History YMMV / KevinNash

* VindicatedByHistory: While Nash used to be very disliked by the hardcore fandom for his "lazy" ringwork, backstage politicking, and MoneyDearBoy approach to wrestling, Nash tends to viewed by them a lot more favorably nowadays. With so many wrestlers from his time having broken down bodies, being addicted to various drugs to deal with the pain they put themselves through, and dying prematurely, as well as the later revelations from Nash about [[https://twitter.com/RealKevinNash/status/1214637307883642883 how fucked up his legs actually were]], today's fans are a lot more respectful of Nash understanding his limits unlike so many other wrestlers and not pushing himself in the ring when he could still entertain most fans without doing so. Then with fans better understanding today just how underpaid wrestlers are relative to the revenue they generate and how much of a sham modern WWE contracts are (e.g. WWE can just cut contracted wrestlers at any time and only have to give them 90 days worth of pay instead of paying out the rest of the contract), most fans no longer gripe about Nash leveraging to get big guaranteed contracts, and even see it positively as Nash's efforts got all his fellow wrestlers paid more of their worth during the Monday Night Wars. It also helps that Nash is still a genuinely charismatic and funny guy who is very much self-aware, and that there has been no serious scandals involving Nash, making him seem like a pretty good guy whose worst crime was being a bad booker.

* VindicatedByHistory: While Nash used to be very disliked by the hardcore fandom for his "lazy" ringwork, backstage politicking, and MoneyDearBoy approach to wrestling, Nash tends to viewed by them a lot more favorably nowadays. With so many wrestlers from his time having broken down bodies, being addicted to various drugs to deal with the pain they put themselves to, and dying prematurely, as well as the later revelations from Nash about [[https://twitter.com/RealKevinNash/status/1214637307883642883 how fucked up his legs actually were]], today's fans are a lot more respectful of Nash understanding his limits unlike so many other wrestlers and not pushing himself in the ring when he could still entertain most fans without doing so. Then with fans better understanding today just how underpaid wrestlers are relative to the revenue they generate and how much of a sham modern WWE contracts are (e.g. WWE can just cut contracted wrestlers at any time and only have to give them 90 days worth of pay instead of paying out the rest of the contract), most fans no longer gripe about Nash leveraging to get big guaranteed contracts, and even see it positively as Nash's efforts got all his fellow wrestlers paid more of their worth during the Monday Night Wars. It also helps that Nash is still a genuinely charismatic and funny guy who is very much self-aware, and that there has been no serious scandals involving Nash, making him seem like a pretty good guy whose worst crime was being a bad booker.

** The infamous [=nWo=] [[Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen Four Horsemen]] parody skit. Not that it wasn't his fault, no, it was mostly Nash and Waltman's idea. But Nash claims that the Horsemen actually didn't mind it and even [[ActuallyPrettyFunny thought it had some high points]]. That is until Wrestling/ArnAnderson's wife called and didn't like the unflattering way it had portrayed him as an alcoholic. Years later on his podcast Wrestling/RicFlair said that his only problem with it was how it portrayed Arn. In rebuttal to Anderson, Nash often points out that they got the cooler for the skit from ''Arn's car''. Read into that what you will.

* HolyShitQuotient: Literally. When Diesel made his triumphant return at the Rumble, Matt Striker let out a very audible "holy sh-" before cutting himself off.

* SnarkBait: Just mentioning the guy's name online will probably get you a dozen or so comments mentioning his quad tear, politicking, lack of wrestling talent, his use of "play" as an adjective or all four.

** [[AC:[[WagTheDirector "I booked himself to be pleased with this]]."]]

** ([[AC:[[WagTheDirector I booked himself to be pleased with this]].]])
** [[Podcast/DrunkenPeasants MID-90's]] [[PerverseSexualLust KEVIN]] [[ADateWithRosiePalms NAAAAASSSSSHHH!]]

* BadassDecay: Diesel. ''Big Daddy Cool''. That guy was cool. Seven feet tall and would cut amazing promos...when he was a heel. Face Diesel was godawful, Vince was trying to turn him into Next Hogan (which is all Vince has ever really tried to do when he [[ExecutiveMeddling actively manages wrestlers]]). You can see this playing out again with Roman Reigns: he has cool gear, scary tattoos, and great hair, but his face promos awful and are basically '[[LameComeback I know you are but what am I, SON]]' while he smirks and laughs.
** Face Diesel was such a blatant carbon copy of Hulk Hogan it was ridiculous. He even incorporated the concept of [[NoSell Hulking Up!]]…well, the announcers claimed that he was [[IncrediblyLamePun "Revving the Engine.]] [[note]] You know, [[DontExplainTheJoke because his name was "Diesel?"]] [[/note]]

* ExpansionPackPast: Nash's pre-wrestling backstory is fascinating. He played college basketball, dropped out after a fight with the coach, moved to Europe to play professionally, served for two years as a military police officer in Germany, then went back to the States to be a bouncer at a strip club.
* GrowingTheBeard: His run as WWF Champion in 1995 is remembered for being... pretty poor. It's been noted he was the lowest paid WWF Champion because he was the lowest drawing. The highlight of which has to be Bret Hart taking it from him at the Survivor Series (well, that and his PWI Match of the Year with Wrestling/ShawnMichaels.) However, after that, he started becoming a more interesting heel. He then jumped shipped to WCW and with the nWo became the MagnificentBastard we know and love.
* HesBack:
** After dropping off the radar since his 2011 Rumble appearance, he returned to cheap shot CM Punk at [=SummerSlam=] after retaining the WWE Championship, allowing Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio to cash in his Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank briefcase and win the title.
** Diesel made his triumphant return to the WWE at the Royal Rumble 2011.
** He had another Rumble moment in 2014, where he came out to the old nWo music that got him a nice pop from the crowd.
* HolyShitQuotient: When Diesel made his triumphant return at the Rumble, Matt Striker let out a very audible "holy sh-" before cutting himself off.

** ([[AC:[[WagTheDirector He booked himself to be pleased with this]].]])

** ''Booked himself to squash Goldberg and lose to a fingerpoke!'' ...Except he only got the book ''after'' he beat Goldberg and lost to a fingerpoke. Such is the hazard of [[NeverMyFault booking by committee.]]
*** He elaborated on this on ''Legends of Wrestling''. The idea was to kill the win streak and make Goldberg look vulnerable. Goldberg was then supposed to spend the better part of the next year chasing down the nWo member-by-member until he finally got a rematch with Hogan at Starrcade '99. However, Goldberg injured himself by [[TooDumbToLive punching a limo window]] instead of [[SoftGlass using a baseball bat]] to break it like he was supposed to and he [[GameBreakingInjury missed the next nine months]]. So bulding a powerful heel machine for Goldberg to bounce back against became pointless, because he had to have surgery and missed the next year.

** The infamous [=nWo=] [[Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen Four Horsemen]] parody skit. Not that it wasn't his fault, no, it was mostly Nash and Waltman's idea. But Nash claims that the Horsemen actually didn't mind it and even [[ActuallyPrettyFunny thought it had some high points]]. That is until Wrestling/ArnAnderson's wife called and didn't like the unflattering way it had portrayed him. Years later on his podcast Wrestling/RicFlair said that his only problem with it was how it portrayed Arn. In rebuttal to Anderson, Nash often points out that they got the cooler for the skit from '''Arn's car'''. Read into that what you will.

** And ending Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}'s winning streak; then eight days later there was the {{Fingerpoke of Doom}}
** And his quad tear on ''Raw''. This after he'd already suffered a bicep tear that left him on the shelf for months.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Big men are becoming passe in professional wrestling. And yeah, people are in a BrokenBase over Nash now. But back in the day, when he was actually booked well, he was an ice-cool motherfucker who just came in and jackknifed your ass.
* SnarkBait: Just mentioning the guy's name online will probably get you a dozen or so comments mentioning his quad tear, politicking, lack of wrestling talent or all three.
** Or his use of "play" as an adjective.

* ExpansionPackPast: Nash's pre-wrestling backstory is fascinating. He played college basketball, dropped out after a fight with the coach, moved to Europe to play professionally, served for two years as a military police officer in Germany, then went back to the States to manage a strip club.

* ExpansionPackPast: Nash's pre-wrestling backstory is fascinating. He played college basketball, dropped out after a fight with the coach, moved to Europe to play professionally, spent two years as a military police officer in Germany, then went back to the States to manage a strip club.

* ExpansionPackPast: Nash's pre-wrestling backstory is fascinating. He played college basketball, dropped out after a fight with the coach, moved to Europe to play professionally, spent two years as an Army MP in Germany, then went back to the States to manage a strip club.

** And his coining of the term "vanilla midgets" on stars such as Chris Jericho, Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr, Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, and Eddie Guerrero -- all of whom ended up becoming wildly popular world champions. Big Kev was unrepentant, stating that Benoit and Guerrero sharing a ring at ''[=WrestleMania=]'' is what [[DarthWiki/RuinedFOREVER killed pro wrestling]] for him.

* AbortedArc: His match with Wrestling/CMPunk was canceled due to Nash not being able to be cleared to compete due to taking cardiovascular medication and the risk of being off it for an extended period.

* MemeticLoser: Once again, for the quad tear.

*** He elaborated on this on ''Legends of Wrestling''. The idea was to kill the win streak and make Goldberg look vulnerable. Goldberg was then supposed to spend the better part of the next year chasing down the nWo member-by-member until he finally got a rematch with Hogan at Starrcade '99. However, Goldberg injured himself by [[TooDumbToLive punching a limo window]] instead of [[SoftGlass using a baseball bat]] to break it like he was supposed to and he [[GameBreakingInjury missed the next nine months]]. So bulding a powerful heel machine for Goldberg to bounce baca against became pointless, because he had to have surgery and missed the next year.

* BaseBreaker: Kevin Nash is up there with Wrestling/HulkHogan, Wrestling/JeffJarrett and Wrestling/TripleH in terms of unpopularity with the internet fans e.g. smarks. Nash slightly moreso since, during his tenure as head booker for WCW, he single-handedly prevented people such as Wrestling/EddieGuerrero and Wrestling/ChrisBenoit from getting their deserved pushes and robbed that place blind, helping to kill it from the inside. Of course, he's still wildly popular. Mainly because Nash is, at the very least, charming and entertaining.

* CharacterDerailment: A lot of negativity surrounding Nash stems from the Fingerpoke of Doom, which buried the Wolfpac and killed Nash's heat. Only those who were alive and watching at the time remember how over Nash was.

* ProtectionFromEditors: Nash, even more so than Hogan, refused to put any wrestler over (except as [[CharacterDerailment a joke]]). He used his "no cut" contract and position as "head booker" to squash and bury every WCW wrestler he could find, made a mockery out of the whole company (Television Championship [[ItsAllJunk in the trash can]]), and laughed all the way to the bank. Just looking at the numbers, it's hard to argue that he wasn't a key reason for WCW's failure.

* BaseBreaker: Kevin Nash is up there with Wrestling/JeffJarrett and Wrestling/TripleH in terms of unpopularity with the internet fans e.g. smarks. Nash slightly moreso since, during his tenure as head booker for WCW, he single-handedly prevented people such as Wrestling/EddieGuerrero and Wrestling/ChrisBenoit from getting their deserved pushes and robbed that place blind, helping to kill it from the inside. Of course, he's still wildly popular. Mainly because Nash is, at the very least, charming and entertaining.

* SnarkBait: Just mentioning the guy's name on a forum will probably get you a dozen or so comments mentioning his quad tear, politicking, lack of wrestling talent or all three.