Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
UK Certification 15 | UK RRP £29.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 416 minutes
When they reunited in the summer of 2006 for the first time in years, D-Generation X, the crotch-chopping most controversial tag team in the history of the WWE, carried on with their schoolboy antics like a day hadn't passed since the duo were last up to their signature mischief. Since their triumphant return nearly five years ago, both a book (The Unauthorised History of D-Generation X) and DVD (The New & Improved DX) have been released, chronicling the legendary alliance of Shawn Michaels and Triple H as they unleashed on the wrestling world their unique brand of physical prowess in the ring and goofy humour outside of it. But once the incomparable career of the Heartbreak Kid came to a dramatic finish in the closing match of WrestleMania 26 on March 28, 2010, it was also the end of the road for the partnership of the best friends.
DX: One Last Stand provides fans with instant access to some of the most memorable moments and biggest matches that D-Generation X was a part of from 2009-2010. Faced with two big-time feuds against fresh faces Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes, as well as former multi-time World Champions Chris Jericho and The Big Show, this three-disc set covers the highs and lows of the tag team as they reaffirmed their tandem dominance inside the squared circle, Superkicking and Pedigreeing their way through a variety of Superstars, hanging out with celebrity RAW guest hosts, challenging for championships, competing in potentially career-derailing Hell in a Cell and TLC matches, and even getting up to their old tricks with everybody's favourite little person, Hornswoggle.
This release is one for the DX purists out there who simply can't get enough of Hunter and HBK's PG-era antics, but for the rest of us there just aren't enough quality matches or segments to really warrant a purchase. Over six hours of footage shape this set, but there are very few bouts that remain unforgettable, is an abundance of backstage skits that just aren't very funny, and even a few of the team's biggest matches since their return, such as the Submissions Count Anywhere war at Breaking Point against Legacy and the WWE Championship Triple Threat with John Cena at Survivor Series, are nowhere to be found.
SummerSlam '09: D-Generation X vs. Legacy ???
The in-ring return of D-Generation X was a joyous occasion indeed since both Triple H and Shawn Michaels, who was competing in his first match since his defeat against the The Undertaker in their show-stealing WrestleMania 25 classic, were two of the four men responsible for one of the best tag team matches of the year. Here were two bonafied, experienced teams competing in the ring, not four Superstars thrown together in odd-couple teams like we've seen in the WWE for the last six or so years. Sure, there was almost no build-up thanks to DX realigning just six days away from the event and subsequently being blindsided by Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, but what matters is that they each managed to thoroughly contribute to an all-around entertaining bout that felt big, something which is quite uncommon in the WWE landscape of today as far as tag team wrestling goes.
RAW 07/09/2009: D-Generation X vs. Chris Masters & Randy Orton ??
Less than a week away from the submission-themed Breaking Point pay-per-view where DX would take on Legacy in a Submissions Count Anywhere match, HBK and the Cerebral Assassin received a pot-luck opportunity against Rhodes and DiBiase's mentor, Randy Orton in a tag team match where the opponents of DX were decided by a literal spin of the wheel. Guest host Bob Barker's wheel to be exact as he presented The Price is RAW. Orton and Masters were the results of the two spins and the bout was set for later in the broadcast, where DX would secure another victory after forcing the Masterpiece to give it up just seconds after being locked in a Figure Four leglock by Michaels. For what it was, this was relatively decent, but how could you ever have expected an outcome different to Masters taking the fall? This was a bit of a mismatch as far as partnerships go, but at least a post-bout assault by Legacy lead to a backstage brawl to inject their rivalry with a little more intensity going into Breaking Point.
Hell in a Cell '09 – Hell in a Cell Match: D-Generation X vs. Legacy ???
I never agreed with the idea to put one of the most barbaric matches on the face of the WWE three times on one single event, as it just diminishes the awe and spectacle of the structure being put to use. With the absence of blood since the E went from TV14 to PG, it seems as if these matches with “extreme” stipulations have been becoming less violent and more physically grueling in a way that the wrestlers end up in slugfests rather than bloodbaths. A good Hell in a Cell outing is a combination of both these elements, so we're never going to see that again while the WWE is rated PG. Being the third of the night, DX and Legacy did indeed tear the house down and offer something different to the two matches that came before it, like having Triple H locked outside the cell for a good portion of the carnage, to a brawl on the outside of the gargantuan cage before the match had even officially started. What could possibly have made this match reach a surprising four stars would have been a fight on the cell roof, something Triple H teased when he tried climbing up when HBK was on the receiving end of a Legacy beat-down in the steel-confined ring, but unfortunately it was just wishful thinking on my part.
RAW 05/10/2009: D-Generation X vs. Jerishow ??
24 hours removed from Hell in a Cell, DX found themselves immediately kicking off a brand new rivalry with another formidable tag team. At the aforementioned event, Chris Jericho and The Big Show successfully retained their Unified Tag Team Championship against Batista and Rey Mysterio, while D-Generation X's win over Legacy inside the colossal steel prison naturally put them at the top of the tag team division – or at least what there was of one. Put two and two together and you get this non-title match-up on RAW where these top Superstars got physical.
The heat drawn by The Big Show and Jericho was awesome as they fought two of the WWE's biggest fan favourites, leading to quite the atmospheric contest, and one that the champs lost after Y2J suffered Sweet Chin Music at the hands – well, foot to be exact – of Michaels. This match would turn out to be the first chapter in a storied rivalry that would be the focus of the four Superstars for the rest of the year, concluding in a chaotic showdown involving tables, ladders and steel chairs.
RAW 23/11/2009: D-Generation X vs. The Hart Dynasty ?
The night after their unsuccessful WWE Championship shot in a Triple Threat match at Survivor Series, DX took on The Hart Dynasty for the very first time in their careers in a short and forgettable bout that mostly consisted of David Hart Smith working over Shawn Michaels, before a Sweet Chin Music/Pedigree finish on both Tyson Kidd and the son of the British Bulldog. This part of the DVD however is more focused on the announcement that Jerishow would meet DX in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match at the inaugural event of the same name three weeks down the line.
TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs '09 – Unified Tag Team Championship TLC Match: Jerishow (c) vs. DX ??
The Heartbreak Kid and Y2J had, without a shadow of a doubt, the finest feud of 2008, and one that featured a tremendous Ladder Match between the two for the World Heavyweight Championship. Such magic could not be recreated on the night however with the addition of The Big Show, Triple H, steel chairs and wooden tables. The event's amazing opener contested between Shelton Benjamin and Christian for the ECW Title with just ladders turned out to be a whole heck of a lot better than the main attraction. Here we saw minimal use of the ladders and only one table spot. Well, one-and-a-half. The match's big bump which would see Jericho fly off the shoulders of The Big Show from inside the ring to the outside and through a table went awry, with either Show misjudging the distance to the table or the apparatus itself being too far away from the ring, and Y2J found himself crashing face-first on the wood instead. This was extremely disappointing, but it at least remains somewhat memorable for resulting in DX's very first Tag Team Championship victory.
RAW 14/12/2009 – Unified Tag Team Championship: D-Generation X (c) vs. Jerishow ?
The night after their Tables, Ladders and Chairs battle on the 3-hour special Slammy Awards edition of RAW, Jerishow invoked their contractual rematch clause in a match that lasted about 10 seconds. We were utterly cheated out of a title match here as DX were being their jokey selves by having Triple H push the referee, making him fall back over HBK, who was on all fours behind him. The official disqualified DX but of course they retained their gold. The story here was that it was Jerishow's one and only rematch and they were, to be quite frank, totally screwed. This turned out to be more of an angle acting as the blow-off for the rivalry, with a number of RAW Superstars forcing Jericho to leave the arena and go back to SmackDown.
SmackDown 25/12/2009 – Unified Tag Team Championship: D-Generation X (c) vs. The Hart Dynasty ???
A far better bout than their last encounter a month prior, this title match was far less of a quick squash and much more of a balanced, hard fought struggle between both teams. David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd mixed it up in the biggest opportunity of their careers with quick tags and went to work grounding both the Cerebral Assassin and the Heartbreak Kid, who only managed to trade positions three times between them. After a hot tag to Triple H, a Pedigree was in the near future of Smith following Sweet Chin Music from HBK and the champions retained to make Christmas Day a little merrier.
RAW 28/12/2009: D-Generation X vs. The Big Show & Chavo Guerrero ??
With Chris Jericho in the front row after The Big Show bought him a ticket to watch his non-title match against DX, a one Chavo Guerrero turned out to be the surprise partner of the World's Largest Athlete. A decent match ensued with a seething Y2J behind the crowd barrier, but once a Pedigree sealed Guerrero's fate – the aftermath of a little assistance from Hornswoggle – one final rematch between Jerishow and DX for the Unified Tag Team Titles was set for the very first RAW of 2010, to conclude the feud once and for all.
RAW 04/01/2010 – Unified Tag Team Championship: D-Generation X (c) vs. Jerishow ??
Hornswoggle helped out yet again in this title match – well, he tried to at least but ended up getting a big boot for his troubles from Jericho – which resulted in Y2J's supposed last appearance on RAW after once again taking the fall in tag team action with The Big Show as his partner. Their final opportunity at DX's gold was just another sour defeat and signaled the bitter end for Jerishow, with the 500-pound giant walking away from a downed Jericho, who would now be forced to move permanently from Monday nights to Friday nights, as the thousands in attendance sounded the obligatory goodbye chant.
RAW 11/01/2010: D-Generation X vs. Chris Jericho & Mike Tyson ??
A forgettable contest made moderately entertaining by the revelation that Tyson was in fact working with DX all along, “the baddest man on the planet” knocked Chris Jericho out with one of his trademark right-handers on a night where the Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla was played like a flute by the DX army.
RAW 18/01/2010: The Big Show, The Miz & John Heder vs. D-Generation X & Hornswoggle ?
This particular episode of RAW was co-hosted by Golden Globe-winning actor Don Johnson and John Heder, star of the feature films Napoleon Dynamite and Blades of Glory, but both guests stood on opposite sides in the main event of the evening as DX and their official mascot Hornswoggle were accompanied down to the ring by Johnson, while Heder, complete with black wrestling trunks and an extravagant, feathery Ric Flair-style robe, teamed up with United States Champion The Miz and the World's Largest Athlete in six-man tag action. The actual match itself lasted only a couple of minutes with Heder pinned by Hornswoggle after a Tadpole Splash, and could quite easily be summarised as utterly silly, but the segment that followed with Triple H throwing Shawn Michaels out of the ring to proclaim his future dominance in the Royal Rumble match, which was two weeks away at this point, was very good.
RAW 08/02/2010 – Unified Tag Team Championship Elimination Match: DX (c) vs. ShowMiz vs. S.E.S. ??
The final match of the set isn't quite as glorious as each of its predecessors as DX not only lost the match, but their titles as well. The Miz and The Big Show survived the three-way over the champs and Luke Gallows/CM Punk from the Straight Edge Society and captured the titles thanks to a rather arrogant tag on the part of the Heartbreak Kid, followed by Miz rolling-up the now Hall of Famer when he had his back turned while arguing with Triple H. Yes, not the happiest moment in the history of D-Generation X, nor this DVD release, but an important one that added to the story of Michaels' obsession with his WrestleMania 26 rematch with The Undertaker, the bout that lead to his retirement and subsequently the farewell speech that rounds off DX: One Last Stand.
EXTRAS ? A four-minute compilation of Triple H and HBK goofing around backstage during pre-tapes and various vignettes entitled DX Unfiltered. It's the only special feature of the set, and can be found on the first disc.