20 Most Infamous Real Life Wrestling Fights Of All Time
7. Scott Hall & Kevin Nash Vs. The Nasty Boys (1996)
On an episode of Nitro broadcast 18th November, 1996 from Florence, South Carolina, the show opened with the aftermath of a Nash and Hall assault that had taken place during the pre-live dark match.
The duo hit the ring and took out both of the Nasty Boys with steel folding chairs. Hall was swinging for the fences when he teed up Sags head and almost decapitated him with a brutal shot, causing his already damaged neck to compact. The injury was an accident, but it didn't help pre-existing tensions between the tandems that had arisen due to Nash and Hall's large guaranteed salaries.
While other performers, the Nasty Boys included, had been forced to take pay cuts in order to keep their jobs because of WCW's unprofitable house show business, the Outsiders were raking in $750,000 per annum apiece. Things escalated backstage after the altercation when Sags walked in at the end of a conversation and caught Hall laughing about the chair shot with Nash. Worked up, Sags assumed that Hall was laughing because he had taken liberties with him in the ring. What Hall was actually telling Nash was that he had no idea he had potatoed Sags, stating with a nervous laugh that it was a good job he didn't hit him again because he thought Sags was feeding for him after the first shot.
It was this nervous laugh which Sags heard, making him so furious he intended to fight Hall right there in the locker room. When Hall apologised and cleared up the situation, Sags decided it would be in his best interests to let the matter drop. His neck injury was so severe that he immediately told the WCW office he would require time off to recuperate.
However, he was already booked for and advertised to be appearing on WCW's forthcoming World War III card in a triangle tag team match opposite the Outsiders and the pairing of Meng and The Barbarian. Sags protested, but booker Kevin Sullivan and talent head J.J. Dillon both insisted that he make the date due to the bout's billing as a marquee match. Finally, Sags agreed to work the show and the subsequent sequels on the house show loop - under the agreement that he was strictly off limits with regards to any moves that might further damage his neck, specifically chair shots.
During a house show match in Shreveport, Louisiana, a second incident occurred between Sags and Hall that ultimately led to the Nasty Boys leaving WCW. The bout was a rematch from World War III, and as had been the case on previous cards on the tour, the finish called for interference from nWo member Sean 'Syxx' Waltman. What the participants were not aware of was Waltman's incapacitation from an injury sustained earlier in the evening.
When he failed to show up as scheduled, the six participants hurriedly began to improvise. The Nasty Boys tried to distract the crowd so as to make the now-unplanned finish look like part of the organised chaos, and began hurling plastic chairs into the ring. As they were doing so, Nash cold-cocked Sags in the back of the head with his WCW Tag Team Championship title belt, completely forgetting about his neck injury from almost two months prior. In another case of incriminating timing, Sags looked up to the ring just as he saw Hall picking up one of the chairs that he and Knobbs had thrown into the ring.
Incorrectly assuming that Hall had blasted him in the back of the head again, Sags angrily stomped up the steel steps and into the ring, where Hall, chair in hand, stared directly into his eyes. Hall had no idea that Sags was legitimately furious; he just thought he was playing his character. Giving him what he thought was a mutually understood knowing glance, Hall hurled the chair towards Sags and hit him squarely in the face.
Sags could hardly believe what had happened. He was absolutely convinced this time that Hall was intentionally stiffing him. Losing all semblance of professionalism, he charged at the bewildered grappler, bruising and bloodying him with a flurry of non-worked punches to the face. Hall was not expecting it, and left his face open for Sags to unleash on, which resulted in Hall losing a tooth.
After the match, Nash was furious, and stormed into the Nasty Boys' dressing room armed with one of the baseball bats that Sting used as part of his gimmick, anrily smashing it into the wall above Knobbs' head, yelling, "We'll see who has the stroke in this company!"
A few weeks later, The Nasty Boys were fired as a result of the incident. Knobbs eventually returned, but that was the final appearance of Sags in mainstream wrestling.
Winner: As with Shamrock, the Nasty Boys came out on top in the brawl, but Hall and Nash won overall because the Nasty Boys were fired.