Big Stevie Cool Meets Big Daddy Cool

A few months ago I went to an Evening with Bret Hart (you can read about it here) well last week another of my favourite wrestlers Kevin Nash was in toon for 'An evening with...'

As you may or may not know I'm a bit of a pro-wrestling geek. The 90's in my opinion was the greatest time in wrestling with WWF battling WCW in a weekly ratings war. One of the main reasons for this war was the nWo faction and one of the key members of the nWo was Kevin Nash AKA Big Sexy AKA Diesel AKA Big Daddy Cool.

Debuting in WWF in 1993 as Diesel the 7 foot tall leather jacket clad bodyguard of Shawn Michaels (Shawn Michaels was/is my absolute favourite wrestler and really hope he comes to town soon). As the bodyguard and then tag team partner of my favourite wrestler Diesel quickly became one of my favourite wrestlers too. In his debut year Diesel would go on to win the Tag Team Titles with Shawn Michaels as well as The intercontinental championship in his own right and then would beat WWF/E Hall of Famer Bob Backlund to with the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Fast forward to 1996 and Diesel and another top WWF guy Razor Ramon would send shockwaves around the wrestling world by leaving WWF and going to their main rivals WCW to form the nWo along with former WWF Legend Hulk Hogan. The nWo were instantly the biggest thing in wrestling.

An evening with Kevin Nash was held at the Lancastrian Suite of the Federation Brewery in Gateshead. Me and my mate Dean went to Newcastle for a few pints before the event for a catch up as it's been a few months since we'd seen each other then we got a taxi from town to the venue. Our ticket included a photo with Kevin Nash and an autograph. The ticket was £50 which was cheaper than the Bret Hart ticket we got a few months ago which I was happy about (although we did get a meal included with the Bret Hart ticket).

After we found our seats, we got another pint and had a quick look around the items that would be on offer during the auction and raffle. There were autographed photo collages, paintings and other memorabilia. One item on display (although not available to buy) was a replica of the WWF Title Belt (known as the Winged Eagle Belt) that Kevin Nash won during him time in WWF. This belt is my favourite design for the title and brings back so many memories as most of my favorite wrestlers have held this version at one time or another. Legends like, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels have all held this belt along with Kevin Nash himself.

WWF World Heavyweight Championship Belt

The event starts with the auction and raffle and once all of the prizes had been won/bought it was time to bring out the man himself. Now I know wrestlers are usually big guys but, Jesus Christ, Kevin Nash is Tall. I've always known he was 7 foot tall but I never really appreciated how tall 7 foot is until I saw him in person.

Kevin Nash on stage

He came on stage and thanked everyone for coming and then it was time to get our photos taken. We queued up and watched as others were getting their pictures taken shaking Nash's hand so me and Dean decided we would get our picture taking throwing up the wolpac hand sign that Nash and other wrestlers we liked usually use. After we were done a few others were also throwing up this sign and some went further with full on poses reminiscent of his time tagging with Shawn Michaels.

What a geek

After the photos were done it was time for the Q&A section. The host had a few question already prepared and Nash talked about his favourite matches, his many previous gimmicks, his friendship with the other members of The Kliq (Shawn Michael, Triple H, Scott Hall and X-Pac) and of course the nWo. Nash told stories about how much respect he had for Bob Backlund for putting him over for his 1st title and how Backlund really sold the ending my crawling back from the ring to backstage. He also said how his favourite match was the one he had against Bret Hart at Survivor Series '95. He also talked about his acting career which started with the role of 'Super-Shredder' in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and continued in films like Punisher, the Longest Yard and the Magic Mike movies. He also said the role he really wants is as Cable in the next Deadpool movie, I could really see him playing Cable.

Kevin Nash as Cable?

After the questions were all asked (including one Dean asked about the after show party following Wrestlemania XI when Diesel and Shawn Michaels were escorted the ring by Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy), it was then time for the autograph session and once we had met Big Daddy Cool again and got our pictures signed it was time for me and Dean to head back to to town for a few more pints.

Well, back in town all hell nearly broke loose as we were just minding our own business (honest), chatting to a fellow patron at one of the roughest bars in Newcastle, when argument broke out between Dean a group of young men at the bar. I can't quite remember what the argument was about I think it was something ridiculous like the culprit of a particularly smelly fart (I swear it wasn't me) but this nearly descended into fisticuffs. However we were 'asked to leave' before any punches were thrown. We went for another pint at a different bar, Dean was still a bit hyped up and wanted to go back and teach those young men a thing or two but I managed to convince him it was a bad idea for the two of us to try and give the 10 of them a piece of our minds so we just finished out pints and made plans to finally travel to America and go and see Wrestlemania live!

Anyway, here are some of Kevin Nash's greatest moments in wrestling:

WWF Title Match Survivor Series 1995 Diesel (c) Vs Bret 'The Hitman' Hart

WWF Survivor Series 1995 - Bret Hart Vs. Diesel by WWFNetwork

Shawn Michaels & Diesel (c) Vs Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid

Action Zone '94 - Shawn Michaels & Diesel vs... by WCWRULES4LYF

Kevin Nash debuts in WCW

WCW Nitro 1996 - Scott Hall and Eric Bischoff... by KILERISS1

Formation of nWo at Bash at the Beach 1996

WCW Bash At The Beach 1996 - Team WCW Vs... by WWFNetwork

Well, that's all for now.

S

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