By the time 1996 rolled around, Kevin Nash was one of the biggest stars in WWE, wrestling under the popular “Diesel” gimmick. He had risen the ranks quickly to become a dominant WWE Champion, and had pretty much established himself as one of the key main eventers of the era. However, despite arguably not even reaching the peak of what he could accomplish in WWE, as he had plenty more World Title reigns and big feuds left in him, he left the promotion and instead went over to main rival promotion, WCW. Given how strongly Nash was booked and presented in WWE, winning the top belt and competing in many main events, there will be many who wonder why exactly he left when he did.
Kevin Nash Was One Of WWE’s Biggest Stars
After debuting in WWE in 1993, the company quickly saw the potential in Kevin Nash that his previous home of WCW did not, and he was given a strong push up the card as Shawn Michaels’ heavy. He hardly lost in matches, and wasn’t pinned or submitted in singles competition for a year. He simultaneously held the WWE Tag Team and Intercontinental Titles, before dropping them and heading for bigger things - the WWE Championship, which he won as a babyface at the end of 1994.
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Nash did well in his role, though the lack of depth in WWE’s roster was alarmingly bad, which led to his reign not doing too well, with underwhelming main events against the likes of King Mabel, British Bulldog, and Sycho Sid. After losing the belt, Nash turned heel once again, and this looked to potentially set him up for a renewed main event run and a refresh. After feuds with Bret Hart, The Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels, Nash left the company and turned up in WCW just a couple months later, even though he was in and around the main event scene.
WCW Offered Kevin Nash More Money Than WWE
WCW was very much beginning to rise in 1996, and they had begun drawing bigger and better names. Not just that, but they directly targeted those in WWE, offering out big money deals to wrestlers who jumped ship and left WWE by the wayside. Initially, Scott Hall was courted by WCW, who was a close friend of Nash, and he revealed to Nash the sort of money offered to him, which was far more than he was earning in WWE, and more than the biggest earners in WCW.
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On his Kliq This podcast, Nash stated that after a frustrating match with Bret Hart, he met Hall in the shower and said, “I’m joining you”. The WCW contract offered to Nash was far more lucrative than WWE, with more money and less dates, so it was really a no-brainer for him. Nash did initially give Vince McMahon a chance to either match or better the offer, but due to WWE’s decline at the time, with less money and interest, he was unable to meet those demands. This led to Nash fulfilling the rest of his WWE contract and going out on his back, putting over Shawn Michaels.
Kevin Nash’s WWE Exit Caused The Infamous “Curtain Call” MSG Moment
Nash and Hall’s exit from WWE was quite a controversial one due to what happened in the aftermath of Nash’s final match in WWE. It came at a Madison Square Garden live event in which Nash lost to Michaels inside of a Steel Cage. Triple H, Hall, Nash, and Michaels all embraced in the ring, and bowed out to the crowd, in what became the infamous “Curtain Call” event, in which these men became some of the first high profile stars to ever break kayfabe.
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The likes of Triple H were punished for this, though as mentioned by Jim Ross in his Grilling Jr podcast (h/t WrestlingNews.Co), he didn’t follow suit with the likes of Nash and Hall by going to WCW despite not being in favor for a little while, explaining, “He knew if he weathered all the storms as he had, and came through in a championship way as a professional, that the end story was going to be very positive for him, and it worked out that way.”
For Nash, WCW was the destination after this, so he felt no repercussions. In fact, his arrival to WCW as a part of “The Outsiders” spawned one of the biggest angles in professional wrestling history as this led to the formation of the nWo, and the rest is history. Nash would eventually find his way back to WWE following the Monday Night Wars, though a similar scenario occurred in 2003 when TNA offered him a more attractive offer than WWE, so he left the promotion once again.
