Kevin Nash
(Photo by Vera Anderson/WireImage)

Kevin Nash Talks About WCW Sending Him To NJPW As Oz & The Japanese Fans’ Reaction To The Character



The latest episode of former WCW President Eric Bischoff’s podcast, Bischoff on Wrestling is now available and features former WCW & WWE World Heavyweight Champion Kevin Nash.

During Nash’s appearance he discusses his time as the character Oz early in his career during his original run with WCW. Some of his comments have been transcribed below.

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KN: I’m one of those guys that can say what I want to honestly about the character (Oz) but the part of the story I never tell is how WCW went ahead and sent Oz to New Japan. My first night over there I’m going to wrestle Hashimoto in the Osaka Dome. So they bring us down during the day time. They kind of walk me through this entrance and I’m on like a platform that’s going to rise through some smoke. I am going to the ring first and the night of they hit these green lasers and the smoke machine. Slowly with these lasers bouncing off everywhere, the smoke machine and this kind of cool techno music. They slowly raise me and the tip of my dunce hat comes out and as I come up I hear them all saying, “Oz-a! Oz-a! Oz-a!” I’m like, “What are they saying?” Finally I realized they are saying, “Oz! Oz! Oz!” “Oh my God! This thing is over here!” It was. Remember when we were in that bar in Osaka and they had Liger’s mask and the Oz mask in that glass case?

EB: I do.

KN: (Laughs) We were drinking in that bar and you said, “You want it?” I said, “No! Oh God no! Let’s just leave it there! If somebody has this thing next to a Liger mask leave it.”

Related: Eric Bischoff On How The Element Of Surprise Made Goldberg’s Squash Of Brock Lesnar A “Home Run”

Eric and Nick start the show off by talking about some of the big news stories in combat sports including:

  • Brock Lesnar entering the Royal Rumble
  • Current members of the UFC roster joining a possible MMA Fighters Union
  • A potential match between Undertaker and AJ Styles

Eric then welcomes his guest for the week former WCW/WWE World Heavyweight Champion Kevin Nash. Nash chats with Eric about:

  • Their mutual experiences growing up in Detroit
  • Nash’s time in the US Army
  • How Nash originally broke in to the business
  • Dusty Rhodes giving Nash the Oz gimmick
  • How the Japanese fans reacted to Oz
  • The first time Nash left WCW for WWE
  • Guaranteed contracts
  • Why WCW was more appealing to him than WWE in the mid-90s
  • The moment that Hulk Hogan joined the NWO
  • Working with Hogan on the original NWO promos
  • More…

Eric closes out the show answering some fan questions from the #BischoffOnWrestling mailbag including:

  • What superstars today could Eric see being a major player in WCW
  • If Eric finds himself humming Bobby Roode’s Glorious theme song
  • What Eric’s experiences with Nick Bockwinkle were like

This episode of Bischoff on Wrestling is brought you by:

Blue Apron- You can get THREE FREE MEALS with FREE SHIPPING on BlueApron.com by using the promo code: ERICB

Dollar Shave Club- You can get YOUR FIRST MONTH FREE by going to www.DollarShaveClub.com/Bischoff

You can listen to the full archives from Bischoff on Wrestling in the embedded audio player below:

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