Reliving A Title Run Volume #22: Kevin Nash As WCW World Champion In WCW ’99

At Starrcade 1998, Kevin Nash ended the undefeated streak that WCW World Champion Goldberg had going since September 1997. With the victory, Nash won his first WCW World Championship and was getting some good reactions from the crowd. Nash may have been the most popular he had ever been. Then, things changed.

January 4th, 1999 saw the Finger Poke of Doom take place on WCW Nitro. Nash laid down after Hulk Hogan poked him and Hogan then pinned Nash to regain the WCW World Championship. It’s a rather disappointing way to followup on the big moment of Nash ending Goldberg’s streak. It is also a waste of a title reign for Nash, especially considering it was his first one. However, Nash wouldn’t stay away from the WCW World Championship for too long.

After a brief feud with Rey Mysterio Jr. and Konnan for two months, and after losing to Goldberg at Spring Stampede 1999, Nash was deemed to be the number one contender to the WCW World Championship. Thus, Nash found himself challenging WCW World Champion Diamond Dallas Page at WCW Slamboree on May 9th, 1999. After eighteen minutes, Nash walked out as WCW World Champion for a second time.

Nash successfully defended the championship against DDP in a rematch on the May 17th edition of Nitro when he won by disqualification. Nash would move onto his next challenger, and essentially is only other challenger, Randy Savage. Savage made his return to WCW in April 1999 after being away from WCW for nearly a year. Macho Man had gained a significant amount of muscle and had a new female valet by his side, Gorgeous George. Actually, Savage would eventually have three women with him as he included Madusa and Mona to his stable of women.

Their feud was rather controversial for the time. Not because at one point Nash had a female in a duffle bag and she ended up dumping “poop” onto Savage in the middle of the ring. No, it was controversial because Savage had developed a personality where he was rather aggressive with women. It was strongly suggested that Savage had hit Gorgeous George and she appeared on television with a black eye. It was a program developed in poor taste, I’d say.

Anyway, they would meet at Great American Bash 1999 for their first PPV contest. The week before the pay per view, Nash was trapped in a limo and a hummer crashed into it. Considering the PPV was six days away, it put doubt into the mind of fans whether or not Nash would be at the show. In typical WCW fashion, they rushed the angle and noted quickly that Nash was healthy and was going to be at the show.

At the Great American Bash, Nash retained the title, after seven minutes of action, by disqualification when Sid Vicious made his surprise return to WCW after a six year absence. So, Nash now had to deal with Sid and Savage in order to keep his prized possession, the WCW World Championship.

The following night on Nitro, Nash fought the returning Sid to a no contest to retain the title. The match was hardly anything as Madusa, Savage, and Sting got involved to cause the match to be thrown out.

A few weeks later when Nitro was in Chicago, Nash had a new challenger. WCW President Ric Flair was obsessed with making his son, David Flair, a star in professional wrestling. Most of the episode promoted the match as Flair wanted David to be like Michael Jordan. It’s a rather comical storyline. It was the main event of Nitro and despite a lot of interference, Nash was able to successfully retain the title. It ended up being a lumberjack match and Nash retained by disqualification. How he didn’t just pin David Flair is beyond me, honestly.

The following week, Nash defended the WCW World Championship against Sid Vicious in a rematch from June 14th. This showdown was actually the last time WCW held a show at the Georgia Dome. Back in January, WCW got 34,788 paid into the Georgia Dome. By July, WCW managed to get 19,456 paid.

As per usual, the match wasn’t anything of substance and was thrown out quickly. It was mostly just Nash, Savage, Sid and Sting brawling to lead into their pay per view match in six days. It was also on this show that Savage slapped Torrie Wilson to close the show. As much as I love Randy Savage, that was just too much.

At Bash at the Beach 1999, WCW World Champion Kevin Nash teamed with Sting in a tag match against Randy Savage and Sid Vicious. Whomever earned the pin fall would be the World Champion. Gorgeous George, who again is sporting a “black eye” low blows Nash as he went for a power bomb on Savage. Eventually, Savage came off the top to hit an elbow drop and won the title.

A lot of people in the wrestling business like to say that Kevin Nash has a great mind for the business. This title run is an example of not using the fullest of your creative ability. It was a rather lazy title run and wasn’t any kind of redemption from the fiasco in January. The June stuff involving Savage was entertaining on some level, but when you get into domestic violence as a way to get heel heat, that just crosses a line that shouldn’t be crossed.

The title run is mostly forgettable and there aren’t any worthwhile matches. Nash didn’t defend the title every week and aside from the David Flair joke a defense, he didn’t expand his range of opponents. I’d say it’s one of the worst WCW World Championship reigns in the history of the company, easily.

What are your memories of this title run?

Thanks for reading.