page_title: Kevin Nash
section_title: WCW World Heavyweight Champion (1999–2001)
hierarchical_section_title: Kevin Nash / Professional wrestling career / Return to WCW / WCW World Heavyweight Champion (1999–2001)
caption_attribution_description: English: Kevin Nash (left) and Sting (right) during a taping of WCW Monday Nitro from Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1998.
context_page_description: Kevin Scott Nash is an American actor and retired professional wrestler, best known for his tenures with World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He has wrestled under several ring names, but is best known for his work under his real name in WCW, and as Diesel in the WWF.
  In 1994 while in the WWF, Nash won the WWF World, Intercontinental and Tag Team Championships and at that year's Slammy Awards won the MVP and Best Tag Team awards. Between WWE, WCW, and TNA, Nash has won a total of 21 championships, including being a six-time world champion and a 12-time world tag team champion between the three promotions. Nash's 358-day WWF Championship reign is the longest of the 1990s. During his time in WCW, Nash became the first wrestler to defeat Goldberg and in the process ended his undefeated streak of 173–0 at Starrcade in 1998. Following a college basketball career for the University of Tennessee, Nash played professionally for German Bundesliga squad Gießen 46ers for a short time until a knee injury ended his career.
context_section_description: In May 1999, Nash won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship for the second time by defeating Diamond Dallas Page at Slamboree. He then appeared on The Tonight Show and put up a $250,000 challenge to Bret Hart for its May 24 program. However, Bret's brother, Owen, died in a wrestling stunt just as Bret was flying to Los Angeles; this immediately canceled their match and feud. Nash then entered a feud with the returning Randy Savage, who was later joined by a returning Sid Vicious at The Great American Bash in June when he powerbombed Nash during the match, thus giving Nash a disqualification victory (as the signature move of both men, the Jackknife Powerbomb, had been ruled an "illegal" move by WCW leadership due to its high potential for injury). This rivalry culminated in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach in July 1999 which pitted Nash and Sting against Savage and Sid. A stipulation was added that whoever got the pin in the match would become WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Nash was pinned by Savage and lost his championship, but would get his revenge the next night on Nitro in a title match between Savage and a returning Hulk Hogan, and in a similar situation to Savage's first title defense from the previous year, he used a Jackknife Powerbomb on Savage, preserving the victory for Hogan. The following week, however, Nash attacked Hogan during a match pitting Hogan against Vicious. Nash, Sid, and Rick Steiner then feuded with Hogan, Sting, and a returning Goldberg until Road Wild, where Hogan defeated Nash in a "retirement" match. On October 4, 1999, Nash returned to WCW along with Scott Hall, which was later revealed to be a new version of the nWo involving Nash, Hall, Bret Hart, and Jeff Jarrett called 'nWo 2000'. This would not last long either due to the injury of Hart, the group's leader, and Nash spent most of 2000 feuding with the likes of Terry Funk, Mike Awesome, Scott Steiner, and Booker T.
  Nash won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship again from Booker T on the August 28, 2000 episode of Monday Nitro in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He eventually lost it to Booker T later on at Fall Brawl. He even had a stint as WCW Commissioner, and he served as a coach/mentor to The Natural Born Thrillers, who would eventually turn on Nash. Nash aligned himself with Diamond Dallas Page, reuniting the Vegas Connection, but renamed The Insiders. They feuded with the Perfect Event (Shawn Stasiak and Chuck Palumbo) and won the WCW World Tag Team Championship at Mayhem on November 26, 2000. Shortly after, they were stripped of the title by Commissioner Mike Sanders in mid-December. Weeks later, they won the title back at Starrcade. In 2001 (WCW's final months), the Insiders continued their feud with the Natural Born Thrillers. Nash lost another "retirement" match to Scott Steiner at SuperBrawl Revenge, but it would not be long before WCW announced the sale of the company to the World Wrestling Federation. As he had a guaranteed contract with AOL Time Warner, Nash chose to wait out the remainder of his contract, which expired on December 31, 2001.
caption: Nash in the ring with Sting, who he would later join forces with after the formation of the nWo Wolfpac
exif: {}