Kevin Nash reflects on losing the WWE Championship to Bret Hart in his favorite match of his career.
Kevin Nash and Bret Hart had four matches against one another on WWE pay-per-view between 1994 and 1996 during a time when that was an extreme rarity. Their first two matches, taking place at the WWE King of the Ring 1994 and WWE Royal Rumble 1995 events respectively, ended without a decisive victor due to outside interference.
Their third match would be a No Holds Barred bout at the 1995 WWE Survivor Series and Bret would defeat Nash, wrestling as "Diesel," for the title. This would be Hart's third WWE Title win, ending Diesel's nearly year-long run with the championship. The match itself was uncharacteristically violent for 1995 WWE. It also happens to be Kevin Nash's favorite match of his career, as he explained during a recent WWE Retrospective video.
"My favorite match of my life… Bret really taught me that main event style," said Nash. "He was very, very giving. Everything he did was snug, but it was safe. Psychology was spot on. He was a perfect David to my Goliath."
Discussing the violent nature of the match he had with Bret Hart of the 1995 WWE Survivor Series, Kevin Nash reflected on restrictions that existed throughout 1995 as it pertained to using weapons on WWE. Nash recalled WWE comparing themselves to Disney at the time and said that he was relieved to get the opportunity to rehab, his character throughout this one match, feeling he was able to re-capture a lot of his edge.
Kevin also revealed that Brett was the first WWE Superstar to be sent crashing through the Spanish announce table and it was also "The Hitman's" idea.
"We hadn't used a chair in over a year. We were no longer a wrestling company that we were going to compete against Disney. They kind of de violence the product for this match, they took all restraints off. It was kind of a No Holds Barred, No DQ. We start the matchup. I pull the turnbuckle off. He pulls the turnbuckle off. This spot right here. That's the first time anybody ever went through the Spanish announce table. That was Bret's call.
"I told the truck, I said, 'Make sure you show a close-up of me when I get beat," Nash continued. I got to say what I said. I was able to basically take what they had done to me for 11 months, bastardize my character, and correct the pattern in 20 minutes. I don't know how many people in their careers say, 'The best match I ever had was the night I lost the World Championship.'"
Elsewhere in the video, Kevin Nash explains how he came up with the nickname "Big Sexy." Read more here.
Fans can check out the full match between Bret Hart and Diesel in the video embedded at the top of this page.
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