Kevin Nash Recalls The Day He Knew WWE Would Beat WCW
WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash is the latest guest on Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions. After being delayed for a week the new episode is now streaming on Peacock/WWE Network.
During the conversation, Nash spoke about when he and Scott Hall jumped from WWE to WCW and how the fans believed the two of them could take over an entire company. Nash recalls talking with Eric Bischoff that same night and how Bischoff believed they were going to put WWE out of business, but Nash wasn't quite as optimistic.
"So, we're flying back that night, and Bischoff goes 'We're gonna put Vince [McMahon] out of business,'" Nash remembered. "I said, 'Dude, do you realize what happened tonight? The perception that two guys from WWE jumped ship and are going to take over your company — the people believe that. They think two guys can beat 100. No, you're not gonna put him out of business. He'll sit back and watch it.' Hogan said the same thing, that's what Vince did. Vince sat back and watched."
Nash says he even remembered the day when the tide turned for WWE and they made their move to consistently beat WCW in the TV ratings. He believed 1998's WrestleMania 14, which featured Mike Tyson as the Special Enforcer in the main event between Austin and Shawn Michaels was the catalyst for change.
"And I won't forget the day in my life when Tyson came to WrestleMania [14]," Nash said. "Every WrestleMania match had a movie quality trailer in front of it, in case you hadn't been watching, you were caught up. Kane was shooting fire, everybody — it was amazing. The next day I go to TV, and I just knew. You know, man, you watch something, you're smart to the business.
"I walked by [Kevin] Sullivan. He said, 'Feel that, Nash? Water got a little cold last night, hit an iceberg called WrestleMania.' [Laughs] He knew, he knew, I knew, anybody who was smart knew that. And all of a sudden [the ratings war] was back and forth. All of sudden it was just like, 'and the Lakers have won 33 straight.'"
You can see Nash's full comments in the video below.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Broken Skull Sessions and give a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.