Sean Michael Waltman (born July 13, 1972) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is 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 under his real name.
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. 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 War, Waltman left the WWF in 1996 to join Kliq members Kevin Nash and Scott Hall (formerly known as Diesel and 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 was a member of The Band), and on the independent circuit.
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.
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.
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) in Minnesota and the Global Wrestling Federation (GWF) in Texas, 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, his opponent "The Kamikaze Kid" Bill Wilcox overshot a suicide dive 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.
New Japan Pro Wrestling (1993)
He appeared in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)'s Top of the Super Juniors in 1993, facing the likes of Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Jushin Liger.
World Wrestling Federation (1993–1996)
As The Lightning Kid, Waltman had his WWF tryout match in Phoenix, Arizona, in April 1993, the day after WrestleMania IX, losing to Louie Spicolli. After earning a contract, he made his television debut as "The Kamikaze Kid" on Monday Night Raw on May 3 (taped April 26), 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 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 taunted Ramon over losing to a nobody and losing his $10,000. This angered Kid, and led to a match in which he upset DiBiase as well. Razor, who turned face shortly before, took Kid under his wing.
The 1–2–3 Kid made his pay-per-view debut at SummerSlam on August 30, losing to DiBiase's tag partner Irwin R. Schyster. At Survivor Series on November 23, Kid was on Razor's team in a four-on-four elimination match, in which he and Marty Jannetty were the sole survivors. This led to them forming a tag team and holding the WWF Tag Team Championship for a week in January 1994 after beating The Quebecers. The 1–2–3 Kid competed in the King of the Ring tournament, losing to Owen Hart in the semi-finals on June 19. On July 11, he wrestled Bret Hart in an unusually long (for the time) and competitive match for the WWF Championship on Raw, which was ranked by WWE as the third-best match ever aired on Raw. He had another brief (one-day) tag title reign on January 22, 1995, with Bob Holly, defeating Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka at the Royal Rumble before losing to The Smoking Gunns (Billy and Bart) the next day on Raw. At SummerSlam on August 27, he lost to Hakushi.
Million Dollar Corporation (1995–1996)
After Kid and Razor failed to win the Tag Team Championship from the Smoking Gunns on October 22 at In Your House 4, 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 Ramon and Sycho Sid. As Razor attempted his finisher, The Razor's Edge, Kid pulled Sid down from Razor, allowing Sid to hit Razor with his Powerbomb, and Kid fast-counted the pinfall, turning heel. He was the sole survivor of his team at Survivor Series on November 19, besting rival Marty Jannetty with assistance from Sid. Kid and Jannetty traded victories over one another, culminating in a tag team match where Kid and Sid lost to Razor and Marty on December 17 at In Your House 5.
After Survivor Series, Kid joined Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation faction. He lost a "Crybaby match" to Ramon on February 18 at In Your House 6. The 1–2–3 Kid's final WWF match, which saw him lose to Savio Vega, aired on the May 20 episode of Monday Night Raw. 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 (1996–1997)
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". His first match with WCW was on September 23 when he defeated Jim Duggan on Nitro. At Halloween Havoc on October 27, he lost to Chris Jericho. In his first major angle, Syxx stole Eddie Guerrero's WCW United States Heavyweight Championship belt, leading to a ladder match for the title on January 25, 1997, at Souled Out, which Syxx lost. At SuperBrawl VII on February 23, Syxx pinned Dean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, after hitting him with the title belt, which he had grabbed from Guerrero at ringside. In June, he lost the championship to Chris Jericho at a webcast house show in Los Angeles, California, minutes after successfully defending against Rey Mysterio Jr.