The one WWE Championship reign of Kevin Nash came as the Diesel character in the New Generation Era. Diesel winning the top prize came out of nowhere on a house show and saw him holding it for almost a full year. The hope was that Diesel would join Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels as the faces of the company for the future.
However, it didn’t work out well for Nash when placed in a tough position. The business numbers and entertainment value of WWE took a huge drop during this time. Nash wasn’t necessarily blamed, but it was a negative mark on his track record. A lot went into causing the reality to never match the expectations. The WWE Championship reign of Diesel had the following factors causing it to flop.
Diesel Won The Title Too Fast
WWE made the mistake of rushing Kevin Nash’s big moment as Diesel. The face turn of Diesel finally happened at Survivor Series 1994 when he stopped following Shawn Michaels’ orders. Nash showing his backbone and standing up for himself ended the run as the bodyguard of Michaels. WWE introduced him in that role to help get him over easily in a fitting scenario.
However, the potential of Nash was to accomplish more as a singles star. WWE, unfortunately, didn’t give fans time to get used to the new face side of Diesel. The WWE Championship win came just days later when Nash defeated Bob Backlund in a Madison Square Garden house show match. Backlund only won the title from Bret Hart at the same event of Diesel’s face turn to have a transitional heel champion in place for the bigger change.
Vince McMahon wanted the crowning moment for Nash as quickly as possible once he turned face, and it hurt the importance of the title change. Diesel did create some excitement and buzz as a new rising star in the top spot, but he clearly wasn’t a draw. WWE needed to make the audience want to pay to see Nash in that role before they put the title on him in a move they couldn’t take back.
The Reign Had Too Many Disappointments
Kevin Nash doesn’t deserve all the blame for his WWE Championship reign going poorly. WWE put him in a difficult position with a couple of feuds that missed the mark. The first big title defense against Bret Hart at the Royal Rumble 1995 match ended in a non-finish of heels interfering since WWE wanted to protect both top faces.
Diesel’s WrestleMania 11 title defense over Shawn Michaels was arguably the best match, but it felt like an afterthought to the main event of former NFL star Lawrence Taylor defeating Bam Bam Bigelow. Everything afterward led to fans losing interest in the title reign of Nash. The programs with Sid Justice and Davey Boy Smith each missed the mark with minimal fan interest.
Mabel ended up having the worst feud with Diesel with an all-time bad main event at SummerSlam 1995. Vince McMahon pushing Mabel after winning the King of the Ring led to him having brutal performances and injuring his opponents. Nash couldn’t make the weaker angles work and most memories of him as WWE Champion were negative.
Diesel Was Never The Face Of The Company
Any face holding a world title is one of the faces of WWE, but it doesn’t mean that they will end up the overall face of the company. Kevin Nash never passed Bret Hart in the pecking order of the top WWE faces during his WWE Championship reign. An argument can be made that Nash wasn’t even more over than The Undertaker during that timeline.
The title reign was meant to push Diesel in that top spot, but fans never viewed him as the biggest star. WWE eventually made the call to have Bret beat Nash for the title at Survivor Series 1995. Hart winning back the top prize placed him back in the role and felt more natural. WWE even had Nash attack Bret after the match to change his character since the previous version wasn’t working.
The following year saw Nash having stronger performances against Hart, Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels before leaving the company. WCW signed Nash and made him a bigger star as an original member of the New World Order. Everything after the WWE Championship reign seemed to show that he was miscast in that role. WWE dropped the ball at making Diesel a credible champ, and it showed with a disappointing title reign that just stalled his momentum.