Kevin Nash says the nWo’s attitude came from a place most wrestling viewers probably never expected—Death Row Records.
Nash broke it down during his Kliq This podcast while looking back at the nWo’s early days with Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan. Hogan had just turned heel, but his old-school wrestling style was still miles away from what Hall and Nash were trying to create. Nash said they slowly introduced Hogan to the music and pop culture that influenced how they talked, dressed and carried themselves.
“We just smartened him up to what we were listening to, where this was coming from and what our influence was.”
Hall and Nash were paying attention to gangster rap, The Source magazine and the swagger surrounding Death Row Records. Hogan was still coming from an entirely different world.
“‘Source’ being a huge word, because it was coming basically out of The Source magazine. We just said that the hottest phenomenon, pop culture-wise, was gangster rap, and by far the hottest entity was Death Row.”
Nash said they did not immediately feel comfortable telling Hogan how to change. He was still Hulk Hogan, and he had just taken a massive risk by turning heel after years as wrestling’s biggest hero. Still, Nash knew they had to find a way to make the three personalities fit together.
“I don’t know if we were comfortable enough. I just knew that if this thing was going to take off, then we had to put something together.”
The result was not Hogan suddenly pretending to be a rapper. The nWo borrowed the confidence, danger and attitude connected to Death Row and mixed it with three established wrestling stars.
That influence helped turn the nWo into something that felt completely different from everything else on wrestling television. Hall, Nash and Hogan did not look like another wrestling stable. They looked like they had taken over the entire company.
Did you ever notice the Death Row Records influence in the nWo’s presentation? Leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments below.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
