The WWE Hall of Fame ceremony is known for giving greats of the past a chance to tell some of the remarkable tales from their careers. However, Kevin Nash has now revealed that the event can also create some unlikely stories as well.
Speaking on a recent episode of his Kilq This podcast Nash recalled his friendship with the late, great Gene Okerlund. ‘Mean Gene’ is known as the best interviewers, and non-in-ring talents in wrestling history, enjoying a lengthy career in the AWA, WCW and the WWF.
Kevin Nash Recalls WWE Hall Of Fame Induction Alongside Larry Zbyszko
During the discussion Nash reflected on being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame alongside Larry Zbyszko, who just so happened to be stoned at the time.
“I went into the Hall of Fame in 2015. Gene is next to me. Zbyszko had gotten stoned before he went out and did the Hall of Fame. Of course, you think in your mind,’ I’ll get stoned and I’ll be really entertaining.’ Larry got on the Parliament Big Ben in European Vacation and couldn’t get off. So he came up and he walks by.
He’s on Gene’s side. I’m C, he’s D, and Larry is on the other side of Gene in the aisle. Larry said, ‘How was it?’ Gene said ‘It was the absolute drizzling sh*ts. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life Larry.’ Nobody would ever say that. Larry looked at him and he was waiting for Gene, and Gene just turned back to me and we were talking.”
“We had already had drinks. We had drinks in front of us. Gene and I had drank the whole way to Atlanta. I think he would fly to West Palm and I would fly to Daytona. He had to make a phone call. He went out and made a phone call.
We walked out of the, I still call them Crown rooms even though they’re sky lounges now, but back then, they were always the Crown rooms. We walked in there and we drank until it was the last call before our flights. We were a gate apart. I know he got on that plane and got a drink the minute, because I know I did.”
Larry Zbyszko, rose to fame in the late 1970s and early 80s through his battles with his former trainer and fellow legend Bruno Sammartino. The ‘Living Legend’ reinvented himself as an announcer in the 1990’s in WCW, calling the action alongside the likes of Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes.
The star is also credited with coming up with the phrase the ‘New World Order,’ which became synonymous with Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan.
H/t to WrestlingNewsCo