Interview: From nWo to Magic Mike: An Interview with Kevin Nash

Don’t expect to see Big Sexy in the ring too often anymore though. That part of his life is mostly behind him now. Considering his age, what he’s already accomplished and the time involved, he doesn’t believe it makes sense to make a comeback. He explains that even if he only competed on WWE’s two televised shows, with flying in and out of town, he’d be away from home four days of the week. “It’s impossible, for 25 years I haven’t been on vacations, I’ve missed most of my child’s growing up. It’s time to be a dad, be a husband.”

The theatrics of the WWE is what elevates a performer to legend, and the entrance music injects a burst of energy into the crowd. The nWo used Frank Shelley’s “Rockhouse” which became one of the most iconic entrance themes of all time. “Right, the porno music,” Nash jokes. He tells us that some of his favourite entrance themes were Jimmy Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile,” which Hogan used for a while or CM Punk’s version of the Living Colour classic “Cult of Personality.” However, most of the entrance themes in WWE are original compositions by Jim Johnston, who’s been working for the company since 1985. Of the original compositions, Nash said he especially enjoyed the themes for Razor Ramon (the other ring name given to his friend Scott Hall) and Harlem Heat. “I always wanted to [walk out] to Pearl Jam, but they’re like we can’t afford it.”

Nash is very much into music and tells us how much he loved the White Stripes DVD, Under Great White Northern Lights, where they toured every province and territory of Canada. As well as the Cameron Crowe directed Pearl Jam documentary PJ20. Both of which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Nash even sings a few lines of “Hunger Strike” for us.

Nash, now on a roll about music tells us about one of his favourite concert experiences. “I saw, years ago at Pine Knob, outside of Detroit, Neil Young and James Taylor together and Neil Young covered James Taylor’s songs and James Taylor covered Neil Young. James Taylor’s singing “Cinnamon Girl” and Neil Young’s singing “Fire and Rain.” And they’re going back and forth. It was one of the best shows I ever saw in my life. I was sitting up in the grass with my girlfriend and a big jug of wine.”

Although Nash obviously loves the classics, he’s pretty up to date on modern music as well. “This is one of the questions that I’ve always wanted to ask people is… I have friend’s that never got past Pink Floyd. And then there’s other friends that got past Pink Floyd, but didn’t get past The Stones, because The Stones kept going. How do you not know who Bullet For My Valentine are?” Although jumping from Pink Floyd to Bullet For My Valentine seems like quite a stretch, Nash knows all about punk and hard rock from his son Tristen, who is a musician. “That genre of music I would never have been involved in, because it would have been foreign to me.”

Nash tells us he now attends Warped Tour with his son. “I remember it was so funny because I had long grey hair and I had these cut off camis on and I’m walking and these really young kids walk by me with fucking spiked hair and shit and the one dudes goes ‘Who the fuck brought jacked up Moses?’”

You often wonder what these pro wrestlers will do when their career is over. What other skills do they have? What’s left in that head of theirs after being dropped on it for a couple of decades? If they haven’t made it to the big time, then they may not even have much money to sit back on. Fortunately, none of those are an issue for Kevin Nash. He’s got a good head on his shoulders, he’s making movies, he’s still under contract with the WWE, and he’s got his family. He’s just as successful as most investment bankers except he got to smash people with steel chairs for a living and retire at the same age. Keep an eye out for Nash in the upcoming film John Wick as well as the sequel to Magic Mike and don’t be surprised if you spot him at the upcoming Soundgarden & Nine Inch Nails tour. nWo 4 Life!