All bull Wwf was in a New generation era. 1995 w. Kevin Nash as world champion was definitely positive move. 1996 w. Shawn Michaels as Wwf champion was there lowest draw & that's a fact.
Never had a problem with world champion Diesel. First guy to successfully defend title at Wrestlemnia since Hogan v Andre. Also was better than what we were expecting with Backlund as champ..Solid run Kev.
I love how people like to blame Nash. Even though Nash is at the center of the upturn in wrestling business that help create a boom. Nash was given the title in a downward trending period. So many factors outside of Nash's control. Yet somehow Nash is to blame?
I was only like 7-8 when he was champion in WWF so I was a fan..deisel, yok, shawn, bret, taker, razor, bam bam, golddust.....the new gen era regardless of the lack of gimmicks is my 2nd favorite probably behind the attitude era
I think it wouldve been a lot bigger impact if people had actually saw it happen instead of a house show, it was just kinda like oh by the way backlund lost diesel is champ now, like a footnote on the tv show
I never heard this take but it's spot on. Imagine if the exact same match had taken place live on raw the Monday after the Survivor Series. It would've been an all time moment in the show, like when goldberg beat hogan on nitro, just remembered when a star was officially crowned
Obviously Nash himself will tell you he wasn't the best worker, but he was still over. He was just as over as Bret or Shawn or Luger or anyone else in the main event in that era. None of those guys would have drawn any better. Though I really think they should have given the belt to Razor during this era.
To be fair. The "lowest drawing champion" term, comes from house show earnings. Which Nash did rank as the lowest. It doesn't matter tho, because one year later he sets the business on fire and Is a white hot draw.
I'm not saying this because I think he will see it, but "Diesel" to me, made wwf cool. You didn't talk about hogan or bret in school unless you wanted to be made fun of as a dweeb but even the non fans would ask or talk about what Diesel was doing because he seemed like a legit bad dude who would knock you out. Also his interviews were like Jim Carrey level snark. Perfect champ.
Nash kind of ignoring the part where total revenue in 95/96 was down several million from the previous year, also the profits are from the tax year not calendar year, hence 94/95 & 95/96, meaning a third of nash's reign was in the 94/95 year and the other two thirds during the 95/96 year. Plus Hogan had nothing to do with the 94/95 year, he left before WM10 which was 94, Manias placement also signifying the end of one and start of another tax year. Nash was the lowest drawing champ at the time, but as he's pointed out WWF did not help him, his first PPV defence did not cement him as the man, and Vince tried to neuter the character almost as soon as Diesel won the belt, because Vince still thought his top guy needed to be the classic good natured hero, whilst Diesel was more anti-hero, so whilst it's true he did not draw great as champ it's also like dude did what he could with what he had, doubt Bret would have drawn any better against King Mabel tbh.
Never had a problem with raw data in a medium sample size so the spin doctor can prescribe the placebo for the stockholders that never watch or cared about the house show or television side of the business. That being said the arcade video gsme division was making a mint in profits.
The idea he "wasn't a draw" has been proven wrong when he went to WCW. WWE booking him vs Mable,Bam Bam, Bulldog and especially Shawn was the problem. Shawn vs Sid is a great measuring stick. Shawn was the baby face and people in New York wanted Sid to destroy him. Soooo yeah Nash wasn't the problem.
how could he possibly not draw money without nash and hall there would be no attitude era. hes on a whole different mount rushmore of people who changed the business
@teemdeep2060 see to Me his Backlund match was a 5 star match. To marks who don't know wrestling it was a house show match. But the context was Diesel was too big too strong too cool and not long before He Single Handedly beat up Razor's team at the survivor series powerbombing all of them. So Vince was booking him strong Diesel had no choice but to go over Backlund strong. Stupid marks likes Meltzer and his fn children know nothing about wrestling. Nash was 2 sweeeeeeet🤘
@teemdeep2060 yes. If you read my comment you should understand why. But If You're a son of Metlzer and a mark than you will never understand what I mean.
The half heel Diesel that lost the title to Bret (before going full heel) was $$ If he was half heel while champ he could have pulled wrestling out of the gutter. Instead of caroling Diesel
I don’t think that it was Kevin’s fault that the ratings were low and attendance was down. The Hulkamania era came to an end, the steroid trial along with the other scandals hurt the business in general, so I don’t think whoever was at the top was going to be a huge draw just out of circumstance. Yoko, Bret, and Shawn were not great draws but it wasn’t because they were terrible figures: just out of circumstances. I did wish that Vince would have allowed Diesel to be just himself and not just a white babyface. Once he lost the title at Survivor Series in 1995, he became the Diesel that everyone wanted.
The whole business was in the toilet, it's hardly Nash's fault. He just happened to have the title at the time. Cena would have been a low drawing champion too.
During that time era did any champ really draw, Bret didn't Shawn didn't til after screw job so I've look at it as the fans of the WWF rebeling again the style of booking
I wouldn't consider 100M$ of profit a low drawing champion. I know, I watched the Paparazzi Productions documentary in TNA. According to the graph: Big Kev actually drawn higher numbers than Hogan, Bret, Austin and Rock combined during his WWF run.
If it's based on company profits whilst a wrestler was champion, Roman Reigns is the biggest draw in the entire history of wrestling by miles as WWE have made billions with him as champion
Hogan was in WCW by 1994. But Diesel was a low-drawing Champion because it wasn't the Diesel who got over. There was a feeling that a babyface World Champion had to be squeaky clean, with no rough edges. Diesel was drinking milk, not taking money for autographs and doing sunset flips. Interestingly it was only after he lost the belt that he was allowed to become the real Diesel again. The same thing happened to Shawn Michaels. Very over, so they decide to make him World Champion. Only he first had to lose his attitude, and become a Gee Schucks dweeb "living his boyhood dream". They gave him Jose as his mentor/manager, and had him being Mr Nice. Result? Michaels flopped as World Champion. If he'd been allowed to be the same guy that he was when he was Intercontinental Champion, things would have been very different.
Kevin was a low drawing champion but I don't blame him for it. 1995 was a low point in wrestling with too much crap in the mid-card making the product in general undesirable. Plus Kevin was too big to be the babyface champion. He should have had a Yokozuna style heel run with the belt where all the babyfaces struggle to take it off him.
I disagree about being too big for the babyface run but I think there was a much more interesting heel opportunity had he not left wwf in 96. Alternate universe he woulda kept the title til mania, and main evented vs taker and lost. The next night he does the "shoot" promo with me with a black glove promo, and now you have the real big daddy cool back. Bret takes the title off Taker in July 96, Diesel wins the title from Bret at Survivor Series 96. Diesel as a heel feuds with Razor, Taker, and Bret on the lead to wrestlemania in 97 when he drops it to shawn (they wouldn't have touched in 2 years) subsequently shawn (instead of winning the title in 96) could've stayed "hurt" until mania and had an incredible semi main event with Owen hart for the ic title (which owen would've won). This would further diesels turn as hbk wins a title the same night Diesel loses his, planting the seed for next year's mania. Pair warrior vs vader together for the year (replacing warrior with sid when warrior left), feud bulldog and ahmed johnson for more than a arm wrestling match, and without an nWo, wwf destroys nitro in its first year and nitro moves to Thursdays by 97 instead of conception of thunder.
The whole Nash lowest drawing champion thing has always screamed of jealousy/ignorance to me, even as a kid hearing it. Wrestling fans know if a wrestler is good or not. Up to that time Nash was one of the best in ring super big guys there had been. Nash got better matches out of bret than someone for example like hogan ever could have. There’s been super crap wwe champs while the company was doing awesome, and great wwe champs during bad times. Putting that much weight behind the wwe champ driving business is I believe more fitting for the 70s and early 80s than the following decades
The idea that people only come to see the champion is dumb af. As if Lesnar being champion now would somehow elevate the other 99% of the boring crap. Wrestling in 1995 was horrible regardless of who was champion.
Kev using the same logic as when he wanted everyone to vote for Biden 😂. He was the lowest drawing champ ever. Sure people came along after and did worse eventually.
I think "Donald Trump is a pathologically lying proven con artist who did a terrible job the first time around" was sound logic. Then again, I'm independent and objective, and I rely on facts.
@ if 20 people did something better then me before I did it then I was the worst. And if you come along 10 years later and do worse then I did it doesn’t change the fact that I WAS the worse even though you are now the worst.
@@ecclesyadudeirock Then they aren't the worst anymore. The new person would be the worst. Nash would be considered a bad drawing champion, but not the worst.
That look he gives into the camera right at the end is hilarious
Wrestling in 1995 was low no matter who was on top, Kevin proved he can be a top draw when he went to wcw and helped change the business forever.
😂🤣😭😭😭
Wasn’t him drawing 😂
And, he was rushed into the title with no build. The fans didn't have a chance to love him like 96-98.
Never had a problem being the lowest drawing champion.
“Diesel and Hitman never drew a dime” Mike Graham
All bull Wwf was in a New generation era. 1995 w. Kevin Nash as world champion was definitely positive move. 1996 w. Shawn Michaels as Wwf champion was there lowest draw & that's a fact.
Never had a problem with world champion Diesel. First guy to successfully defend title at Wrestlemnia since Hogan v Andre. Also was better than what we were expecting with Backlund as champ..Solid run Kev.
I saw Bob at a hotel gym in KC when i was a teenager.
Congrats Big Man! 🙏🏽🫡
Hey Kevin, you still the Man 🙏 Have a BLESSED Christmas! Peace from Daytona BCH brother 🎄🎸🙏
I got out of wrestling but big daddy cool brought me back. When he was on the mtv rock and jock softball game.
I love how people like to blame Nash. Even though Nash is at the center of the upturn in wrestling business that help create a boom. Nash was given the title in a downward trending period. So many factors outside of Nash's control. Yet somehow Nash is to blame?
I was only like 7-8 when he was champion in WWF so I was a fan..deisel, yok, shawn, bret, taker, razor, bam bam, golddust.....the new gen era regardless of the lack of gimmicks is my 2nd favorite probably behind the attitude era
I’m just here for The Detroit Tigers hat.
He won the WWE Championship Nov 26th, 1994 and then lost it almost a year later November 19th, 1995 at Survivor Series.
I think it wouldve been a lot bigger impact if people had actually saw it happen instead of a house show, it was just kinda like oh by the way backlund lost diesel is champ now, like a footnote on the tv show
I never heard this take but it's spot on. Imagine if the exact same match had taken place live on raw the Monday after the Survivor Series. It would've been an all time moment in the show, like when goldberg beat hogan on nitro, just remembered when a star was officially crowned
Obviously Nash himself will tell you he wasn't the best worker, but he was still over. He was just as over as Bret or Shawn or Luger or anyone else in the main event in that era. None of those guys would have drawn any better. Though I really think they should have given the belt to Razor during this era.
You need to get Al Snow on here to analyze Diesel's championship run.
To be fair. The "lowest drawing champion" term, comes from house show earnings. Which Nash did rank as the lowest. It doesn't matter tho, because one year later he sets the business on fire and Is a white hot draw.
I'm not saying this because I think he will see it, but "Diesel" to me, made wwf cool. You didn't talk about hogan or bret in school unless you wanted to be made fun of as a dweeb but even the non fans would ask or talk about what Diesel was doing because he seemed like a legit bad dude who would knock you out. Also his interviews were like Jim Carrey level snark. Perfect champ.
Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Drew McIntyre (not his fault during Covid) were worse than the Nash/Hart combo in 1995.
Nash kind of ignoring the part where total revenue in 95/96 was down several million from the previous year, also the profits are from the tax year not calendar year, hence 94/95 & 95/96, meaning a third of nash's reign was in the 94/95 year and the other two thirds during the 95/96 year.
Plus Hogan had nothing to do with the 94/95 year, he left before WM10 which was 94, Manias placement also signifying the end of one and start of another tax year.
Nash was the lowest drawing champ at the time, but as he's pointed out WWF did not help him, his first PPV defence did not cement him as the man, and Vince tried to neuter the character almost as soon as Diesel won the belt, because Vince still thought his top guy needed to be the classic good natured hero, whilst Diesel was more anti-hero, so whilst it's true he did not draw great as champ it's also like dude did what he could with what he had, doubt Bret would have drawn any better against King Mabel tbh.
Never had a problem with raw data in a medium sample size so the spin doctor can prescribe the placebo for the stockholders that never watch or cared about the house show or television side of the business.
That being said the arcade video gsme division was making a mint in profits.
So what you're telling me is you're not the lowest drawing WWE champion. Very interesting 🤔🤔🤔
The idea he "wasn't a draw" has been proven wrong when he went to WCW. WWE booking him vs Mable,Bam Bam, Bulldog and especially Shawn was the problem. Shawn vs Sid is a great measuring stick. Shawn was the baby face and people in New York wanted Sid to destroy him. Soooo yeah Nash wasn't the problem.
Being a talented individual ring worker and being a draw are different .. many fans forget that
how could he possibly not draw money without nash and hall there would be no attitude era. hes on a whole different mount rushmore of people who changed the business
@teemdeep2060 see to Me his Backlund match was a 5 star match. To marks who don't know wrestling it was a house show match. But the context was Diesel was too big too strong too cool and not long before He Single Handedly beat up Razor's team at the survivor series powerbombing all of them. So Vince was booking him strong Diesel had no choice but to go over Backlund strong. Stupid marks likes Meltzer and his fn children know nothing about wrestling. Nash was 2 sweeeeeeet🤘
@andisuge 5 star?... wasn't it the shortest match in championship history?... like 7 seconds right?
@teemdeep2060 yes. If you read my comment you should understand why.
But If You're a son of Metlzer and a mark than you will never understand what I mean.
Diesel was awesome. Shouldn't have turned him face
The half heel Diesel that lost the title to Bret (before going full heel) was $$ If he was half heel while champ he could have pulled wrestling out of the gutter. Instead of caroling Diesel
honestly they were still building the company up until a few years after so it would be unfair to say he wasn’t drawing money.
I don’t think that it was Kevin’s fault that the ratings were low and attendance was down. The Hulkamania era came to an end, the steroid trial along with the other scandals hurt the business in general, so I don’t think whoever was at the top was going to be a huge draw just out of circumstance. Yoko, Bret, and Shawn were not great draws but it wasn’t because they were terrible figures: just out of circumstances.
I did wish that Vince would have allowed Diesel to be just himself and not just a white babyface. Once he lost the title at Survivor Series in 1995, he became the Diesel that everyone wanted.
The whole business was in the toilet, it's hardly Nash's fault. He just happened to have the title at the time. Cena would have been a low drawing champion too.
especially when you consider that Nash was directly behind the NWO which would save both companies
During that time era did any champ really draw, Bret didn't Shawn didn't til after screw job so I've look at it as the fans of the WWF rebeling again the style of booking
you had to draw more money than kofi kingston,big e,or bubba lashley..........
There seems the be a common theme between these three......
The suck!
They all have big cocks ?
I wouldn't consider 100M$ of profit a low drawing champion.
I know, I watched the Paparazzi Productions documentary in TNA. According to the graph: Big Kev actually drawn higher numbers than Hogan, Bret, Austin and Rock combined during his WWF run.
Damn the Attitude Era made a crap load of revenue.
It was a good product too. I know everyone focuses on the characters, but the product was good.
@TheFranchise83 Yea I know. 98-99 Made a ton of money. That was Vince Russo's first year as head writer too.
If it's based on company profits whilst a wrestler was champion, Roman Reigns is the biggest draw in the entire history of wrestling by miles as WWE have made billions with him as champion
Hogan was in WCW by 1994.
But Diesel was a low-drawing Champion because it wasn't the Diesel who got over.
There was a feeling that a babyface World Champion had to be squeaky clean, with no rough edges.
Diesel was drinking milk, not taking money for autographs and doing sunset flips. Interestingly it was only after he lost the belt that he was allowed to become the real Diesel again.
The same thing happened to Shawn Michaels. Very over, so they decide to make him World Champion. Only he first had to lose his attitude, and become a Gee Schucks dweeb "living his boyhood dream". They gave him Jose as his mentor/manager, and had him being Mr Nice. Result? Michaels flopped as World Champion. If he'd been allowed to be the same guy that he was when he was Intercontinental Champion, things would have been very different.
Kevin was a low drawing champion but I don't blame him for it. 1995 was a low point in wrestling with too much crap in the mid-card making the product in general undesirable. Plus Kevin was too big to be the babyface champion. He should have had a Yokozuna style heel run with the belt where all the babyfaces struggle to take it off him.
I disagree about being too big for the babyface run but I think there was a much more interesting heel opportunity had he not left wwf in 96. Alternate universe he woulda kept the title til mania, and main evented vs taker and lost. The next night he does the "shoot" promo with me with a black glove promo, and now you have the real big daddy cool back. Bret takes the title off Taker in July 96, Diesel wins the title from Bret at Survivor Series 96. Diesel as a heel feuds with Razor, Taker, and Bret on the lead to wrestlemania in 97 when he drops it to shawn (they wouldn't have touched in 2 years) subsequently shawn (instead of winning the title in 96) could've stayed "hurt" until mania and had an incredible semi main event with Owen hart for the ic title (which owen would've won). This would further diesels turn as hbk wins a title the same night Diesel loses his, planting the seed for next year's mania. Pair warrior vs vader together for the year (replacing warrior with sid when warrior left), feud bulldog and ahmed johnson for more than a arm wrestling match, and without an nWo, wwf destroys nitro in its first year and nitro moves to Thursdays by 97 instead of conception of thunder.
Ppl should read How To Lie With Statistics by Darryl Huff.
He's sensitive to this day lol.
The whole Nash lowest drawing champion thing has always screamed of jealousy/ignorance to me, even as a kid hearing it. Wrestling fans know if a wrestler is good or not. Up to that time Nash was one of the best in ring super big guys there had been. Nash got better matches out of bret than someone for example like hogan ever could have. There’s been super crap wwe champs while the company was doing awesome, and great wwe champs during bad times. Putting that much weight behind the wwe champ driving business is I believe more fitting for the 70s and early 80s than the following decades
Nash was a shit draw for WWF. A huge low point. HOWEVER… he is directly responsible for WCWs best years
You became World champion November 26 not December 94
By November 26 the month was almost already over though
The idea that people only come to see the champion is dumb af. As if Lesnar being champion now would somehow elevate the other 99% of the boring crap. Wrestling in 1995 was horrible regardless of who was champion.
Kev using the same logic as when he wanted everyone to vote for Biden 😂. He was the lowest drawing champ ever. Sure people came along after and did worse eventually.
I think "Donald Trump is a pathologically lying proven con artist who did a terrible job the first time around" was sound logic. Then again, I'm independent and objective, and I rely on facts.
What? That statement is contradictory. If people did worse then he wasn't the lowest drawing champion.
Logic.
@ if 20 people did something better then me before I did it then I was the worst. And if you come along 10 years later and do worse then I did it doesn’t change the fact that I WAS the worse even though you are now the worst.
@@ecclesyadudeirock Then they aren't the worst anymore. The new person would be the worst. Nash would be considered a bad drawing champion, but not the worst.
@ and the allegations are that he was the worst draw in history not is. English a second language? Was as in isn’t any more.