the Four Horseman team of Flair, Steve McMichael, Chris Benoit, and Curt Hennig. The nWo won the match after Hennig turned on the Horsemen and joined the nWo.[8]

Syxx briefly substituted for Kevin Nash, as part of the Outsiders with Scott Hall, in defending the WCW tag-team titles. On October 13, 1997, Hall and Syxx dropped the titles to the Steiner Brothers.[8]

During that October, Waltman injured his neck and was forced out of action. While he was out injured, he was fired by then WCW President Eric Bischoff as a show of force to keep the more popular Scott Hall and Kevin Nash in check due to locker room instability caused by the three.[8] When Kevin Nash questioned Bischoff and Hogan about Waltman's release on an episode of WCW Thunder, Hogan replied that Waltman could not "cut the mustard."[2]

1998–2000
Main article: D-Generation X Waltman returned to WWF programming on March 30, 1998, the night after WrestleMania XIV and days after being released from WCW.[2][8] With Shawn Michaels out of action following his title loss and back injury, Triple H was now the leader of D-Generation X. In a promo, he stated that he was forming a DX army and "when you start an army, you look to your blood...you look to your buddies...you look to your friends...you look to The Kliq."[2] Waltman appeared on the stage and immediately cut a promo on Bischoff and Hulk Hogan, as well as claiming that if contractually free to do so, Hall and Nash would have been joining him in returning to the WWF.[2][8] Up to this point in the Monday Night Wars, wrestlers only jumped from the WWF to the big money, guaranteed deals available in WCW. Waltman's return proved that it was a two-way street. This heated promo actually prompted Bischoff to respond on Nitro the following week, telling Waltman to "bite me".

Following that Raw, Waltman was initially being billed as "The Kid" on the World Wrestling Federation homepage, but became known as "X-Pac" by the next broadcast. As a member of DX, Waltman feuded with many wrestlers such as Jeff Jarrett, and he eventually won the European Championship from D'Lo Brown in 1998.[11] Brown and Waltman traded the title a couple of times with Waltman ultimately winning the championship at Judgment Day in October 1998.[8] Waltman held the European Championship until February 1999 when he lost the title to Shane McMahon. At WrestleMania XV in 1999, Waltman had a rematch with McMahon for the European Championship, but Triple H turned on him and cost Waltman the title.[3]

Waltman then paired off with Road Dogg against Triple H, Chyna and Billy Gunn in a split of DX over the principles of the stable. Waltman and Road Dogg wanted DX to be about rebellion while Triple H, Chyna and Billy Gunn wanted it to be about making money. A few weeks after WrestleMania Waltman formed a tag team with Kane; a mute, brooding, menacing loner. Waltman and Kane went on to hold the WWF Tag Team Championship two times.[9] After DX was reunited in late 1999, Waltman led Kane to believe that he would be inducted into DX, but instead betrayed him and eventually stole his girlfriend, Tori.[8] In the summer of 2000, Waltman feuded with fellow DX member Road Dogg and Chris Jericho. He was out of action for three months due to a neck injury caused when Jericho botched a powerbomb in the fall of that same year.

2001–2002
See also: X-Factor Upon his return to action, Waltman found himself without an angle. His most notable actions in the next two years were forming the short-lived stable X-Factor along with Justin Credible and Albert.[8] During this time, he won the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship[12] and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship,[10] held by Billy Kidman, and became the first and only person to hold both belts simultaneously. When X-Factor broke up due to Credible joining The WCW/ECW Alliance, he feuded with Kidman and Tajiri, until he had to take time off for another injury, after losing the WCW Cruiserweight Title to Kidman. The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was abandoned upon his return to WWF television, although he defended the belt on several house shows just before his return to television.

When Hall, Nash and Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 and Hogan's nostalgic popularity required that he be turfed from the latest incarnation of the nWo, Waltman, who had been out with an injury, returned and immediately attacked Hogan, claiming he had been waiting four years to do so, stemming from shoot comments from Hogan on WCW Thunder in 1998 after he was fired that he couldn't "cut the mustard".[8] This storyline was immediately dropped with the nWo members being drafted to Raw while Hogan being drafted to SmackDown! in the first ever WWE Draft Lottery.

During the nWo's feud with the tag team of Booker T and Goldust, Booker was set to take the next step in his WWE evolution to the main event level. To achieve this end, he was booked to beat nWo member Waltman in a short feud between the two.[citation needed] Waltman was often misrepresented as refusing to lose to Booker T, but he denied this in an interview in November of 2008, referencing a botched spine buster giving him an injury and keeping him from participating. [13] This, combined with an incident at an airport where he collapsed for "unknown reasons", led to Waltman being released by WWE on August 25, 2002.[citation needed]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Xtreme Pro Wrestling (2002–2003)
Waltman joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on September 18, 2002, wrestling under the ring name Syxx-Pac. Teaming with his former tag team partners Scott Hall and B.G. James, Waltman feuded with Jeff Jarrett and Brian Lawler.[8] On October 9, 2002, Waltman made his X Division debut, defeating six other wrestlers to win the vacant TNA X Division Championship in a ladder match.[14] He held the title for two weeks before losing to A.J. Styles on October 23, 2002 in a no disqualification match. He remained in TNA until November 2002, when he resigned after Vince Russo, whom he disliked, joined the company.[8]

Waltman debuted in Xtreme Pro Wrestling on February 28, 2003, winning the XPW Television Championship from Kaos.[8][15] He retained the title in a bout with Juventud Guerrera on March 1, 2003 and held the title until the promotion closed in April 2003.

Return to TNA (2003, 2005–2006)
Waltman returned to TNA for a single night on June 18, 2003 at the TNA first anniversary pay-per-view, where A.J. Styles was to team with a mystery partner against Jeff Jarrett and Sting. Styles' manager Vince Russo described the mystery partner as being "a dirtbag", "a degenerate", and "the scum of the Earth" before adding that he was "just like [him]". Russo then announced the return of Sean Waltman. Waltman and Styles went on to lose the match.[8]

Russo left TNA in November 2004, and Waltman returned to the promotion on February 13, 2005 at Against All Odds, attacking Jeff Jarrett during his NWA World Heavyweight Championship match with Kevin Nash. Nash, Waltman and Diamond Dallas Page formed an alliance against Planet Jarrett (Jarrett, The Outlaw and Monty Brown) which disbanded when Nash and Page left TNA to focus on their respective acting careers.

At TNA's Hard Justice in 2005, Waltman substituted for Jeff Hardy, who no-showed, and faced Raven in a Clockwork Orange House of Fun match.[3] Waltman lost the match after Raven back-dropped him through a steel cage. On June 19 at Slammiversary, Waltman took part in a five man King of the Mountain match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In the course of the match, Waltman cost the incumbent and defending champion A.J. Styles the title, by delivering an X-Factor off a ladder. As a result, Waltman turned heel.[8] The heel turn eventually lead to a match between Styles and Waltman at No Surrender, which Styles won after guest referee Jerry Lynn prevented Waltman from cheating. As a result, Waltman challenged his former partner to a match at Sacrifice. After Lynn won the match with a victory roll, Waltman attacked him and endeavored to re-injure his shoulder.

After Sacrifice, Waltman was partnered with Alex Shelley, and together they won the Chris Candido Cup. As a result of their tournament victory, Waltman and Shelley received a shot at the NWA World Tag Team Championship at Unbreakable. At Unbreakable, however, Waltman was announced as having no-showed the event. He was not heard from until September 19, 2005 when he was reported to have contacted a family member in Florida. Waltman made a final appearance with TNA at Final Resolution on January 15, 2006, defeating Raven with the assistance of Larry Zbyszko.

On September 15, 2006, Waltman made an appearance at a live WWE show in Tampa, celebrating with the newly reformed DX after their match, performing the crotch chop with them.

Wrestling Society X (2007)
In February 2006, Waltman joined MTV's newly formed Wrestling Society X (WSX) promotion. At the inaugural WSX tapings on February 9, 2006, Waltman (wrestling as X-Pack) faced nine other wrestlers in a hardcore battle royal ladder match, which both Waltman and Vampiro won by climbing the ladder to take possession of WSX contracts. Waltman lost a WSX Championship title match to Vampiro the following week.[8] Waltman challenged Vampiro during Episode four, as a ruse to introduce Ricky Banderas, who attacked Vampiro from behind. Afterwards, Waltman defeated Human Tornado and Scorpio Sky in singles competition, and teased an affair with Lizzy Valentine (the valet and girlfriend of Matt Sydal), though WSX folded before the angle could go on any further.[8]

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración and National Wrestling Alliance (2007-present)
Waltman as the NWA Heritage ChampionIn June 2007, Waltman began wrestling as a regular in Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) as alternatively 6-Pac or X-Pack as a member of Konnan's Foreign Legion. He was managed by girlfriend Alicia Webb.[8] Waltman usually used the D-Generation X theme music when he came out to the ring. He briefly left to go into rehab back in mid 2008 but returned at the Verano de Escandalo event of 2008, shockingly turning against the Foreign Legion and announcing the creation of D-Generation Mex, an incarnation of WWE's D-Generation X, alongside Rocky "Azúcar" Romero and Alex Koslov.

On July 8, 2007, Waltman teamed up with Billy Kidman as part of a triple threat match in McAllen, Texas to crown the new NWA World Tag Team Champions. The title was previously vacated by Team 3D after the National Wrestling Alliance severed its working relationship with TNA Wrestling. They lost the match to Karl Anderson and Joey Ryan.

Waltman re-appeared on the May 14, 2008 edition of NWA Wrestling Showcase, facing Adam Pearce for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The match came to a quick end when Waltman legitimately injured his knee five minutes into what was supposed to be a 30–60 minute long match.[citation needed] Waltman won by disqualification when The Real American Heroes attacked him, along with Pearce. On June 1, 2008 Waltman and The Sandman wrestled in a tag team match for the NWA against the Illuminati which resulted in a defeat for Waltman and the Sandman.

Personal life
Waltman was married in 1990 to a woman named Terry. Together they have two children: a son Jesse (born 1992) and a daughter Kaitlyn (born 1995) before divorcing in 2002. Waltman was also in a relationship with and eventually engaged to Joanie Laurer, who formerly competed as Chyna in the WWF.[8] Before Laurer and Waltman split, they filmed a sex tape which was later released under the name 1 Night in China in late 2004.[8] Since WWE still owned the rights of the name Chyna, the video included live shots of Waltman in China walking over to the Great Wall to spare Red Light District Video any legal issues. In March 2005, Waltman appeared on the VH1 reality TV show The Surreal Life when he visited Laurer in an attempt to reconcile with her. After Laurer refused to reconcile, Waltman was eventually ejected from the house by the other guests. Three days after that episode was aired, Waltman posted a statement about the episode in his forums.[8] Later, Waltman began dating Alicia Webb, who formerly competed as Ryan Shamrock in the WWF.

In an early 2008 interview, Juventud Guerrera, who had been working with Waltman in AAA, claimed Waltman had recently tried to commit suicide due to depression.[16] This was confirmed by The Wrestling Observer, which reported that Webb had found Waltman hanging by his neck in his Mexico City apartment, on the verge of death. He was subsequently taken back to the U.S for treatment.[17] Reportedly, Waltman had been speaking positively of his experiences in AAA,[17] and he has denied attempting suicide, claiming the incident was a result of mixing alcohol and anti-depressants.[18] Following the incident, long-time friend Kevin Nash flew to Texas to check Waltman into a rehabilitation facility for both his addiction and his psychiatric state. Nash also contacted friend Paul "Triple H" Levesque to discuss the new WWE policy of financing rehab for ex-employees.[18]

Championships and accomplishments

 * Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation
 * MEWF Light Heavyweight Champion (1 time)


 * National Wrestling Alliance
 * NWA World Heavyweight Heritage Champion (1 time)


 * Pro Wrestling America
 * PWA Iron Horse Television Champion (1 time)
 * PWA Light Heavyweight Champion (2 times)
 * PWA Tag Team Champion (1 time) – with Jerry Lynn


 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI Comeback of the Year award in 1998.
 * PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1999 – with Kane
 * PWI ranked him # 177 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003


 * Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
 * TNA X Division Champion (1 time)
 * 2005 Chris Candido Cup winner – with Alex Shelley


 * World Championship Wrestling
 * WCW Cruiserweight Champion (1 time)


 * World Wrestling Federation
 * WCW Cruiserweight Champion (1 time)
 * WWF European Champion (2 times)
 * WWF Light Heavyweight Champion (2 times)
 * WWF World Tag Team Champion (4 times) – with Marty Jannetty (1), Bob Holly (1), and Kane (2)


 * Xtreme Pro Wrestling
 * XPW Television Championship (1 time)