Kevin Nash
Kevin Scott Nash is former American actor, podcaster and retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE under a legends contract. He is also known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
Nash first gained exposure in the professional wrestling industry by performing for WCW from 1990 to 1993 under multiple ring names. In 1993, Nash signed with the World Wrestling Federation under the name Diesel. While performing as Diesel, he achieved status as a top star in the company, winning the WWF World, Intercontinental and Tag Team Championships. His 358-day reign as WWF Champion is the longest of the 1990s. While in the WWF, Nash was part of The Kliq, an influential backstage group that included Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman.
Nash left the WWF and returned to WCW in 1996, where he performed under his real name, partnering with Hall as the Outsiders and founding the New World Order with Hulk Hogan. As the nWo storyline became one of the most prominent of the Monday Night War, Nash maintained his status as a top star, winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship four times and the WCW World Tag Team Championship nine times. After WCW went out of business, Nash returned to the WWF in 2002, where he briefly reformed the nWo and feuded with Triple H over the World Heavyweight Championship. He then performed in TNA for seven years, and he held their Legends and Tag Team championships once each. In 2011, Nash returned to WWE under a legends contract and he continues to make sporadic appearances for the promotion.
During his in-ring career, Nash won 20 major championships, including six world championships and twelve world tag team championships. Furthermore, he is a two-time WWE Hall of Famer, as he was inducted individually into the class of 2015 and in 2020 as an nWo member alongside Hogan, Hall and Waltman. He headlined numerous pay-per-view events for WCW, WWF/WWE and TNA, including WCW's flagship event, Starrcade, where he ended Bill Goldberg's undefeated streak after 173 wins in 1998.
Notable acting credits include The Punisher, the Magic Mike trilogy and John Wick.
Early life
Nash was born on July 9, 1959, to a devout Christian family in southwest Detroit, Michigan. Nash's father, Robert, died of a heart attack on April 4, 1968, aged 36, when Nash was eight years old. On December 27, 1994, Nash's mother, Wanda, died after a four-year struggle against breast cancer. He attended Aquinas High School and the University of Tennessee, where he majored in psychology and minored in educational philosophy. At the University of Tennessee, Nash was a center for the Tennessee Volunteers basketball team. He remained on the team from 1977 to 1980, during which time the team made it to the NCAA Sweet 16. Following a physical altercation with head coach Don DeVoe and a series of other on-campus incidents, Nash did not play a fourth year for the Volunteers, and he attempted to transfer to Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.Nash reconsidered his options and instead moved to Europe, where he played basketball professionally for various teams. His career ended just one year later in 1981 in Germany when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament. With his basketball career over, Nash enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 202nd Military Police Company in Giessen, West Germany. He served in a secure NATO facility for two years, during which time he was promoted to the rank of specialist. After the Army, he worked on an assembly line at Ford Motor Company and as the floor manager of a strip club in Atlanta, Georgia. He then decided to try professional wrestling.
Professional wrestling career
World Championship Wrestling (1990–1993)
Master Blasters (1990–1991)
Nash debuted in World Championship Wrestling as the orange-mohawked "Steel", one half of the tag team known as the Master Blasters. He was initially partnered with Master Blaster Iron, with whom he made his debut at the Clash of the Champions XII on September 5, 1990, defeating Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner. At the following Worldwide taping on September 7, the Masters Blasters began a feud with Tim Horner and Mike Rotunda. They beat Horner and Rotunda on several house shows. On September 22, Nash's partner Master Blaster Iron was replaced by "Blade".The reconstituted Master Blasters continued their undefeated streak in October. Meanwhile, Steel had his first singles match on September 28 by defeating Tom Zenk. At Halloween Havoc on October 27, 1990, the Blasters upended the Southern Boys and began to move up the WCW tag team ratings. Their winning streak ended on November 22, when Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman handed them their first defeat with Pillman pinning Blade. They rebounded to go on another undefeated streak by defeating the Southern Boys as well as Alan Iron Eagle and Tim Horner, and earning a NWA United States Tag Team Championship title shot against then champions the Steiner Brothers, but were defeated in two occasions. They were squashed on television in 52 seconds by the Steiners in a match that aired on Worldwide on February 2, 1991. Following this loss, their momentum dissipated as they lost to the Southern Boys and Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich, and they disbanded at the end of the month.
Nash was then rebranded as the Master Blaster in February 1991, who was pinned by Junkyard Dog on February 27. He also lost to Brian Pillman in house show matches, while appearing in tag team matches with Stan Hansen and Arn Anderson. His final match in this guise was against Pillman at a house show on May 12.
Oz (1991–1992)
A week later, Nash reappeared under his new gimmick, having been repackaged as the silver-haired Oz, a character based on the Wizard of Oz from the 1900 children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Oz, managed by The Great Wizard, was pushed strongly for about a month, he squashed several wrestlers before losing to Ron Simmons at The Great American Bash on July 14. In reality, all plans for Oz were immediately scrapped when Nash refused to sign a $300/night guarantee as WCW was cutting costs. A decision was made to retain Nash until a new gimmick could be developed. On October 27, he lost to Bill Kazmaier at Halloween Havoc. Nash wrestled as Oz throughout the remainder of 1991 and went on a lengthy losing streak, suffering defeats by Kazmaier, Rick Steiner, Dustin Rhodes, and Arachnaman.He later used the gimmick for New Japan Pro Wrestling as the Great Oz in May 1992.
Vinnie Vegas (1992–1993)
On January 21, 1992, at Clash of the Champions XVIII, he was repackaged as Vinnie Vegas, a wisecracking pseudo-mobster based on Steve Martin's character in the 1990 film My Blue Heaven. Vegas was quickly recruited into "A Half-Ton of Holy Hell", a stable of large wrestlers created by Harley Race which included WCW World Champion Lex Luger, Big Van Vader and Mr. Hughes. The stable separated in February 1992 after Luger left, and Vegas joined the Diamond Mine, a stable led by Diamond Dallas Page that also included the Diamond Studd and Scotty Flamingo. In the summer of 1992, after Studd and Flamingo left the stable, Page and Vegas began teaming together as the Vegas Connection. The tag team split in late 1992 after Page was fired by Bill Watts.Nash spent the first half of 1993 teaming with Big Sky. In June, he decided to depart for the World Wrestling Federation and had his final WCW match on June 3, teaming with Big Sky in a losing effort against The Cole Twins, this match would air on Worldwide after his WWF debut.
World Wrestling Federation (1993–1996)
Two Dudes with Attitudes (1993–1994)
In June 1993, Nash left WCW, signing a contract with the WWF at the request of Shawn Michaels. He was given the stage name of "Big Daddy Cool Diesel", with an alpha-male gimmick. For the role, he grew long hair, taking on the appearance and demeanor of a cocky thug from Detroit, sporting black sunglasses and leather garments. The name of Diesel, suggested by Shane McMahon, was a play on the fact that Nash was from Detroit, known famously as the "Motor City". His initial entrance music was a series of truck engine and horn noises.Diesel started out as the bodyguard/best friend of Shawn Michaels, with the two being known as Two Dudes with Attitudes. He made his WWF debut at a house show on June 6, 1993, by assisting Michaels in defeating Marty Jannetty for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. He first appeared on television the next night on Raw, June 7, as he was introduced as Michaels's bodyguard. In January 1994, Diesel appeared at the Royal Rumble, first as one of the many wrestlers who assisted WWF Champion Yokozuna in defeating The Undertaker in their casket match and then in the Royal Rumble match, eliminating seven men in under 18 minutes of in-ring time. Diesel won the Intercontinental Championship from Razor Ramon, following interference from Michaels on the April 30, 1994 episode of Superstars. The duo of Diesel and Michaels defeated The Headshrinkers to win the WWF Tag Team Championship on August 28, making Nash a double champion. However, Diesel lost the Intercontinental Championship back to Ramon the following night at SummerSlam. The alliance between Diesel and Michaels dissolved after Survivor Series, when Michaels accidentally performed a superkick on Diesel. Diesel then chased Michaels, and despite failing to catch him, the reaction from the crowd turned him babyface. However, Nash was no longer a tag team champion, as Michaels' actions resulted in the team being forced to vacate the titles.
WWF Champion (1994–1995)
On November 26, 1994, Diesel faced Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship he had won from Bret Hart three days prior at Survivor Series. In the match at Madison Square Garden, Diesel defeated Backlund in the first ten seconds of the bout. Diesel then promised Hart a match for his title, which they had the next month at the Royal Rumble. The match ended in a draw due to interference from several wrestlers, including Shawn Michaels. Michaels was irate about his former bodyguard having beaten him to the WWF Championship and was sufficiently motivated to win the Royal Rumble match later that evening, earning himself a title shot at WrestleMania XI.At WrestleMania XI on April 2, Nash, accompanied to ringside by actress Pamela Anderson, defeated Michaels to retain the title. After the match, he left the ring with both Anderson and Michaels' replacement for her, Jenny McCarthy. The next night on Monday Night Raw, Michaels was betrayed by his new bodyguard, Sycho Sid, prompting Diesel to come to his rescue and thus reunited the tag team. Diesel successfully defended the WWF Championship against Sycho Sid at the inaugural In Your House pay-per-view on May 14, and at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks on July 23. At SummerSlam, Diesel retained the WWF Championship by defeating King Mabel, who had won the King of the Ring tournament.
On September 24 at In Your House 3 in Saginaw, Michigan, Diesel and Michaels challenged the reigning WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and Yokozuna. The match had a winner-take-all stipulation, as in addition to the tag belts, Diesel's WWF Championship and Michaels' recently won Intercontinental Championship were also on the line. When Hart did not show up at the event, he was replaced by Davey Boy Smith. In the course of the match, Hart arrived at ringside, entered the ring and was pinned by Diesel for the win and the title, making him and Michaels holders of all three major WWF championships. The reign did not last long, however, as Hart and Yokozuna had the titles returned to them the next night on Raw due to Hart not being an official part of the match when he was pinned.
Diesel's WWF Championship reign continued until November 19, when he was defeated by Bret Hart at Survivor Series. Following the loss, Diesel attacked Hart and began a tweener turn.