Kevin Nash has done it all and seen it all in and around the business of professional wrestling, and when it comes to stories on the road, he’s never short of them. In a recent shoot interview with Kayfabe Commentaries, Nash unleashed a host of stories including why you should never fall asleep on a flight, the implied reason why Savio Vega was let go from WWE in 1998, what it was like sitting next to 600-pound plus Yokozuna and the Undertaker in the back of an airplane, and so much more.
Kevin Nash on the Insanity of Wrestling on the Road
“For an overseas flight, in fact, it didn’t even have to be overseas, if it was over two hours, number one, if you fucking fall asleep on an overseas flight, you were fucked! Minimum, you were going to have a shaving cream turban, missing an eyebrow and your sunglasses superglued to your face. I mean, you were going to have a sharpie fucking Hitler mustache if you didn’t have a mustache. You were going to get fucked with.
I remember when Savio cut Scott [Hall] and Shawn [Michael]’s hair. Like fucking took a little piece of the mullet! I don’t think Shawn or Scott fell asleep on a plane after that, Savio didn’t either. I don’t think he was around much longer after that. I think he was pretty much, ‘Adios, amigos!’ because fucking Scott brought him in! Scott brought him in as his buddy from Puerto Rico. I don’t give a fuck what they did to him, you don’t fucking [do that]. I guess he didn’t know what the food chain was.”
Many wrestlers used to opt to fly in coach over first class. Even big men like the Undertaker and Yokozuna used to sit in the back of the plane. For one, it stopped arguments over the pecking order. Just ask The Hardy Boys what happens when you take a first class seat over a veteran! Not only was sitting in coach a way to avoid Wrestler’s Court, for some, sitting in the back of the plane was just more comfortable.
Coach vs. First Class
“Nobody flies first class. I’m flying to India and I’ve got Yoko on one side of me and Taker on the other. [Yoko] just took two seats [to fit in the back]. He would never, even when he [was champion], he didn’t like sitting in first class because it was uncomfortable for him. It was amazing when Yoko would sit down because his ass was so big! When I was driving and he was sitting next to me in a Town Car, he was like this much taller than me sitting because his butt gave him a boost. It was amazing! I would be talking to Yoko like this [bends back and looks up] in the car, and I’m a 7-foot guy!”
Kevin Nash on the No-Sell Undertaker
“I remember one time when we went to Israel and it was the same thing. We were twenty days on the road and we were going to go to Israel for like six days. Taker’s got the broken ribs and the fucking flak jacket and he’s still doing the no-sell thing where he doesn’t sell anything, so when you worked with him, he would just blow you out because he would always come right back up, sit up and never sell anything.
Scott was the first guy in a dark match to grab a hold. They were switching around tapes or they were trying to rib him or whatever, but Scott must have thrown around 900 punches. Taker would come back up and do his shit and finally, Scott just said, ‘Fuck this,’ and grabbed him into a hold. All of a sudden [from that moment on], you could put him in a hold.”
Despite being in the locker room every night together, wrestlers didn’t see each other much aside from at the gym, the diner or occasionally at a gentlemen’s club. They would maybe chat here and there, but it was really on the European tours where they all came together.
European Tours
“When you were on the European trips, you were on the bus together and that’s when it just [became like high school again]. The thing was, over there, everybody was like spending $25 a day in just tanning beds because there was nothing to do, so everybody looked like they’ve just been to Club Med! Everybody’s got like a million dollar, or what we used to call a 550 [Deutsche] Mark tan! I mean, we’re just fucking golden, but man, if you were to peel that off, you would be left with just fucking gray skeletons.”
Kevin Nash on Drug Use in Wrestling
“I remember one time, Kid [Sean Waltman] came on, we were in Hamburg and it was the first night. Kid walked into the locker room, he unzips his bag and puts this big fucking jar of pills on the table. He goes, ‘They’re Phenobarbitals, I don’t know what they do!’
So everybody is looking at the thing and we’re looking at him, this was when we were desperate and doing everything. I came up with the conclusion of, ‘Well each one of them has 325mg of caffeine, so no matter what, they’re probably taking 4 or 5 in order for them to pick you up!’ And that was the whole thing with the boys. It wasn’t like you being the guinea pig, it was just like [everyone’s hands up, pop some and fly].
[I don’t remember what the Phenobarbitals felt like.] When you have so much other shit in you, it was like rainbow stew! I don’t know, it was just one of those things.”
Related: DRUGS IN WRESTLING: The Destructive Truth About Steroid Use in the WWE and Beyond
Doing It For the 16 Guys in the Back
“I remember another time, Kid just vanished. He worked his match, he vanished, he’d get on the bus and sleep. It was like, ‘Dude, what are you doing?’
He was like, ‘Don’t smart anybody up, but I found a doctor in London who gave me some liquid Codeine.’
I was like, ‘How’s that?’
He picks up his shirt and he’s got abs. He’s got like a six pack of abs and he goes, ‘All I’ve been drinking is water!’ (laughs)
He goes to the ring that night, he’s halfway down and he takes his fucking gimmicks off his fucking shoulders, rolls his fucking shirt down and [flexes his muscles], and he turns [towards us] because we’re all at the curtain watching him. And that was the thing. Fuck 12,000 people! You’re only entertaining those 16 guys back there. That’s what we always made references to when we were in the nWo. 4 people got it! I mean, we didn’t give a fuck. It was just those 4 people at home laughing and going, ‘Oh, I get that!’
Other people would be going, ‘What does that mean?'”
SOURCE: Kayfabe Commentaries interview with Kevin Nash. See the video of this interview here.
Editor’s note: Whether or not the incident described by Nash in this story played a role in Savio leaving WWE is up for debate. Savio Vega has since shot back and reached out to us on Twitter wanting us to share his side of the story. Read what Vega had to say about Nash’s accusations here!
