10 Toxic Real-Life Wrestling Relationships
5. Scott Hall & Kevin Nash
The bond between Kevin Nash and Scott Hall was at times capable of transforming whichever organisation fostered it, but it was paradoxically lethal when the pair were given free reign.
A friendship solidified in WWE's mid-90s doldrums, and the matches featuring Hall, Nash, clique buddies Shawn Michaels and The 1-2-3 Kid gave the company faint hope for a brighter future alongside the work of Bret Hart and The Undertaker during financial and creative nadirs. Heading North from weak stints in WCW, the duo were part of a minute creative stimulus within McMahon's crumbling empire that offered much-needed solace from the literal clowning and garbage of the day.
However, this input was often at the expense of their colleagues. Crudely but accurately assessing wrestling as a solo capitalist venture, the pair used their in-ring expertise and dynamic philosophies to maintain a selfish grip on the best spots in the promotion. As Razor Ramon and Diesel, they had confined The Diamond Studd and Vinnie Vegas to the Atlanta vaults, and had upped their personal values enough to be offered monster deals to return in 1996.
Their arrival and subsequent formation of the New World Order took an industry on life support and converted it into a mainstream obsession, but their increased freedom only furthered broader decay. Hall's delicately balanced drug and alcohol problems spiralled, whilst Nash failed spectacularly as a booker for the rapidly declining organisation.