Kevin Nash says Vince McMahon had a roundabout way of telling him bad news.
During his first run in WWE, Nash won the WWE Championship from Bob Backland in 1994. He held the title for 358 days. Nash told Sports Illustrated, McMahon came to him with a crazy idea before dropping the truth about his title reign.
“They brought me up to WWE Headquarters, which was called Titan Tower at the time, and Vince went into this elaborate idea of me fighting Mike Tyson in Central Park. I asked him, ‘How much am I going to get paid?’ Vince said it was for charity, and I said, ‘Fuck. I ain’t fighting Mike Tyson and getting knocked the fuck out for charity.’ Then he told me, ‘By the way, you’re going to drop the strap to Bret at Survivor Series because we’re going to put it on Shawn at WrestleMania. It was an incredible smoke-and-mirrors move. So, I asked him, we just went over a bunch of horses--- for an hour to distract me? I didn’t care about losing the belt or getting it back. I’m not a mark. If you want to beat me, beat me—as long as I can turn my character back after I get beat,” said Nash.
Nash said he never came back to prominence after losing the WWE Championship. But he had other reasons for leaving for WCW.
“I had a wife who was due. I was living year-to-year on whether I got a payday at ‘Mania. I didn’t know what I was going to make, and I’m driving a used Mercedes. Then, all of a sudden, I’m going to get a minimum of $850,000 from WCW, and it was for 180 days, which was considerably more days off than Vince at over 300," said Nash.
Nash's exit from WWE was one of the turning points in the WCW/WWE Monday night wars. He would show up on WCW Monday Night Nitro and start the NWO with Scott Hall.
Nash also told Sports Illustrated about his rise in WWE and his philosophy on anti-heroes.
