Diesel was awesome

[Kevin Hamilton]

Yeah yeah, lowest drawing champ limited moves all that.

Well in 1994-late 1995 I was 16 years old, and that motherf***er was badass.

All hail Big Daddy Cool.

I ain't even kidding either. I love(d) that reign.

[edgestar]

I love Big Show lol, so I can't judge

[fuzzywarble, squat cobbler]

May 22, 2017 18:35:11 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

Yeah yeah, lowest drawing champ limited moves all that.

Well in 1994-late 1995 I was 16 years old, and that motherf***er was badass.

All hail Big Daddy Cool.

I ain't even kidding either. I love(d) that reign.

I'm your age. I LOVE the New Generation era.

[Mister Pigwell]

Huge fan. I love big men doing big men things. Him and Razor in that time period were my dudes.
The WWF SNES games from that time Diesel was my guy.

[OldDirtyBernie]

I'll admit it as well, I liked Diesel when I was a kid.
Hell, I like Nash outside of the Diesel character too. I understand he's not a great worker and he kind of goes into the Cornette category as a guy who says some stuff that pisses people off now and again, admittedly not to Cornette's level. His booking mindset is also basically the antithesis of what I like to watch but I just can't help but find him likeable and entertaining.

[rnrk supports BLM]

Diesel kicked ass. Him wrecking everyone in the '94 Rumble was awesome.

[Jiren]

94 - Royal Rumble 95 = Awesome
Post Rumble - Nov = Awful
Survivor Series - WCW Departure = Awesome

His title run was badly booked

[Spider2024]

I'm a Diesel mark. Not so much a Kevin Nash mark. But a Diesel mark.

I was at Royal Rumble 2011 and heard rumors that Kevin Nash was there. But then when Diesel came out, I leaped out of my chair.

[Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast]

Reviewed the whole run. Didn't think he was all that bad. Face character was limiting his charisma, but he still had some good matches.

[themule]

HES THE SHIT IM TELLIN YA!!

[The Dark Order Inferno]

I think Diesel was a much better worker than people give him credit for. In the WWF he was as good as, if not better than 'Taker at that point in his career, given how little experience he had and the fact he entered wrestling with pre-existing leg injuries. He regressed in WCW because he didn't have to try because he could be Nash and coast on his mic skills, something the WWE just can't take advantage of, even to this day they try and shove that square peg into a round hole.

[somsta]

In my top 10 favorites of all time.

I'll never forget the night he drew 60,000 to the Garden for his title match with Backlund.

[Deleted]

I enjoyed him as a kid. Re-watching his run as an adult...it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

[OGBoardPoster2005]

His booking sucked and honestly his post SS 95 character was how he should have been booked

[Emmet Russell]

Diesel didn't do much for me at the time, but looking back he was a lot better than I remember as a big guy worker... and he was very over. A worthy champion at the time.

Should he have held it as long as he did? No, I don't think so. A downfall of a long title reign like that is limited challengers... which leads to opponents like Mabel and awful matches. Put the guy against wrestlers like Bret and Shawn and he looked like a perfect champion.

It's a shame he left for WCW when he did, because his brief heel role and match with Shawn in 96 was the best of his career and it was cut short.

[Stone Coke Miami Watson 🥃]

Evident that many still mark out for him....when he returned at the Rumble a back, the arena erupted!

[Display Name]

As a kid, he may have been the first heel I really dug. Pretty sure it started when he won the IC title. I thought the Jacknife was the shit. Still have my Diesel gloves ha.

[Perfect Timing]

He seemed to have really good matches with Bret Hart. I liked his routine and never really got bored of him as I was 10-11 around the time he was pushed. The worst thing about his WWF title run was his lack of credible challengers.

[mizerable]

May 22, 2017 23:12:46 GMT -5 Perfect Timing said:

The worst thing about his WWF title run was his lack of credible challengers.

That's honestly it.

The addition of monthly PPVs was okay, but it came at a time when you have a powerhouse as champion and not a wide variety of guys that are on his level. I honestly think that was why they did the whole Dudes With Attitudes simply because the routine was tiring by this point.

Quite simply put, with the exception of about 10 or so guys, everyone else had a goofy or stupid gimmick that wasn't main event material.

[________ has left the building]

I will admit at when Diesel first debuted in WWF, I didn't like him. I still remember his run in WCW as Oz and Vinnie Vegas. When he was brought in as HBK's bodyguard, I was thinking "They hired this bum from WCW?". And when they start to give him a push while a heel, it irked me for that reason. Once he turned face, I start to come around on Diesel. And when he became WWF World champion, I liked him. He wasn't one of my faves by a long shot but I recognised his growth as a wrestler and moved from being a joke to legit. Towards the end of his original WWF run, he turned heel again and was at a different level. Since he already one foot out of the door, he was more relaxed and let loose his heeldom. But Diesel is someone who will be respected and recognised by later generations. Current ones? Not so much.