Kevin Nash

From Free net encyclopedia

Kevin Scott Nash (born July 9, 1959 in Detroit, Michigan) is a professional wrestler who has performed for World Wrestling Entertainment, World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

1 Pre-wrestling
2 World Championship Wrestling
3 World Wrestling Federation
4 World Championship Wrestling
5 World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment
6 Total Nonstop Action
7 Acting
8 In wrestling
9 Championships and accomplishments
- 9.1 Championship succession
10 External links

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Pre-wrestling

Nash's primary sport while growing up was basketball. He was the second-most-recruited player in Michigan in his senior year of high school, behind future basketball legend Magic Johnson. Nash was a center for the Tennessee Volunteers from 1979 to 1980, but was never a major star and quickly became disillusioned. A year later, he began playing professional basketball in Europe and ended up seriously injuring his knee. Nash was unsure of what to do with his career then and enlisted in the United States Army, serving in Germany for two years. He went on to become a bouncer and was eventually scouted by World Championship Wrestling's Dusty Rhodes, joining the organization.

Image:Vinnie Vegas.jpg

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World Championship Wrestling

Nash first worked in WCW in 1990 as part of a tag team known as the "Master Blasters," wrestling under the ring name Steel, with a partner named "Iron." Iron was later replaced by "Blade" (Al Greene). During 1991, he briefly wrestled under the name of Oz with Merlin the Wizard as his manager. Later that year, he was renamed Vinnie Vegas and given the gimmick of a casino card shark. As Vegas, he formed a short-lived team with "Diamond" Dallas Page called the "Vegas Connection". He also frequently teamed with Big Sky. Nash eventually left WCW and showed up in the WWF a short time later.

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World Wrestling Federation

Image:Diesel.jpg In 1993, he left WCW and signed with the WWF (now the WWE), adopting the gimmick of "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel, originally a "bodyguard" for real-life friend Shawn Michaels. Little did wrestling fans know that 1994 would be a milestone year for Diesel, managing to win all three WWF titles in that year.

Diesel won the Intercontinental Title from Razor Ramon in the weeks following Wrestlemania 10 thanks to interference from Shawn Michaels. Michaels took a backseat to Diesel around this time, merely seconding him to ringside in many of his matches. One day prior to Summerslam 1994, Michaels teamed up with Diesel and they won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Headshrinkers. Eventually, the partnership would come to an end. Michaels had accidentally superkicked Diesel on several occasions, and the incident at Survivor Series 1994 was the final straw. Diesel broke ties with Michaels, and vacated the WWF Tag Team Championship in the process.

However, Diesel would be holding championship gold again very shortly. Only three days after the Survivor Series, he defeated Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship at Madison Square Garden in a record setting eight seconds. This would begin Diesel's run as the company's representative and main babyface. Shawn Michaels was irate about his former bodyguard beating him to a world championship and used this motivation to win the 1995 Royal Rumble, earning himself a title shot against Diesel at Wrestlemania XI. With Pamela Anderson at his side, Diesel managed to retain the title at Wrestlemania. Shortly after Wrestlemania, Michaels' new bodyguard Sid attacked him, prompting Diesel to come to the save. This started Michaels' babyface run along with a reunion with Diesel. The duo was now known as the Two "Dudes With Attitude," managing to win the Tag Team Titles again at In Your House 3.

Nearly one year after his world title win, Diesel finally lost the WWF Championship to Bret Hart at the 1995 Survivor Series. Following the pinfall, Diesel snapped and attacked Hart. Standing over his slumped body, Diesel proclaimed to the crowd "I'm back!" This brought the end to the babyface Diesel and Big Daddy Cool reverted into his old ways in the period following Survivor Series, though this time as a bit of a face/heel tweener.

Right before WrestleMania XII, the wrestling community was shocked when the news leaked that Diesel signed a contract with World Championship Wrestling while he was still working on WWF television. This was considered a blow to the WWF, made all the more worse with Scott Hall (Razor Ramon) also signing a WCW contract. At this time, the WWF was promoting their stars such as Diesel and Razor Ramon as their "New Generation" (as a counter-attack against WCW's aging roster such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage), and now two of their "New Generation" stars were leaving for the other company.

Though Hall was off WWF television at that moment, Diesel remained in WWF storylines for most of that spring. He lost to the Undertaker at WrestleMania XII and turned completely heel when he attacked his friend Shawn Michaels at a house show. With Michaels winning the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania XII, this set up a world title match between the two at In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies. Michaels defeated Diesel in his last televised match of his current WWF run.

Diesel's last house show match at Madison Square Garden lead to a far more interesting situation. Following a Michaels/Diesel cage match, both Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Razor Ramon came out to join the two in the ring. In front of the crowd, all four of them hugged and wished each other farewell. This was a controversial event because despite the four being friends in real life, they were all enemies in the storylines and this act essentially broke kayfabe. This event was not even acknowledged on WWF television until late 1997 when Shawn Michaels played the clip on the Titantron to insult WWF Chairman Vince McMahon. See Clique - MSG Incident. With their days as "Diesel" and "Razor Ramon" behind them, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall headed to WCW.

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World Championship Wrestling

Image:Kevin Nash 2.jpg After two weeks of Scott Hall appearing on WCW programming and taunting announcers, wrestlers and the company, Nash finally debuted alongside his friend. The duo were known as The Outsiders, and the storyline was pushing them as "invaders" from the WWF (the WWF legal team would eventually sue WCW because of this). At Bash at the Beach 1996, Hall and Nash fought the team of Lex Luger, Sting and Randy Savage and promised to add one more man to their entourage. In a shocking move, Hulk Hogan returned to WCW and attacked the WCW team, aligning himself with Hall and Nash. The three formed the nWo, the New World Order. This incredibly hot concept would help WCW Monday Nitro to win in the ratings against WWF Monday Night RAW for 84 consectutive weeks in a row and arguably helped WCW reach its prime in the mid to late '90s.

After the nWo was split into two factions, Nash became the leader of the Wolfpac faction. At Starcade 1998, Nash won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Goldberg. In doing so, Nash managed to break Goldberg's long running undefeated streak. However Nash would lose the title in unceremonious fashion just a short time later on Monday Nitro. In a controversial moment known as "The Fingerpoke of Doom," Hulk Hogan faced off against Nash for his world title when Hogan took his finger and poked Nash, who proceeded to fall down and willingly allowed Hogan to pin him for the title. This event would reunite the nWo for another run, but the entire circumstance actually would begin WCW's declining ratings.

Backstage, Nash wrote some of the later storylines for WCW. Nash's booking abilities (or lack thereof) are widely considered as one of the many reasons the quality of wrestling in WCW suffered while he was lead booker.

Nash would eventually win the WCW Championship again in 1999 from Diamond Dallas Page, and the nWo would disintegrate. Hulk Hogan defeated Nash in a "retirement" match at Road Wild. (The "retirement" would allow Nash to take some time off.) In the fall, Nash returned to WCW along with Scott Hall and announced that he was "getting the band back together." This was revealed to be an all-new version of the nWo involving Nash, Hall, Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett. This group would not last long either, and Nash spent most of 2000 feuding with the likes of Terry Funk, Mike Awesome, Scott Steiner and Booker T. Nash won the WCW Championship again from Booker T, but would eventually lose it back to him later on at Fall Brawl. He even had a stint as WCW Commissioner (where he demanded wrestlers to call him "Lord Master") and served as a coach/mentor to the Natural Born Thrillers, whom would eventually turn on Nash. Nash aligned himself with Dallas Page, forming a team called "The Insiders." The Insiders managed to win the WCW Tag Team Championship at Starrcade that year.

In 2001 (WCW's final months), the Insiders continued their feud with the Natural Born Thrillers. Nash would lose another "retirement" match to Scott Steiner at Super Brawl, but it would not be long before WCW announced the sale of the company to the World Wrestling Federation. As he had a guaranteed contract with Time Warner, Nash chose to wait out the remainder of his contract.

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World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment

In 2002, Vince McMahon lobbied for the return of the nWo in spite of Ric Flair's part ownership of the company in the storylines. At No Way Out, the original nWo team of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan all made their return to the organization. The nWo in the WWF/WWE did not last long for several reasons. The first reason was that Hulk Hogan's reaction to his Wrestlemania X8 in Toronto prompted his return to his old babyface, yellow and red persona. Secondly, Scott Hall was released from the company a short time later for alcohol abuse. Third, Nash suffered a quadriceps injury that put him out of action. Vince McMahon disbanded the nWo following those events.

Leading up to 2003, it was heavily rumored that Kevin Nash would be portraying his old character Diesel once again. Kevin Nash did return in 2003, and although he had darker hair and a variation of his theme song "Diesel Blues," he was still known by his actual name. Nash would spend the next few months feuding with Triple H and eventually was forced to cut his hair after losing a hair vs. hair match against Chris Jericho. (It was said that he agreed to cut his hair short due to his upcoming acting role in The Punisher.) After his role in the movie was filmed, he decided to retain his short haircut. He stepped away from in-ring action shortly afterwards due to a previously existing shoulder injury recurred, forcing him to undergo reconstructive surgery. Not surprisingly, the WWE chose not to renew Nash's contract, and Nash's contract expired on December 31, 2003. Nash has stated in an interview that he spoke with Vince McMahon about working for the company backstage in a creative capacity, but he felt that it would take too much time away from his family so he declined. He is one of the few former WWF/WWE wrestlers who still has an amicable relationship with McMahon.

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Total Nonstop Action

Image:Kevin Nash.jpg Nash later returned to wrestling for Total Nonstop Action alongside Scott Hall. For weeks, it was teased that both Hall and Nash were supporting "Jeff" in a Jeff Hardy/Jeff Jarrett title program, and fans had assumed that both Outsiders would be supporting a "Jeff" each on opposite corners. However, both Hall and Nash ended up aligning with Jeff Jarrett, forming the stable known as The Kings of Wrestling. However, the fragile alliance fell apart when Nash's title aspirations became clear. On February 13, 2005 at the TNA PPV "Against All Odds" Nash received a NWA World Heavyweight Championship title shot but was defeated by Jarrett. On March 13, 2005 at the TNA PPV "Destination X," Nash was defeated by The Outlaw in a Taped Fist First Blood match.

Nash spent time away from TNA and returned on the October 1 2005 premiere of TNA iMPACT! on Spike TV. On October 23, 2005, Kevin Nash was scheduled to face off against Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the first ever Bound For Glory PPV. However, TNAwrestling.com reported that on October 22, 2005, Nash had fallen ill while staying in the hotel he was in and had to be taken to the hospital, thus forcing TNA to name a replacement opponent (which would be Rhino, who would end up winning the title). Nash suffered what appeared to be a "mild cardiac episode." Nash has not indicated his future plans, although it has been rumored that he would return to TNA. However in March 2006, Nash did an extremely short interview with WWE.com, something he is allowed to do since TNA contract's are independent. Nash's wrestler page still appears on TNA's website. Kevin Nash also had an interview posted with his favorite WrestleMania Moment on WWE.com.

Nash has also been critical TNA's talent pool with recent interviews with the IWC. Nash claims that TNA does not have, "anyone over mid card status from a real wrestling promotion."

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Acting

Nash had notable roles in the 2004 movie The Punisher as "The Russian" and in The Longest Yard as "Guard Englehart" and is now playing Bass in DOA: Dead or Alive, the upcoming movie based on the 'Dead or Alive' video game franchise. Nash has also recently appeared in an ad campaign promoting a Georgia-based hospital called Arrowhead Clinic, for which he claims to have been a patient during his wrestling years. Nash also had a bit part as a repo man in the movie Grandma's Boy. Several years ago, Nash was featured in a special 3D episode of Sabrina: The Teenage Witch.

Nash portrayed "Super Shredder" in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.

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In wrestling

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Nicknames

Big Daddy Cool
Big Sexy
Big Daddy
The Silver Fox
Big Sexy the Giant Killer
Big Sexy the Giant Streak Killer
The Sexecutioner

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Previous managers

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Quotes

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As Diesel

"I've got the WWF running on Diesel Power."
"I'm smokin!"

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As Kevin Nash

"When you’re nWo, you’re nWo for life."
"Big Sexy in the house."
"...Just too sweet!"
"The band is back together!"
"Wolfpac in the house!"

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Finishing and signature moves

Jackknife Powerbomb (Release powerbomb)
Walking sidewalk slam
Big Boot
Chokeslam
Snake Eyes

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Championships and accomplishments

World Championship Wrestling

5-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion
9-time WCW World Tag Team Champion (2-time with Diamond Dallas Page, 6-time with Scott Hall, 1-time with Sting)
Winner of 1998 WCW World War 3 Battle Royal

Image:Nash WCW.jpg

World Wrestling Federation

1-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion
1-time WWF Intercontinental Champion
2-time WWF World Tag Team Champion (with Shawn Michaels)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI ranked him # 59 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
He was also ranked twice in the best tag teams of the "PWI Years", ranked # 40 with Scott Hall and # 55 with Shawn Michaels.
Nash won several PWI Awards over his career. He won Most Improved Wrestler in 1994, Wrestler of the Year in 1995 and Tag Team of the Year in 1997 with Scott Hall. He was also part of the Match of the Year in 1995 (vs. Shawn Michaels).

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

1994 Most Improved Wrestler
1999 Most Overrated Wrestler
2000 Most Overrated Wrestler

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Championship succession

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External links

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Kevin_Nash"

Kevin Nash

From Free net encyclopedia

Contents

Pre-wrestling

World Championship Wrestling

World Wrestling Federation

World Championship Wrestling

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment

Total Nonstop Action

Acting

In wrestling

Nicknames

Previous managers

Quotes

As Diesel

As Kevin Nash

Finishing and signature moves

Championships and accomplishments

Championship succession

External links

Views

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