The Kliq was a backstage group in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) during the mid-1990s, composed of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H. Michaels, Nash, and Hall wielded a considerable amount of power within the company at the time, which they reportedly used to positively influence one another's careers and occasionally negatively influence the careers of others.

[1] In May 1996, The Kliq broke character at a live event at Madison Square Garden in an unscripted incident referred to as the "Curtain Call", which had far-reaching ramifications for the WWF specifically and the wrestling world as a whole.

[2] The Kliq was formed in 1994 by real-life friends Scott Hall (then known as Razor Ramon), Kevin Nash (Diesel), Shawn Michaels, and Sean Waltman (1-2-3 Kid).

[3] Levesque mentioned on the 2013 Triple H – Thy Kingdom Come DVD that he was recruited to the Kliq by Kevin Nash because he didn't do drugs or alcohol, and thus could serve as the group's designated driver after events.

Wrestling commentators have speculated that their contracts were allowed to expire in order to cripple The Kliq's influence in the company,[9] while official WWE media asserts that Nash and Hall were simply offered more money by WCW than the WWF was able to promise them at the time.

At the time, most major wrestling promotions, the WWF included, prided themselves on maintaining kayfabe – the illusion that all of the events which transpired in-ring were real and unscripted, and that wrestlers' on-screen rivalries extended outside of the ring.

[12] The severity of the incident was further compounded by the revelation that the event—which was not broadcast on television—had been filmed by two fans, Mani Mohtadi and Jason Cosmides, who had smuggled a camcorder past security.

Stills from the footage were widely disseminated online and in wrestling magazines at the time, bringing the Curtain Call to a wider audience than if it had not been recorded.

[12] The punishment fell solely on Levesque, who was demoted from being a championship contender to wrestling inexperienced or lesser experienced wrestlers for the next several months.

For the first time in modern pro-wrestling history, a major company was forced to acknowledge that its events were scripted; McMahon would later use this to his advantage in the development of several meta-storylines, including a skit on the October 6, 1997, episode of Raw Is War in which Michaels and Levesque, both in character, played footage of the Curtain Call incident.

[17] Before the Curtain Call, Levesque had been booked into the finals of the 1996 King of the Ring tournament during the following summer, but his place – and the push that usually went with it – would instead go to Stone Cold Steve Austin, igniting his rise toward superstardom, an event which ultimately helped the WWF defeat WCW in the Monday Night War.

He would go on to win the following year's King of the Ring tournament and later went on to become a 14-time world champion, beginning with his WWF Championship victory over Mankind the night after SummerSlam in 1999.

Many fans criticized Kevin Nash for his booking tenure in WCW since it displayed the same self-promoting behavior associated with The Kliq on an even larger scale.

Fans often pointed to Nash booking himself to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from the then-undefeated Goldberg and the subsequent match with Hogan as the most grievous of his "offenses".

[15] Rick Rude also temporarily joined the group (as a sort of on-screen bodyguard for Michaels), though his membership ended when he signed with WCW after his WWF contract expired in early November 1997.

On the April 27, 1998 Raw (recorded live in Hampton, Virginia), DX (by now composed of Triple H, Waltman, Billy Gunn, Road Dogg and Chyna) staged a mock "invasion" protest/paramilitary take-over of the nearby Norfolk Scope, where Nitro was being held.

Shortly thereafter, Nash suffered a torn quadriceps (after returning the same night after time off due to a biceps injury) during a ten-man tag-team match, and the following week Vince McMahon disbanded The nWo.

[23] The year after, Nash returned from injury as a fan favorite and sided with Michaels against Evolution (Triple H, Ric Flair, Batista and Randy Orton).

They would feud against the Spirit Squad (Kenny, Johnny, Mitch, Nicky, and Mikey), Big Show and Vince McMahon, and later the team of Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton), until Triple H's legitimate knee injury in the beginning of 2007.