Kevin Nash, for all his success in the wrestling business, went through a series of awful gimmicks before Vince McMahon turned him into Diesel. One of his most infamous was the Great and Powerful Oz. Turner Broadcasting had recently acquired the rights to air the Wizard of Oz movie on their TBS and TNT television networks and corporate wanted WCW to help promote this business deal. Making his debut in May 1991, Oz's debut was portrayed as a big deal by the announcers and led fans to believe that this new character would be a main event star. An extremely elaborate entrance was planned with Kevin Sullivan serving as the Wizard. He limped down to the ring screaming "Welcome to Oz!" over and over again while being flanked by various monkeys. Kevin Nash emerged from the backstage area wearing a sorcerer's hat and a fake Santa Claus beard that made him look like he was 70 years old. How this was supposed to get the character over, we'll never know. Oz squashed the usual jobbers until WCW realized how stupid the character was and had Ron Simmons squash him at the Great American Bash. The gimmick was dropped and Nash was repackaged into the nearly-as-stupid Vinnie Vegas character.
