Kevin Nash Says It Was His Decision To Unmask Rey Mysterio In WCW

Rey Mysterio will always be associated with his iconic mask, which the veteran has worn all throughout his WWE career. Back in WCW, however, he was eventually unmasked, leading to his heel run as a part of the Filthy Animals stable. Mysterio lost his mask at WCW SuperBrawl IX after losing a tag match against Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, and according to Nash in an episode of his "Kliq This" podcast, the unmasking was all his idea. 

"I think I f***ing booked that," Nash said. "WCW was doing a huge ad campaign. ... The ad people had seen Rey without his hood on, and they wanted to — you're not going to be in Times Square with a luchador mask on, on an ad." Nash said that, at the time, he thought the move would make Mysterio more marketable.

"To me, the mask doesn't make Rey Mysterio, the mask makes Rey Mysterio money, because he can sell a new one every f***ing day," Nash added, admitting that it could've hurt Mysterio financially to lose the merch from his masks, except WCW didn't have the machine to make that kind of merch for him anyway. "So, I looked at it at the time as: let me get this handsome motherf***er's face out there, and I mean, I was the first guy of size that f**king — he beat me right in the middle of the ring."

Nash proclaimed that because he put Mysterio over in a match that took place just one day after the Mask vs. Hair match, and he believes it sent a clear message that WCW would be doing clean finishes, and the smallest guy could beat the biggest guy. On the other hand, Mysterio has bashed the move as recently as this year, claiming he was strongly against this as it hurt him and the other luchadores, opining that WCW and Eric Bischoff made a bad move by greenlighting it.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Kliq This," and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.