Kevin Nash holds the distinction of being the longest-reigning WWE Champion during the nineties. Despite holding the top title for 358 days, Nash’s reign is often been cited as one of the low points of WWE’s New Generation Era – with “Big Daddy Cool” singled out to this day for his alleged lack of drawing power.
Speaking on his Kliq This podcast, Nash touted his lengthy WWE title reign as one of the biggest highlights of his career, admitting his stature was one of the reasons behind his massive main event push in Vince McMahon’s promotion.
“My thing is this, I went from f*cking Oz to having the IC, Tag, and World Title in three years,” Kevin Nash said. “Even though I was the lowest-drawing champion of all time or whatever people want to say about me, I still am the longest-reigning champion in the 1990s which [includes] the Attitude Era. I just happened to be the president during the depression.”
“I wouldn’t change it. The reason I got everything I did … after the drug trials … I read someone say ‘You’re a good-looking giant dude — that’s why you got to where you got.’ No f***ing s**t! I was the biggest dude, I was lean and clean. That’s why I got pushed,” he maintained. (H/T Wrestling Inc)
Vince McMahon’s original plan for Kevin Nash’s title run
Back in April 2023, Kevin Nash made a startling revelation by stating his WWE Championship reign was supposed to last for years until Vince McMahon informed him that he’d be dropping the belt to Bret Hart at Survivor Series 1995.
The former Diesel revealed on his podcast McMahon had told him he wasn’t going to lose the title for “years” before asking him to engage Mike Tyson in a boxing match. Kevin Nash’s first response was to decline the match because of Tyson’s legitimate boxing credentials.
“He (Vince McMahon) had told me that I wasn’t going to lose the championship for years. No matter what, I wasn’t going to lose the championship for years. Then he starts telling me about this idea he had where I’m going to box Mike Tyson in Central Park and it’s for charity. He’s going on and on about this. I said to him, ‘Mike Tyson will knock me the f**k out. He could conceivably kill me.’ I’m a boxing fan. A big motherf***er like me, he can put two or three f***ing shots, he does the f***ing old hook to the body, hook to the body, uppercut. Goodnight Irene. It’s not going to do me any favors.”
Back And Forth
Kevin Nash continued, “I said, ‘I’m not f***ing fighting him for less than five million dollars. We go back and forth. Then he clears his throat and says, ‘By the way, you’re going to drop the belt to Bret at Survivor Series.’ I said, ‘You f***ing sat here for 45 minutes and told me this f***ing horses*t about boxing Mike Tyson to f***ing tell me that you want me to drop the f***ing strap to Bret. Motherf***er, you could have done that on a goddam telephone.’ Like, I don’t care. You can have it. Are you kidding me?” (H/T Wrestling News)
Kevin Nash would wind up dropping the WWE Championship to Bret Hart at the 1995 Survivor Series pay-per-view event. He would feud with the Hitman for the next couple of months. A WrestleMania match with The Undertaker would soon follow. This would ultimately lead to a feud with former tag team partner Shawn Michaels.
Nash would sign with rival WCW in 1996 before revealing himself as one-half of The Outsiders on June 10, 1996. The rest was history.
