10 Times Kevin Nash Was The Absolute Best
He couldn't scare The Undertaker, but Diesel was cool as a cucumber...
First, a confession.
There's currently an article entitled Face Vs Heel: Bret 'The Hitman' Hart up on WhatCulture.com debating if 'The Best There Is, Best There Was and The Best There Ever Will Be' performed his duties better as a babyface or heel. That was also the work of the writer you're reading right now, with partial apologies if it scans as a love letter masquerading as a list.
Only "partial" mind, because there are never enough nods to Bret Hart, and also because there was somebody else that meant just as much to this fan as a youngster. And it was through battles with Bret just how clear this became.
Diesel tends to be thought of as punchline first performer second, due mostly to him being WWE Champion during the company's 1995 financial nadir. Look at him. Seven foot tall, handsome, witty and extremely capable in the ring with the right opponents - you'd push him too.
Anyway, there's a more nuanced discussion for another day on that specific run, because Kevin Nash's career is one to be celebrated rather than chastised. And that's what this list sets out to do.
Make all the torn quad jokes you like, because 'Big Sexy' got all the last laughs. He got in, earned, got out, and has stuck around to tell the tales. The man's a gift, and it's a shame more didn't spot this back when he was a weekly pro wrestling fixture...
10. Royal Rumble 1994
A run so impressive it became more associated with him than anybody in Royal Rumble history, Diesel's domination in the first third of the underrated 1994 match became the stuff of legend and repetition in the years that followed.
It took some brave booking to have an untested singles star throw that many contenders over the top rope, but it took one with unshakable charisma and confidence to get himself even more over than the company had planned in the process.
There was no way he wouldn't look substantially more than just Shawn Michaels' bodyguard after chucking seven men out in Providence, but few could have expected the "Diesel! Diesel" chants that followed him all the way to the back after the entire ring (including 'HBK' himself) teamed up to toss him.
This was instantly inspired stuff, a reveal of something new this incredible stipulation could do for talent, and a boon for the company's midcard coming away from WrestleMania X.
'Big Daddy Cool' had gotten over...