If youre going to talk about Roman Reigns star-making performance last year, you have to give credit to Diesels elimination spree at the 1994 Rumble as the progenitor of that phenomenon. When Kevin Nash joined WWF in 1993, he already had flopped in WCW in multiple gimmicks. As Diesel, he served as Shawn Michaels bodyguard, a role that probably wasnt going to drastically improve his status in the industry. But the 1994 Rumble changed all of that. Entering at number 7, Diesel cleared the ring, then started tossing wrestlers as the entered the ring. Bob Backlund, Billy Gunn and Virgil all were tossed in less than a minute each. Even though he was supposed to be a heel, fans got behind Diesel, chanting his name and cheering each elimination. And thus, a star was born. http://youtu.be/_ghkcfrEzbA?t=7m45s Months later, Diesel would win the Intercontinental Championship, and by the end of the year, he would be WWE Champion. Then of course there was the whole nWo thing, but all of that stemmed from the Diesel push at the 94 Rumble.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
