Sean Waltman

Sean Michael Waltman (born July 13, 1972) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE under a legends contract. He is best known for his appearances for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) under the ring names 1–2–3 Kid and X-Pac, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as Syxx, and NWA Total Nonstop Action (NWA-TNA) as Syxx-Pac and Sean Waltman.

Waltman began his career in the WWF in 1993, where he performed under several monikers as a jobber, until he was branded the 1-2-3 Kid after an upset victory over Razor Ramon on '' Raw''. As 1-2-3 Kid, he held the WWF Tag Team Championship twice and challenged Bret Hart for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in July 1994 in what was ranked by WWE as the third-best match ever aired on ''Raw''. During this time, he was part of The Kliq, a backstage group that was known for their influence on WWF storylines in the 1990s.

During the Monday Night Wars, Waltman left the WWF in 1996 to join Kliq members Kevin Nash and Scott Hall (formerly known as Razor Ramon) as Syxx in WCW, and held the WCW World Tag Team Championship with them as part of the New World Order (nWo), as well as becoming a one-time WCW Cruiserweight Champion. After being released from WCW in 1998, he returned to the WWF during its Attitude Era, where he was re-branded as D-Generation X (DX) member X-Pac and held the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship and WWF European Championship twice each, while also holding the WWF Tag Team Championship two more times while paired with Kane. After WCW went out of business in 2001, X-Pac held the WCW Cruiserweight and WWF Light Heavyweight Championships simultaneously during The Invasion, before departing the company after a brief nWo reunion the following year. He subsequently performed sporadically for several promotions, notably TNA (where he became a one-time TNA X Division Champion), and on the independent circuit, until he announced his retirement in 2019. He returned to the ring in 2022.

Waltman has won a dozen championships between WWE, WCW, and TNA, the majority being cruiserweight and tag team titles. He is the only wrestler to have held the TNA X Division Championship, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, and the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. He was the final WWF Light Heavyweight Champion before the title was retired in favor of the Cruiserweight Championship he simultaneously held. He is recognized by WWE as the only wrestler to have been "an active member of both the nWo and DX during their heydays" in the 1990s. Additionally, he is a two-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee and the only inductee to be inducted two years in a row ( 2019 and 2020) as a member of DX and the nWo respectively.

Early life

Sean Michael Waltman was born in Minneapolis on July 13, 1972. He had a self-described troubled childhood. He was raised by a single mother and has called himself "unsupervised from age five". He claimed he was molested several times as a child. He joined his school wrestling team in ninth grade, but quickly quit when they told him he needed to cut his hair in order to wrestle. He soon dropped out of school entirely. A love of professional wrestling and limited career opportunities led to him working in local wrestling promotions for free, setting up rings and doing other odd jobs before eventually wrestling himself.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1989–1993)

After training under Boris Malenko, Joe Malenko, Masami Soronaka, and Karl Gotch, Waltman began his career as "The Lightning Kid". He worked his way through various independent promotions, including Pro Wrestling America (PWA) and the Global Wrestling Federation (GWF), winning the PWA Light Heavyweight title, the PWA Iron Horse TV Title and the GWF Light Heavyweight Championship. During this time, Waltman worked extensively with Jerry Lynn in North America and Japan. They often wrestled each other, but also teamed up to win the PWA Tag Team titles twice in 1993. While working for Larry Sharpe and Dennis Coralluzzo's WWA Promotion on November 28, 1992 in Clementon, New Jersey and landed on Waltman's head, driving it to the concrete and causing a blood clot near his brain. He was hospitalized for three days, could not work for four months, and was advised to give up wrestling completely. He also appeared in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Top of the Super Juniors in 1993, facing the likes of Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Jushin Liger.

World Wrestling Federation (1993–1996)

Early appearances (1993–1995)

As The Lightning Kid, Waltman had his WWF tryout match in Phoenix, Arizona in April 1993, the day after WrestleMania IX, against fellow hopeful Louie Spicolli (soon known as Rad Radford in the WWF). He reminisced that he was lucky to have an opponent with a vested interest in an impressive match, rather than (as was then typical) a disinterested WWF veteran jobber like Virgil or Jim Powers. After earning a contract, he made his television debut as "The Kamikaze Kid" on ''Monday Night Raw'' on May 3, losing to Doink the Clown. He quickly became "The Cannonball Kid", losing to Mr. Hughes. He then became simply "The Kid", scoring an upset pinfall on Razor Ramon on the May 17, 1993 episode of ''Monday Night Raw'', thus becoming "The 1–2–3 Kid". Razor challenged him to a rematch, wagering $2,500, then $5,000 and finally $10,000 of his own money. Kid accepted the challenge, but grabbed the money and ran from the arena during the match. Ted DiBiase, who was feuding with Razor, taunted him over losing to a nobody.

This angered Kid, and led to a match in which he upset DiBiase as well. Razor turned face shortly after and took Kid under his wing. The 1–2–3 Kid made his pay-per-view debut at SummerSlam, losing to DiBiase's tag partner Irwin R. Schyster after Razor had defeated DiBiase. At Survivor Series, Kid was on Razor's team in a four-on-four elimination match. He and Marty Jannetty were the sole survivors, which led to them forming a tag team and holding the WWF Tag Team Championship for a week in January 1994 after beating The Quebecers.

For the next two years, The 1–2–3 Kid was a natural underdog and fan favorite. He wrestled Bret Hart in an unusually long (for the time) match for the WWF Championship on July 11, 1994 on ''Raw'' and had another brief (one-day) tag title reign in January 1995, with Bob Holly beating Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka at the Royal Rumble before losing to The Smoking Gunns the next day on ''Raw''.

Million Dollar Corporation (1995–1996)

After Kid and Razor failed to win the Tag Team Championship from Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn in October 1995, Kid attacked the face Gunns after the match to tease a heel turn. On the ''Raw'' before Survivor Series in November, he was the guest referee in a match between Razor Ramon and Sycho Sid. As Razor attempted his finisher, The Razor's Edge, Kid pulled Sid down from Razor, allowing Sid to then hit Razor with his Powerbomb, and Kid fast-counted the pinfall, thus turning heel. At SummerSlam, he lost to Hakushi but won a rematch in November after Ted DiBiase interfered. He was the sole survivor of his team at Survivor Series, besting rival Marty Jannetty. Razor and Marty would team up to beat Kid and Sid at In Your House 5. After Survivor Series, Kid joined Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation faction. He remained with the group until May 1996 when Waltman left the WWF. He lost a "Crybaby match" to Razor Ramon at In Your House 6. The 1–2–3 Kid's final WWF match aired on the May 20 episode of ''Monday Night Raw''; he lost to Savio Vega. Notably, Waltman was the only Kliq member not involved in the infamous "Curtain Call" that took place at Madison Square Garden the night before his final match from his first WWF run aired, as he was in drug rehab at the time.

World Championship Wrestling (1996–1998)

On September 16, 1996, Waltman was shown sitting in the front row for a live episode of ''Nitro''. Later that night, he used a remote control to release New World Order (nWo) propaganda from the ceiling, revealing himself as the newest member of the recently formed faction. He was called "Syxx", because he was the sixth member of the nWo, and six is the sum of numbers in "1–2–3 Kid". In his first major angle, Syxx stole Eddie Guerrero's WCW United States Heavyweight Championship belt, leading to a ladder match for the title at Souled Out in January 1997, which Syxx lost. The next month, at SuperBrawl VII

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