Interesting Facts about Kevin "Diesel" Nash

Interesting Facts about Kevin "Diesel" Nash

September 30, 2024

By Ryan Porzl

One of wrestling's most entertaining characters has been Kevin Nash. A seven foot tall giant who oozed charisma, swagger, and a cool factor, Nash was major name in the wrestling business throughout the 1990s and 2000s achieving legendary status for his times in the WWF/WWE, WCW, and TNA. He would leave his mark both on and off camera from being a founding father of the nWo to his meteoric rise in the WWF as "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel to his behind the scenes antics by himself and as a part of the backstage group called the Kliq. Many love him, many don't. Many would consider him an all time great while others would consider him a locker room cancer. Regardless, Nash has left behind a huge legacy that many couldn't come close to achieving. With his 65th birthday this past July 9th, it's time to look at some interesting fact about one of wrestling's greatest big men.

Note: I don't own the pictures. I found them on Google. Credit to WWE, TNA, the US Army, and/or whomever are their owners.

Is a Six Time World Champion- Anyone who knows my "Interesting Facts" articles knows this is how I usually start. Like many of these wrestlers, Nash was no stranger to world championship gold. In fact, he would be a six time world champion between holding the two most prestigious championships of the 1990s in the WWF and WCW Championships. Nash won his one and only WWF Championship when he defeated Bob Backlund on November 26, 1994 and held it until losing it to Bret Hart on November 19, 1995. He won his first WCW World Championship from Goldberg on December 27, 1998 and lost it to Hollywood Hogan on January 4, 1999. He then won his second from Diamond Dallas Page on May 9, 1999 before losing it to Randy Savage on July 11, 1999. He won his third on January 25, 2000 when he awarded the championship to himself as he was WCW Commissioner before losing it to Sid Vicious on the same night. He won his fourth WCW Championship on May 23, 2000 from Jeff Jarrett before handing the title to Ric Flair on May 29, 2000. He won his fifth and final WCW World Championship from Booker T on August 28, 2000 before losing it back to Booker on September 17, 2000. 

Last Wrestler to Win the WWF Championship At a House Show to Date- Over the last century, professional wrestling has evolved in many ways. One of which was what drew money for a promotion. For decades, non televised live events or house shows were the backbone of a wrestling promotion while television was used to hype the upcoming house shows. By 1994, things began changing as Television and Pay-Per-View were now the big money makers while house shows began taking a backseat. Big matches and title changes were now almost exclusive to TV and PPV events. Nash's biggest moment would occur during this moment. On November 26, 1994, Nash participated at a house show in Madison Square Garden where he replaced Bret Hart as the challenger to new WWF Champion Bob Backlund. In one of the most famous title changes in wrestling history, Nash would kick Backlund in the stomach and finish him off with the jackknife powerbomb to claim the WWF Championship in only eight seconds. As of 2024, this win makes Nash the last wrestler to win the WWF/WWE Championship at a house show as every WWF/WWE Championship title change has either occurred on TV or PPV/PLE since then. 

Only Competed At Two Wrestlemanias- This is one of the most interesting facts. What can I say about Wrestlemania that hasn't already been said and what people don't already know? For 40 years, the Showcase of the Immortals has featured many of the greatest wrestlers and stars in wrestling history. Kevin Nash would be no different as he competed at Wrestlemania. What's interesting in is that despite Nash appearing in seven Wrestlemanias and despite his Hall of Fame career, he actually only wrestled at two Wrestlemanias. At Wrestlemania XI in 1995, he successfully defended the WWF Championship against Shawn Michaels. Then, at Wrestlemania XII in 1996, he lost to The Undertaker. Despite making appearances before and after these, Nash would spend most of his WM appearances on the sidelines (X, X8, 31, 35, and 37). It's certainly interesting one of the biggest stars of the 1990s competed in around 1/3rd of the Wrestlemania's he appeared at.

Was in the Army- Here's something I didn't know until not long ago. Obviously, wrestling and the US military aren't strangers to each other. The WWF/WWE has done their yearly Tribute to the Troops shows for over two decades while NWA/WCW ran their seventh Clash of the Champions at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Several wrestlers have had military like gimmicks with Sgt. Slaughter probably being the most well known. There have also been wrestlers that have been in the military from the Road Dogg to Steve Maclin. Kevin Nash was one of those who, at one point in his life, decided to be all he could be and enlist in the army. After his basketball hopes were dashed (more on that in a minute), Nash enlisted in the US Army in 1981 and was assigned to the 202nd Military Police Company in Giessen, West Germany. Nash served for two years, during which time he made the rank of Specialist and was assigned to a secure NATO facility before departing in 1983.

Was an Aspiring Basketball Player- Anybody knows wrestlers is that many had aspirations for other sports and Nash would be no different as Nash had dreams of making it in basketball. Nash would participate in basketball by the time he went to college in 1977 where he played for the Tennessee Volunteers. He played for the team until 1980 when an incident involving head coach Don DeVoe saw Nash decline to play during his senior year. After being unsuccessful in transferring to Bowling Green State University, he tried his luck in Europe where he played for several teams before his basketball hopes were dashed following an ACL tear in 1981 which ended his career. Following his retirement from basketball, Nash would bounce around throughout the 1980s doing various jobs such as his time in the army to working for Ford on their assembly line and finally a floor manager for a strip club in Atlanta before finding his way to wrestling.

Has the Longest WCW World Tag Team Championship Reign- I already brought this one up on my Scott Hall article but it's worth bringing up here. For the record, I'm only counting title reigns during WCW from January 1991 to March 2001 so NWA title reigns pre 1991 or WWE owned WCW title reigns in 2001 don't count. For a decade, WCW had a who's who hold their titles and the tag team titles were no different. Many all time great teams had runs from Doom to the Steiner Brothers to Harlem Heat to the Miracle Violence Connection to the Hollywood Blondes among others. Another notable team was the Outsiders which consisted of Nash and Scott Hall. From 1996-1999, the team dominated the WCW Tag Team Championships as they held them on six occasions. However, it would be their third reign where they showed their dominance. On February 24, 1997, due to a technicality, WCW Vice President and nWo member Eric Bischoff would force Lex Luger and The Giant to return the tag titles to the Outsiders due to the fact that Luger was not medically cleared to compete in the match. The Outsiders (w/Syxx occasionally filling in) would reign as champions for a record 231 days until losing the titles on October 13, 1997 to the Steiners who defeated Hall and Syxx with the latter subbing for an injured Nash.

Was the Last Wrestler to Win the WCW World Championship At a Starrcade- For seventeen years, the premiere event for the NWA/WCW was Starrcade. Many famous world title matches took place at the event during the near two decades mostly involving Ric Flair. Matches include Flair's big cage match over Harley Race to his back to back matches with Dusty Rhodes to his emotional win over Vader and Starrcade would also hold the big Hogan/Sting match in 1997. 1998 would also feature a big world title match as World War 3 winner Nash would challenge the undefeated WCW World Champion Goldberg. The match would prove fairly even until the end when it looked like Goldberg would add Nash to his victims list until Scott Hall stunned him with a taser which allowed Nash to hit the jackknife powerbomb to win the title in 11:20. The win would not only see Nash become WCW World Champion but it ultimately made him the final wrestler to win the championship at Starrcade as Bret Hart would successfully defend against Goldberg in 1999 while Scott Steiner retained against Sid Vicious in 2000.

Was the First Wrestler to Win WWF's Triple Crown in One Calendar Year- This is one of Nash's most famous achievements of his career. From 1979-1997, the WWF largely only had three men's championships in the WWF Championship, the WWF Intercontinental Championship, and the WWF World Tag Team Championship. To win all three made a wrestler a triple crown winner. 1994 would see Nash embark on a meteoric rise that hadn't been seen in WWF history at that point. On April 13, 1994 during a Superstars TV Taping (shown April 30th), Nash would defeat Razor Ramon to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship which would be the first title of his career. On August 28th, during a WWF House Show, Nash would team with Shawn Michaels to defeat the Headshrinkers to win the WWF World Tag Team Championship (which made Nash the first to hold both belts simultaneously). Then on November 26th, Nash would squash Bob Backlund in eight seconds to win the WWF Championship. These wins made Nash the first wrestler in WWE history to win top three men's titles in one calendar year.

Won the Final WCW World War 3 Battle Royal- One of wrestling's most popular matches/events is the Royal Rumble. Since the first Rumble event in 1988, there have been many battle royal types from various companies in an attempt to have their own version. In recent years, we seen TNA have the "Gauntlet for the Gold" or "Call Your Shot Gauntlet" while MLW would have "Battle Riot" to name some. WCW would attempt to create their own battle royal type called the World War 3 battle royal. From 1995-1998, WCW would hold the World War 3 event which featured the battle royal which consisted of 60 wrestlers in 3 rings with 1 emerging victorious. Randy Savage won the inaugural one in 1995 while The Giant followed in 1996 and Scott Hall in 1997. On November 22, 1998, Nash would make history becoming the final winner in World War 3 history after eliminating fellow Wolfpac member Lex Luger as WCW would discontinue the event in 1999.

Was Originally Considered to Play Sabretooth in X-Men- In the 21st Century, Superhero/comic book movies have been the rage with many iconic characters coming to life on the silver screen. Long before either Marvel or DC began their universes, X-Men would be adapted to movies in 2000 featuring the likes of Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, and Anna Paquin to name some. One person who almost joined them was Kevin Nash. When casting began for X-Men, Nash was reportedly considered for the part of Sabretooth but apparently was unable to accept the part reportedly due to other commitments. The part eventually went to Tyler Mane who, ironically, was not only a former wrestler but teamed with Nash in early 1993 when Nash was Vinnie Vegas and Mane was Big Sky. Ultimately, Nash would get his day eventually playing The Russian in the 2004 comic book movie The Punisher which wasn't anywhere near as big but it was something.

Was the Oldest TNA Legends Champion- For more than 20 years, one of wrestling's biggest promotions has been Total Nonstop Action Wrestling or TNA. Over the decades, the promotion has been home to many great wrestlers, moments, and matches. It's also had it's share of championships. Over the years, the promotion has created several "secondary" titles with the current one being the Digital Media Championship. Prior to that was the Grand Championship and prior to that was the first secondary title outside the X Division Championship: the TNA Legends Championship. Created in 2008 with Booker T as the inaugural champion, the belt would be around on and off for eight years undergoing various name changes including the Global Championship, the Television Championship, and the King of the Mountain Championship before being retired in 2016. Nash would make his mark with this title as he held it on two occasions in 2009. He first won it on July 19, 2009 from AJ Styles at Victory Road before losing it three days later on July 22nd on an episode of TNA Impact to Mick Foley in a tag match where he was capable of losing the title if he were to be pinned. Nash regained the title on August 16th at Hard Justice but then lost it at Bound For Glory on October 18th to Eric Young in a three way also involving Hernandez. With these title wins, Nash would make TNA history becoming the oldest holder of the Legends/Global/Television/KOTM Championship at 50 years old when he lost it for the final time.

Had the Longest WWF Championship Reign of the Entire 1990s- The 1990s was a big time for the WWF Championship. Many of the greatest to hold the championship held it during this decade including Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, The Ultimate Warrior, Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Triple H, Mick Foley, Sycho Sid, Bob Backlund, Yokozuna, Sgt. Slaughter, Kane, Shawn Michaels, The Big Show, and Kevin Nash. And yeah, Vince McMahon had a brief run as well. Out of all those legends, Nash's title reign in a way stood taller than the rest which says a lot. In the whole decade of the 1990s, Nash's one and only WWF Championship reign would be the longest as he won it on November 26, 1994 and lost it on November 19, 1995, giving his reign a grand total of 358 days. It should be pointed out Hogan's second run ended in 1990 at 364 days. However, that reign began and mostly ran in 1989 so it doesn't count. Holding a championship for nearly a year is impressive but to have a longer reign than the legends I mentioned is even better.