Kevin Nash has never watched Dark Side of the Ring — and he has zero plans to start.
During a fan Q&A on the Klick This Podcast, Nash was asked whether he had seen the Dark Side of the Ring episode about Big Boss Man, Ray Traylor. The fan described the episode as heartbreaking and brought up how many wrestlers from that generation are now gone.
For Nash, that is exactly why he stays away from the series. Unlike most viewers, many of the people being discussed on the show weren’t just wrestling stars he watched on television. They were people he actually knew, traveled with and cared about.
“I don’t watch Dark Side of the Ring. I’ve never watched an episode of it, nor will I. I’ve got enough post-traumatic stress in my life for the amount of people that I truly spent time with and cared about.”
Nash then turned his attention directly to Traylor and made it clear how highly he thought of the former Big Boss Man.
“Ray was a good f*cking dude, man. Ray Traylor was a good f*cking man. Just salt of the earth.”
Nash also shared what he personally heard about Traylor’s death. He made it clear that he doesn’t know what version Dark Side of the Ring presented because he didn’t watch the episode, but the story passed along to him was that Traylor simply came home tired, sat down and never woke back up.
“I remember hearing that he just came home, he was tired, he sat in his recliner and he didn’t wake up. I don’t know what they told on Dark Side, but that’s what I heard.”
Nash said Traylor lived very close to Rick Steiner at the time, adding that his relationship with the Steiner brothers remains strong. Nash had even recently eaten breakfast with Rick and Scott Steiner before WrestleCon.
“He lived real close to Robbie Steiner, who was, you know, we were really tight. We still are. We had breakfast together. I had breakfast with Robbie and Scotty Friday morning in Minnesota before we started WrestleCon. They’re like my brothers, and Ray lived in the same, if not on the same block, I know in the same complex of homes that Robbie did before Robbie moved out to the lake.”
Dark Side of the Ring may give fans a chance to revisit the lives and careers of wrestlers who are gone, but Nash sees those stories from a completely different perspective. For him, revisiting those deaths isn’t wrestling entertainment — it means reopening memories involving people who were actually part of his life.
Do you understand why Kevin Nash refuses to watch Dark Side of the Ring, or do you think the series can still serve as a meaningful way to remember wrestlers like Ray Traylor? Let us know what you think in the comments.
