WWE Announces Kevin Nash For Hall Of Fame

It's an announcement that has been expected for months, but WWE chose until the last week to make it official: Kevin Nash will be a part of the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame class. The former WWE and WCW World Heavyweight Champion will be inducted by his good friend and former on screen ally, Shawn Michaels. It's a good choice because Nash started in WWE as Diesel as the bodyguard of Michaels, who really helped his career early on. The announcement was made on WWE.com as well as in an article on Rolling Stone, which featured quotes from Nash talking about his induction. In the article, a WWE spokesperson confirmed that Nash would be using his real name when he's inducted rather than Diesel. This is different from his good friend Scott Hall, who was inducted as Razor Ramon last year. Nash has been in the wrestling business for 25 years. He got his first taste of national exposure in WCW as Oz, Master Blaster Steel and Vinnie Vegas. Needless to say, those gimmicks didn't really work out well for him. His big break came when he jumped to WWE in 1993. In November 1994, he won the WWE Title for the only time. As a legit 7-footer, Nash didn't have to pay his dues as much as some of the others in wrestling and that made him a target for a lot of haters that think he only won it because he's tall. He held the title for a year before losing it to Bret Hart. His reign wasn't that successful, but it's still one of the longest reigns in company history. He is very grateful for his experiences in WWE: "Shawn seeing me as Vinnie Vegas on WCW TV, asking Vince to bring me in as a bodyguard, that's where I learned the business. Sitting ringside, watching Shawn and Scott Hall work, all of my progression was because of them. The exposure I got because of that changed my career forever, and I'm eternally grateful to Shawn and Scott and Vince McMahon, because WCW couldn't do anything with me." When Nash's contract was up in 1996, he jumped to WCW with good friend Scott Hall. They formed the New World Order with Hulk Hogan that summer and changed the wrestling business. It was a huge move by WCW and led to WCW passing WWE in the Monday night TV ratings. He was also the guy that ended Bill Goldberg's massive undefeated streak and won the WCW World Title from him. Soon after that, Nash dropped the WCW World Title to Hulk Hogan thanks to the "Fingerpoke of Doom" and it's something people point to as one of the worst moments in WCW history. The greatness of the NWO and the Goldberg's streak is something still talked about today. Here's how Nash viewed it: "I guess they're my two most controversial moments. But, if you really look at those things, Bill had become the Yankees, and people wanted him to lose. If you watch that match again, I was over with the fans too. We were trying to get a heel faction to feed him, because there was really no one left for Bill to face. So I win the belt, and I'm even more over when I walk out with it. Then, six days later, I go out and do the Fingerpoke. So did I do that for Kevin Nash? No. I got nothing out of it, and never talked about it again." That's the point, right? He got nothing out of it. Goldberg got nothing out of it. WCW got nothing out of it. Why do it? That's what fans have a problem with. It was a terrible decision on his part as well as everybody else that had a say in the matter. Nash came back to WWE in 2002, then went to TNA, then came back to WWE and took part in that 2011 storyline with Triple H and CM Punk that failed miserably. He returned at the 2013 Royal Rumble as a surprise, signed a WWE Legends contract and landed some movie roles too. He still makes appearances at indy wrestling shows as well a signings all over the world. Looking back on his career, Nash says he did things his way and even suggests he might sing during his induction ceremony: "I'm normally not a guy who let's the past define him, but it's kind of mind-blowing to look back on it; all the people that have helped me along the way, friends and mentors €“ of course Shawn and H and all of those guys, but also Rick Rude, Mike Rotunda, 'Taker. It's really special, and like Frank Sinatra, I did it my way. Not to let the cat out of the bag, but I'm thinking of singing a few bars of that song at my induction. I think that would be sort of perfect." The other inductees for the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame are: Randy Savage, Rikishi, The Bushwhackers, Larry Zbyszko, Alundra Blayze, Arnold Schwarzengger, Tatsumi Fujinami and Connor "The Crusher" Michalek, who is the recipient of the first ever Warrior Award. That's a total of nine different inductees, so WWE should probably think about using a time limit because it's going to be hard to keep the ceremony under three hours. Then again it's on WWE Network, so there really is no time limit. It's been rumoured that Nash may be the final speaker, but that's not confirmed. There will likely be a Kevin Nash video package tonight on Raw as a way to officially make the announcement.