Profile of Kevin Nash on Famous Like Me

Kevin Nash
Statistics
Stage names	Diesel Dr. X Master Blaster Steel Oz Vinnie Vegas
Height	6 ft 10 in (208 cm)
Weight	337 lb (153 kg)
Born	July 9, 1959
Hometown	Detroit, Michigan
Debut	1990

Kevin Scott Nash (born July 9, 1959 in Detroit, Michigan) is a professional wrestler who has performed in both World Wrestling Entertainment, World Championship Wrestling and now Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Career

Pre-wrestling

Nash's primary sport while growing up was basketball. He was the second-most-recruited player in Michigan in his senior year of high school, behind future basketball legend Magic Johnson. Nash was a center for the Tennessee Volunteers from 1979 – 1980, but was never a major star and quickly became disillusioned. A year later he began playing professional basketball in Europe and ended up seriously injuring his knee. Nash was unsure of what to do with his career then, and enlisted in the United States Army, serving in Germany for two years. He went on to become a bouncer, and was eventually scouted by WCW's Dusty Rhodes, joining the organization.

Wrestling

Nash first worked as part of a tag team in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions known as the "Master Blasters", wrestling under the name "Steel", with his partner "Iron". Iron was later replaced by "Blade" (Al Greene). Later, he wrestled under the name of Oz with Merlin the Wizard as his manager, and still later as Vinnie Vegas. As Vegas, he formed a short-lived team with Diamond Dallas Page called the "Vegas Connection."

In 1993, he left WCW and signed with the WWF (now the WWE), adopting the gimmick of "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel, originally a "bodyguard" for real-life friend Shawn Michaels. Nash still holds unprecedented credentials; he defeated Bob Backlund in November 1994 for the WWF Championship in eight seconds, a WWF record, and was the only wrestler to acquire the WWF Tag Team Title, Intercontinental, and WWF Championship (all of the WWF's titles at that time) within a calendar year. Nash's WWF Championship run lasted for an impressive 358 days, a rarity in the WWF.

After three years in the WWF, he left to rejoin WCW, and teamed up (as The Outsiders) with another real-life friend, Scott Hall, to form the nWo (New World Order). After the nWo was split into two factions, Nash joined the Wolfpac faction. In World Championship Wrestling, Nash held all of the major championships as well as being a four-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and also wrote some of the later storylines for WCW before it was bought by WWF.

After leaving WCW, Nash again joined WWE and briefly re-formed the nWo, but it was disbanded after a quadriceps injury put him out of action. He came back from that, but his professional wrestling career apparently ended after a previously existing shoulder injury recurred in 2003, forcing him to undergo reconstructive surgery. He had announced the end of his in-ring career, although he had said he wanted to stay in the wrestling business. However, he later returned to wrestling, appearing in a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ring with Scott Hall.

Nash and Hall initially formed a stable with Jeff Jarrett known as The Kings of Wrestling. However, the fragile alliance fell apart when Nash's title aspirations became clear. On February 13, 2005 at the TNA PPV "Against All Odds" Nash received a NWA World Heavyweight Championship title shot, but was defeated by Jarrett. On March 13, 2005 at the TNA PPV "Destination X", Nash was defeated by The Outlaw in a Taped Fist First Blood match.

Nash spent time away from TNA, and returned on the October 1, 2005 premiere of TNA iMPACT! on Spike TV.

Acting

Nash had notable roles in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze as "Super Shredder", and, more recently, in the 2004 movie The Punisher as "The Russian" and in The Longest Yard as "Guard Englehart" and is now playing Bass in DOA: Dead or Alive, the upcoming movie based on the 'Dead or Alive' video game franchise.

In wrestling

Nicknames

• Big Daddy Cool
• Big Sexy
• Big Nasty
• The Silver Fox

Previous managers

• Diamond Dallas Page
• Dusty Rhodes
• Harley Race
• Pamela Anderson
• Shawn Michaels
• Merlin The Wizard
• Ted DiBiase
• Torrie Wilson

Quotes

As Diesel

• "I've got the WWF running on Diesel Power."

As Kevin Nash

• "When you’re nWo, you’re nWo - for life."
• "Big Sexy in the house."
• "...Just too sweet!"
• "The band is back together!"

Finishing and signature moves

• Jackknife Powerbomb (Release powerbomb)
• Walking sidewalk slam
• Big Boot
• Chokeslam
• Snake Eyes

Championships and accomplishments

World Championship Wrestling

• 5-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion
• 9-time WCW World Tag Team Champion (2-time with Diamond Dallas Page, 6-time with Scott Hall, 1-time with Sting)
• Winner of 1998 WCW World War 3 Battle Royal

World Wrestling Entertainment

• 1-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion
• 1-time WWF Intercontinental Champion
• 2-time WWF World Tag Team Champion (with Shawn Michaels)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 59 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
• He was also ranked twice in the best tag teams of the "PWI Years", ranked # 40 with Scott Hall and # 55 with Shawn Michaels.
• Nash won several PWI Awards over his career. He won Most Improved Wrestler in 1994, Wrestler of the Year in 1995 and Tag Team of the Year in 1997 with Scott Hall. He was also part of the Match of the Year in 1995 (vs. Shawn Michaels).

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Kevin Nash