 The McMahons, along with The Spirit Squad, continued their feud with Shawn Michaels. In the weeks that followed, Michaels would get revenge on both the McMahons and the Spirit Squad. On the May 22 episode of Raw, however, Michaels was in a 5-on-1 handicap match, and the Spirit Squad members, in storyline, injured Michaels'left knee. Triple H, who was included during the rivalry, was ordered by Vince McMahon to "break Michaels' skull", with his signature sledgehammer. Triple H failed to do what Mr. McMahon ordered, turned into a crowd favorite and attacked the Spirit Squad. Weeks followed in which Triple H was supposed to become a member of Mr. McMahon's "Kiss My Ass Club". Triple H, however, backfired when trying to become a member, when he gave a Pedigree to McMahon and laid him and Shane out in the ring. On the June 12 episode of Raw, McMahon booked Triple H in a Handicap Gauntlet match against the Spirit Squad. The match saw Michaels return from his storyline injury, which led to Triple H and Michaels reforming their previous wrestling stable D-Generation X. At Vengeance, DX met the Spirit Squad in a 5-on-2 handicap match, which DX won.
