in may, mcmahon signed another handicap match, with the spirit squad facing michaels. the match never started, however; instead the spirit squad attacked michaels, and, as part of the storyline, shattered his knee with a steel chair. mcmahon brought triple h to the ring to attack michaels with a sledgehammer; however, after triple h felt that the squad had disrespected him, he attacked the group. this led to triple h and michaels reforming d-generation x (dx) and they began a feud with the spirit squad. dx played various sophomoric jokes on the squad and the mcmahons, as well as defeating the spirit squad in handicap tag team matches at vengeance and a clean sweep in an elimination handicap match at "saturday night's main event xxxiii".