How Good Was Kevin Nash Actually?

So much of what Kevin Nash did at his peak was as part of a group or a team, rather than as an individual. He was a vital component of the nWo, the Wolfpac, and Two Dudes With Attitude, but there are very few periods in his career when it was all about him.

This isn’t to downplay Nash in any way. Damian Priest had a very good run as World Champion as the big guy in The Judgment Day. Replace him with Kevin Nash, and with all due respect to The Archer of Infamy, that group would be significantly improved by Nash's presence. Wardlow played the Diesel to MJF’s Shawn Michaels, but with a far less successful outcome. Roman Reigns has gone on to be one of the greats, but would 1996 Kevin Nash have made The Shield even better? The argument can certainly be made.

Conversely, the role of the big man has significantly evolved from Nash’s day. The likes of Gunther and Oba Femi have all the size and impact of Nash but have a far broader range in the ring. There isn’t much to separate them in terms of storytelling and mic work, but there’s an ocean between them in terms of putting on 25-minute matches. Today’s audience demands more in the ring, and that’s a part of Nash’s game that wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny in the modern age.

Kevin Nash has the swagger to live in today’s era, though, and his mic work would translate much better than so many of his more monosyllabic contemporaries. His ability to see what’s hot in pop culture and bring it to wrestling would also be a valuable weapon for him in today’s landscape.

That said, it should be pointed out that the red and black nWo Wolfpac hasn’t aged as well as you might think. The presentation and theme music were on point for this babyface stable, and they were super popular, but a bunch of aging white men looking like miscast extras from an Ice Cube video shoot is undoubtedly questionable through today’s lens. The thought of Nash doing this gimmick like he’s Playboi Carti with CM Punk, Sheamus, and Chris Jericho next to him like Homixide Gang in 2026 is unthinkable.

To make the best case for Kevin Nash passing the test of time, you have to completely discard the nWo's WWE run. Vince McMahon turned Hulk Hogan back into the red and yellow force of nature as soon as possible, and essentially treated Nash and Scott Hall like they were midcarders. It's muddied Nash's overall legacy, like so many other former WCW guys who were employed by McMahon, but it shouldn't play much part in the quality of Nash's work (see also: his time in TNA).

The only argument against him being to hang at the top level in today’s landscape is that CM Punk ran verbal rings around him during their 2011 feud. Punk assassinated an aging Nash for their entire run, but that shouldn’t detract too much from Nash’s solid case for passing time’s test.

7/10