#100: 1-2-3 Kid

Real Name: Sean Waltman

Other Aliases: Syxx, X-Pac

Biggest Fan: Barry M. Reardon "...because he obviously did not take steroids."

It's pretty fitting that our countdown of the Top 100 Superstars begins here. The 1-2-3 Kid first made a name for himself, quite literally as it were, by scoring some shocking pinfall victories over major WWF stars. At a mere 212 pounds, the 20-year-old Lightning Kid started out jobbing to jobbers. He lost his first match in the World Wrestling Federation to the exceptionally lame Rad Radford. A short time later, though, a surprise win in a match against Razor Ramon (a real life friend of Waltman) thrust 1-2-3 Kid into the middle of an ongoing feud between Ramon and the Million Dollar Man, Ted Dibiase. Further cementing his place in the WWF as the master of the upset, he notched a win over Dibiase shortly thereafter. From that point on, 1-2-3 Kid played the role of lovable underdog. He even became tag team champion on two separate occasions.

In 1995, the 1-2-3 Kid turned on Razor Ramon and became a member of Ted Dibiase's stable: The Million Dollar Corporation. This marked the end of 1-2-3 Kid's run as the plucky fan favorite and Waltman's career trajectory would never be the same. Less than a year later, 1-2-3 Kid was gone from the WWF. He began competing for World Championship Wrestling as a member of the revolutionary super stable, the NWO. Reunited with his old friends from the WWF, Scott Hall (Razor Ramon) and Kevin Nash (Diesel), and renamed Syxx (the sum of the numbers 1, 2, and 3), Waltman began wrestling cruiserweights like Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio. Syxx continued to wrestle alongside his friends, Hall and Nash, until 1998 when he was unceremoniously fired. Although he held a couple of minor titles, it could hardly be said that his time in WCW was a success.

WrestleMania XIV took place on March 29, 1998. Steve Austin had just captured the WWF Championship and Shawn Michaels had just departed the federation due to a major back injury. HBK's absence left a gaping hole to fill for the WWF. The "Monday Night Wars" with WCW were heating up and, although WCW still had the upper hand, things were about to change, and Waltman again would be in the mix. March 30, 1998 was a monumental night for professional wrestling. The 1-2-3 Kid, now called X-Pac, returned to the WWF to join his buddy Triple H in the revamped D-Generation X stable. It was a major momentum shift for the World Wrestling Federation, who up until that point had mostly watched talent flow in the opposite direction.

By the year 2000, X-Pac's popularity had waned considerably. He continued to compete for the WWF, TNA and XPW off and on for the next decade, although he never achieved the level of success that he did in the 90s. Looking back at his career, the 1-2-3 Kid always seemed to be where the action was. He was a supporting character in a number of popular and revolutionary wrestling stables, both in the ring and backstage. Although he never held a major singles title, his success despite his small stature was impressive enough to earn him a place amongst the Top 100 Superstars of Wrestling.