411’s WWE Untold Report: Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels On Their First Meeting, WrestleMania XI Match, More

411’s WWE Untold Report: Two Dudes With Attitudes

-Air Date: 05.02.21
-Run Time: 52:15

-Talking Heads: Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, David Shoemaker, Bruce Prichard

-The producer asks Kevin Nash if Shawn Michaels really needed a bodyguard and Nash replies that he did because he had so much heat on him. “Shawn Michaels knew how to actually have heat.” The producer mentions to Shawn that there are rumors he was a handful back then and Shawn replies that at this point it is laughable to even call them rumors. Nice! These are not rumors, as he was a handful for Vince and everyone else. Nash was amazed at how much Shawn was able to get away with as they talk about some of the times Shawn would cuss Vince out and get away with it. Shawn says Kevin didn’t know him when they brought him into the company, yet he has stuck by him. Nash: “Shawn was a cowboy and I was a city boy so we go along well.” Shawn says the great thing about his life now is he has no reason to lie and it is liberating. This is WWE Untold: Two Dudes with Attitudes.

-Nash says he isn’t a giant or anything, but the minute people see you as one you are one. We get some great footage of Nash playing college basketball at Tennessee is the late 70s. He started as a Freshman and notes Tennessee isn’t a basketball power. It’s not as it was seen more of a football school, but still, Nash was playing D1 basketball in the SEC, so the man had to have skills. He notes he got into a lot of trouble and ended up in the military. He played military basketball and blew his knee out. He came back to the States and went to Atlanta. He thanks a guy named Pete for taking him to The Cheetah where he was offered the job of the floor manager. Nash was given the job on the spot and he jokes that any guy working in adult entertainment is never late for work. “Some nice scenery.” Obviously, plenty of wrestlers would frequent the club and Barry Windham told Nash he needed to get into the wrestling business. Nash asked what he had to do and was sent to a place to train and all they did was feed for other guys on a ring that felt like wood. When he took a bump on a WCW ring it felt so much better.

-Over to Shawn who talks about growing up as a wrestling fan and he told his mom that’s what he wanted to be. His idea of success was to work for Southwestern Championship Wrestling. All he could think was how great it would be to travel around the southwest and have an apartment and car. We get some footage of a young Shawn working before he ends up in the WWF as part of The Rockers. Shawn mentions they never won the Tag Titles, but they were a very good team. Blame the rope for breaking!

-David Shoemaker is our next talking head as he talks about how Shawn had to overcome the stigma that he was a little guy in a tag team. We see Shawn turning on Marty during a segment on The Barbershop (Jan 1992) and it’s still awesome. Sadly they omit Heenan saying Jannetty threw himself through the window to run away from Shawn. Shawn says even with the heel turn people were still uncomfortable losing to him and he was never going to be a Hogan or Warrior Main Event type of guy. That was the genesis of a lot of the trouble he had with everybody. No kidding! Shawn wins the Intercontinental Championship from Bulldog on Saturday Night’s Main Event. Shawn says he was told that nobody could take a backdrop that high as it would kill him. “Well, I can so either I am cool and better than you or you are jealous.” Just Shawn making friends!

-Back to Nash as he is offered a contract by WCW and it’s The Master Blasters. Nash admits it was a way to make up for Vince taking the Road Warriors. They show his debut at The Clash of Champions and Nash starts laughing as his partner missed a headbutt by three feet within the first 3 minutes and the crowd was gone after that. They show the botched and yeah, it was pretty bad. Nash says the thought crossed his mind about what Candace and Joy were doing back on tabletops. From there we get Oz and Nash says you forget what a treasure Dusty Rhodes was. “Dust, isn’t Oz a geographical region?” From there he became Vinnie Vegas and really that was a little closer to Nash. It was that character that caught the attention of Shawn Michaels.

-Shawn says he was watching WCW and Andre Dice Clay was hot at the time and Nash was the wrestling version of that. He made him laugh and that stuck with him. He talks about being the IC Champion and a lot of his matches finished as disqualifications or count-outs and Shawn pitched the idea of giving him a bodyguard to help him cheat to win which would get him heat. Vince asked who on the current roster he wanted and Shawn didn’t see anyone there fitting that role. He threw out Vinnie Vegas and Vince told him they couldn’t touch any of the WCW guys. Shawn told Vince he was entertaining and would be more than just the quiet bodyguard that stood there. A few months later Shawn mentioned the idea to Rick Steiner who knew Kevin Nash. Steiner gave him the number and Nash talked to Shawn a bit. Nash then told WCW things weren’t working and he wanted his release and the next day he was flown up to meet Vince McMahon. Nash compares meeting Vince to meeting George Steinbrener.

-Bruce Prichard next as he recalls meeting Nash poolside at Vince’s house and all he could think was this guy was “a big bastard.” Vince told Nash he was going to take his limo to Albany to screw over Marty Jannetty at a live event. He was brought around to meet Shawn and Nash was amazed at how deep Shawn’s voice was for a smaller dude. Shawn told Nash that not many people liked him and it would probably rub off on him by association and Nash shot back “I got your back.” Shawn gets teary eyed just talking about it. Again, people may scoff, but it’s wonderful to have true ride or die friends.

-Special Report with Lord Alfred Hayes who covers the debut of Shawn’s bodyguard in helping Shawn regain the Intercontinental Title. Shawn says he was incredibly dangerous back than as he was single dude focused on being the best wrestler while also having an attitude of feeling 10 feet tall and bullet-proof. We see Shawn introduce the world to his bodyguard (sporting a track suit) on Monday Night RAW as he interrupts McMahon, Savage, and Heenan.

-Nash says that the world doesn’t know how much of a prick Shawn is and in Shawn’s mind he thought you were jealous of him, if you thought he was a prick. Nobody besides Shawn’s boys liked him except when you were penciled to be across the ring from him. When you get paid to work with him then he is the best man on earth. “The man doesn’t know how to have a bad match.”

-At King of The Ring 1993, Shawn finally tells us his bodyguard is Diesel. Prichard talks about the genesis of the name as they didn’t want to call him Kevin Nash and wanted a one word name that sounded like a tough, jacked dude. Nash talks about how he isn’t an off the rack guy and he needed to find a look for this character. He talks about sporting the mullet and Shawn jumps on that as well. In Shawn’s mind he was just trying to grow his hair out long and on the sides it looks bad, so he figured he would shave it off and next thing he knew he had a mullet. He says he didn’t know what that was until years later when he got married and his wife asked why he didn’t just let all his hair grow in because what he was doing was creating a mullet which nobody did anymore. Awesome! Nash looks at things in life that are always cool and he went back to Elvis rocking the black leather, so that’s where he got the look. They show Shawn/Perfect at SummerSlam 1993 and man, that one never lived up to the hype they put on themselves as they basically guaranteed the greatest match of all time.

-Prichard talks about how raw Nash was at the time and by putting him with Shawn it gave him a chance to learn from the best. Diesel makes his in ring debut in July of 93 in a tag match against Razor and Jannetty. The crowd popping for Ramon and Diesel squaring off is kind of cool. They talk about Nash improving and Nash says he was told by Lex Luger early in the run that Vince was infatuated by him and was going to make him WWF Champion.

-Royal Rumble 1994: The night that a star was born as Nash gets the Rumble push that later became known as the Diesel push. He eliminates wrestler after wrestler and the crowd just pops louder with each one.

-Shawn says Kev is a bright guy and while entertaining, he is intelligent as hell. We jump to Mania X as they talk about the ladder match. Nash brings up that Shawn wanted to be a wrestler at an early age and Scott Hall was the same. Prichard puts over both Hall and Shawn for helping Nash learn psychology of the business. Nash talks about watching the ladder match and learning why they did things and didn’t do things. It was like that every night with those guys.

-He also talks about the road trips and how it was the nucleus of what became the Kliq. They also drank a lot of beer during those trips and Nash busts on Shawn for having a stomach roll showing when he was on the cover of the WWE magazine. Fantastic! They show the cover here and yeah, Shawn is a little pudgier than normal. Shawn asked why nobody would tell him and Hall just told him “you shouldn’t have drank as much as the big man.”

-Next we talk about women as Shawn talks the art of trying to talk to women. Nash understood that Shawn was great at wrestling inside the ring, but was not good at social settings that involved meeting girls. He credits Nash for helping him grow up.

-Shawn and Diesel win the Tag Titles and Nash says it was the first time he ever held a tag title. He talks about how Shawn was in a great tag team, but this was the first time he ever held the Tag Titles. They have video of Shawn and Diesel on Regis and it brings a smile to my face as Regis is great.

-Diesel and Shawn started getting over as a team and Vince told Shawn that Diesel was doing great and he was thinking of putting the WWE Title on him. Shawn, “Well, I had a little to do with this.” The team comes to an end at Survivor Series as Shawn kicked Diesel one time too many and Diesel was done with it.

-Shoemaker talks about the WWE in the early 90s and how they were trying to find an identity. They were learning the stuff from the 80s wasn’t working as well anymore. Nash says that Vince will always have the desire to have the bigger than life comic book hero and because of that he got his shot. That leads to MSG in November where Nash beats Bob Backlund for the WWF Title in 8 seconds. Shoemaker says as fans you were trained to see titles change hands at WrestleMania and SummerSlam. Nash mentions that when he beat Backlund he was still green, as Diesel had less than 200 matches. We get Diesel’s promo to the live crowd after winning the WWF Title. Nash mentions that Shawn lobbied to be the WWF Champion and it was Shawn’s dream and not his own. The cameras follow Diesel backstage and King Kong Bundy is the first to congratulate him which is awesomely random. Shawn talks about how awesome it was for Diesel and he got to help with that. Captain Lou congratulates Diesel and I love footage like this. Shawn says he told Nash to enjoy the moment and while he would like to have that moment for himself, he was happy for him. He didn’t want anyone trying to stir shit up between them. More good stuff as Shawn is preparing to cut a promo and asks if he can say “Kevin.” He then switches into Shawn mode and cuts a promo about how he is coming for the Title.

-We jump to WrestleMania XI build as Nash cuts a promo putting over how great Shawn is inside the ring. Shawn has to take the belt from him and he doesn’t think he can do it. Shawn retorts that people like Diesel are a dime a dozen and he is once in a lifetime. They get into another heated debate in the middle of NY to hype Mania even more. Shawn says the match was one of those things they always talked about and thought would be cool.

-WrestleMania XI: Shoemaker talks about how the WWE was trying to find their footing in pop culture and they show the celebrities that showed up to Mania: Johnathan Taylor Thomas (Home Improvement, Simba), Jenny McCarthy (wouldn’t be last time WWE partnered with her). Shoemaker mentions that Shawn/Diesel for the WWF Title wasn’t even the Main Event as LT vs Bigelow was given that spot. “Normally someone like Shawn Michaels would be mad in that situation, and I am sure he was.” It’s funny because it’s true! Shawn and Diesel both felt they tore the house down that night. Shoemaker compares the match to being an opening band, but the guitar player says screw it and does everything he can to make it about himself. Accurate! Prichard remembers the match and thinking that Shawn could do anything. Nash credits Shawn for creating all the motion around him. Shawn was just on another level as he was bouncing all over the place. Shawn talks about the change in the business at the time and he felt he was leading the charge. Shoemaker talks about how Diesel was placing face in peril even though he had a foot and over 100 lbs on Shawn. The match started like something out of the 80s and ended up becoming something in the 90s. Shawn says they were trying to tell the fans about The Attitude Era three yeas before it happened.

-The next night on RAW, Shawn gets turned face as Sid turns on him. Shawn tells Sid to hit the bricks as he doesn’t need a bodyguard for the rematch and that doesn’t sit well with Sid as he decks Shaw and powerbombs him. Diesel makes the save and now Nash is the number two face in the company. That leads to the Two Dudes with Attitudes run as Nash says Shawn liked to rhyme things. Apparently he also liked to use the term “Two Pricks with Chicks.” Shawn realized that he was IC Champ and Diesel was WWE Champ and wondered if any two people ever held all the titles and then wondered how much heat would they get. I’m guessing probably a lot!

-That takes us to the Winner Take All Match against Yoko and Bulldog (subbing for Owen). The screw job finish sees Owen head into the ring and get pinned to give Shawn and Diesel all the gold. Nash says they pinned the illegal man, but it still gave them the photo-op of having all the gold. Shawn says the locker room all hated them for having all the titles. Shoemaker talks about the rumors that they were bad for business and had Vince wrapped around their finger and he is sure all that is true, but he also thinks people had to be jealous. Shawn says they relished being hated and years later they are cool stories to tell, but in real time you shouldn’t enjoy having people hate you as much as they did. Prichard says it was a bad decision at the time as they had no where else to go and it was an in the moment decision. Shoemaker says now as a jaded fan you can’t help but think they had so much pull, but as a kid they just seemed cool.

-Nash says he was a grown man and it was a period where he wanted to get paid. He drops the strap to Bret in a great match at Survivor Series 1995. Shoemaker brings up how WCW started signing people like Hogan and Savage, but Nash was the first current era star to explore his options. Nash says he wanted security and several million dollars. “I want to live the American Dream.”

-Shawn wins the WWF Title from Bret at WrestleMania 12. Nash: “Shawn always wanted to be a wrestler and I always wanted to be wealthy.” Love his honesty and more power to him!

-MSG for The Curtain Call as Shawn beats Nash in a Steel Cage Match. The fan cam video is great as someone screams “goodbye Diesel. Get your ass out of here.” Then the same fan marks out as HHH, Shawn, Diesel and Razor all hug and celebrate in the ring. Prichard watched it all from the aisle and he hated it. He felt it was disrespectful and for that time and place it wasn’t the right thing to do.

-Nash says Shawn came to him and Hall and bitched at them for leaving as he put them both over for months on end and gave them great matches which they used to get massive contracts. Now they were leaving him minus two of his best guys to work with. Diesel says that Shawn was pissed and had a right to be. Skip that, it’s just business man!

-June 10, 1996: It’s crazy we are coming up on the 25th anniversary of all these moments that lead to the formation of the nWo. Anyway, this one is Nash showing up on Nitro to join Hall, who debuted two weeks earlier. It’s still awesome and amazing and makes me feel like a 15 year old again. “The measure stick just changed around here buddy. You’re looking at it.” No kidding!

-Shawn says that Nash learned a lot from him inside the ring, but he was able to learn a lot about the business from Nash. He was taught it is okay to give everything you have in the ring, but make sure he get yours as well. I have no problem with that advice as everyone should do what they can to get appropriate compensation.

-Prichard doesn’t know if Nash would have made it as quickly without Shawn. He thinks Shawn would still have been big, but Nash helped get him there as well.

-Nash says nobody has ever been close to touching Shawn inside the ring. They show footage of Shawn and Nash messing around at Nash’s Hall of Fame induction. If I remember right Shawn threw a bit of a tandtrum on stage as their time was cut. Nash talks about how if Shawn doesn’t pick him then he doesn’t have all the fruits in his life. He has never met a person in life that he would rather be than himself. He has no regrets as they get you no place.

-Shawn talks about the issues he was having in 2001 and 2002. He called Nash one night in an altered state and Diesel told him he loved him, but needed to get his shit together as he had a wife and kid. Within 48 hours he talked to Nash again, and then Hunter and his wife and he realized it was time to get his shit together. He had a conversation with Jesus as well and has never looked back.

-As is the case with this series this was very well done. Nash was the star here as the man is quick witted and great with one liners. I was a little disappointed they didn’t touch on their epic brawl at In Your House that ended Diesel’s first run in the WWE (at least on TV/PPV). Thankfully, there is a Shawn DVD set out there that has alternate commentary with them talking about that match. Overall this was another great entry in this series and while they kind of glossed over some things it basically covered most things we knew and few we thought we knew and they confirmed. Definitely worth a watch. Thanks for reading!