TNA signed Kevin Nash a few years after its founding and he became arguably the company’s most famous wrestler at the time. Nash was a former WWE and WCW champion and had been a main event wrestler in WWE before leaving the company. However, age and injuries prevented Nash from main eventing again.
Nash had a unique time in TNA, experiencing many changes and new roles in his career. TNA had Nash with them for about seven years through various stages of development. Nash had a better reputation behind the scenes for working with young talent instead of burying them, which made his time with the smaller company more interesting than expected. The following TNA tidbits will give you a fun look back at his time with the promotion.
Updated: 2024/09/07 20:00 EST Joey Haverford
With the end of Kevin Nash’s wrestling career and the start of his podcast, many more stories about his time with TNA have started to circulate. Nash made TNA his home after leaving WWE in 2003 to pursue more acting work. TNA was the perfect place for Nash, with a short commute and more free time thanks to the taping of their twice-monthly Orlando shows.
Nash spent a long time in TNA and saw many different management changes and roles, and his reputation changed from being a selfish and ruthless person in WCW and WCW to being a team player in TNA, and Nash had some fascinating moments that are worth remembering to appreciate his work ethic.
10 Debuting for “Kings of Wrestling” in a big PPV moment
TNA expected this to be a much bigger deal than it actually was.
Vignettes hyped Nash and Hall for their first appearance on a three-hour PPV. In a big reveal, they helped Jeff Jarrett retain the NWA title over Jeff Hardy. Hall’s personal problems led to a quick end to the Kings of Wrestling.
TNA’s first major three-hour PPV featured a big main event match between Jeff Jarrett and Jeff Hardy in a ladder match for the NWA Heavyweight Championship. Many fans felt that Hardy should have won as he was the better known and more of a face at TNA’s first major PPV, but the company chose otherwise.
Kevin Nash and Scott Hall appeared together on this show for the first time in TNA and helped Jarrett win. The three went on to form the Kings of Wrestling trio, which lasted for several months, before the group disbanded when Hall lost his role with the company and Nash moved on to other things.
9 Samoa Joe’s mentorship has been a long-running saga
Nash worked closely with Samoa Joe on the upper card.
Joe developed a bond with Nash on-screen and behind the scenes, and Nash began managing Joe as a mentor in storyline roles, allowing Nash to contribute in fewer matches.
One of Kevin Nash’s biggest roles in TNA was working closely with Samoa Joe. Joe’s push made him arguably the most over-the-top face in the company, and Nash mentored him in a unique way for most of 2008.
Joe winning the TNA World Championship from Kurt Angle, with help from Nash, felt like a defining moment, and while there were predictions that Nash would betray Joe, it wasn’t until months later that it was an elaborate ploy.
8 He was Alex Shelley’s first Motor City tag partner.
Nash allied himself with Sherri during his feud with Chris Sabin
Nash bullied Chris Sabin into a feud with X-Division Alex Shelley began teaming up with Nash as a heel X-Division sold out Paparazzi productions were a very entertaining part of the show
Kevin Nash would storyline feud with and eventually bond with the X-Division, and Alex Shelley was the first wrestler from the division to work with him as a companion in the Paparazzi Productions trio alongside Johnny Devine.
Nash and Shelley had teamed up on occasion before Shelley formed the Motor City Machine Guns tag team with Chris Sabin, an amusing tie-up in which Nash, like the other two, was from Detroit. TNA even managed Sabin and Shelley for a short time during the early stages of the team before Nash moved on to other things.
7 Responsible for Jay Lethal’s black masculinity gimmick
Nash convinced Lethal to go all-in on his Randy Savage impersonation gimmick.
Nash loved Jay Lethal’s Randy Savage impersonation backstage. Lethal stole the show with a backstage impersonation of Nash. TNA pushed Lethal even further by fully adopting the Black Macho persona.
Kevin Nash’s run in the X-Division saw him host several weekly tournaments and perform comedic skits backstage, and with Nash at the helm, TNA finally gave the X-Division wrestlers a chance to showcase their personalities.
The biggest change for Jay Lethal came when Nash asked him to do an impersonation of Randy Savage on television. The popularity of Lethal’s impersonation led him to transition into the Black Machismo gimmick, which helped him find even more success on television.
6 Aligned with Sting in his feud with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff
Sting once again wore the Wolfpac face paint when he teamed up with Nash in TNA.
Sting’s questioning of Hulk Hogan’s motives implied that he was a heel. Nash joining Sting’s side led to Sting wearing red Wolfpac paint. At the end of the storyline, Sting learned he was right about Hogan, showing that he was not a heel.
TNA set up a complicated storyline for Hulk Hogan’s turn to heel throughout his debut year, with Hogan playing a face character and fans assuming Sting was the heel who attacked him, and TNA paired Sting with Kevin Nash as two veterans who tried to warn Dixie Carter and fans of Hogan and Eric Bischoff’s upcoming betrayal.
Nash and Sting were made to compete in matches against the faces to make the fans believe they were the bad guys. However, Hogan and Bischoff turned heel and formed Immortal with Jeff Hardy. Sting and Nash were ultimately right as the faces were portrayed as heels. In an interesting twist, Sting brought back the red face paint to celebrate his old Wolfpac days with Nash.
5 Jenna Morasca joined TNA as his companion.
Nash’s search for a manager culminated with the addition of the ‘Survivor’ star
Nash had a storyline that involved a worldwide search for a new bullet survivor. The reality star got the role after signing a big TNA contract. Morasca failed to sign after a historically bad contract.
TNA signed Jenna Morasca, who had gained minor fame on the popular reality TV show Survivor, and a side storyline developed in which Kevin Nash was soliciting applicants from around the world for a new valet position.
When TNA was looking for a non-wrestling scenario, Morasca was brought in to fill the role. The angle pitted Jenna against Sharmell in the Main Event Mafia, which resulted in Morasca’s match against Sharmell being one of the worst in history, but she was otherwise Nash’s manager.
4 The Legends Championship was his first TNA title.
Nash didn’t have many title wins in TNA like he did in WWE and WCW.
The Legends Championship has had many different names in TNA history. Nash’s only singles title reign was achieved with this mid-card title. His two title reigns as Legends Champion lasted for 66 days.
The Legend Championship was introduced to TNA by Booker T and the Main Event Mafia, Booker used the championship to solidify his status as a legend, winning a mid-card title as the only other championship available at the time was the X-Division Championship.
With AJ Styles beating Booker to win the belt, the Frontline Faces scored a huge victory over the Main Event Mafia. It was Kevin Nash who ultimately defeated Styles to reclaim the belt and become just the third Legends Champion in history. An even more surprising fact is that Nash had never held a title in TNA for five years before winning it.
3 Becoming Kurt and Karen Angle’s psychiatrist backstage
A comedic storyline led to Nash forming an alliance with Angle in TNA.
Nash found an interesting role analyzing the marital problems of Kurt and Karen, and Angle found another way to contribute each week with a limited number of matches, forming a partnership that would become a long-standing on-screen alliance.
Kevin Nash’s comedic timing added depth to him as a character with contributions in other areas. TNA moved Nash into a strange scenario during a storyline where Kurt and Karen Angle were having marital problems while they were together.
Kevin had a fun segment where he played a backstage psychiatrist and was even referred to by the name Dr. Nash, and the segment also paired Nash with Kurt in a new role of helping the top heel in matches, but it only lasted a few months and became a forgettable storyline.
2 His heel turn inspired a Mafia faction in the main event
Nash United Sting and Kurt Angle were the long-term successors of Samoa Joe’s promotion
Sting started the Main Event Mafia when Nash took Joe’s world title. Joe’s past disrespect for Scott Hall was the reason for Nash’s revenge. Veterans formed the Main Event Mafia because they disrespected younger stars.
The partnership between Kevin Nash and Samoa Joe ended violently when Nash stripped Joe of his TNA World Championship at Bound for Glory 2008, when Nash hit Joe with a baseball bat, helping Sting win the match and ending Joe’s only reign with the title.
The bigger story was Nash’s criticism of Scott Hall in his promo for Joe’s shoot and his resentment towards the younger stars disrespecting the veterans. Nash and Sting teamed up with Kurt Angle, Scott Steiner and Booker T the following week to form the Main Event Mafia, and together they enjoyed great success.
1 He was originally scheduled to win the title at the Bound For Glory PPV.
Rhino replaced Nash in the first main event of TNA’s biggest annual event.
TNA wanted to make Bound for Glory an annual version of WrestleMania, and Nash versus Jeff Jarrett was scheduled to be the main event of the first BFG for the NWA World Title, but health issues meant Nash was unable to compete, so Rhyno won the gauntlet and defeated Jarrett to win the belt.
TNA had been planning on making Bound for Glory the TNA version of WrestleMania since the first show in 2005. The main event advertised leading up to the show’s weekend was Kevin Nash challenging Jeff Jarrett for the NWA Heavyweight Championship.
Nash ended up missing the show after being hospitalized with chest pains and a mild heart attack, and TNA quickly changed plans to have Rhyno win the title match to face Jarrett for the belt. The plan was to use Nash in the role to set the mood for the main event of the biggest show of the year.
