Kevin Nash has reflected on Rey Mysterio losing his mask in WCW and explained why he supported the controversial decision.
Mysterio was forced to unmask at WCW SuperBrawl IX on February 21, 1999, after he and Konnan lost a Hair vs. Mask Match against Nash and Scott Hall.
During the Ask Nash portion of the latest episode of Kliq This, Nash was asked about his involvement in the decision. “I think I booked that,” Nash said.
According to Nash, WCW had a major advertising campaign being developed at the time, and those involved had seen what Mysterio looked like without his mask. “WCW was doing a huge ad campaign, and the ad people had seen Rey without his hood on,” Nash said. “You’re not going to be in Times Square with a luchador mask on in an ad. So I looked at it as, I’ll take his mask off so everybody can see this motherf****.”*
The decision was controversial because of the importance traditionally placed on masks in lucha libre, and Mysterio himself has previously spoken about not wanting to remove his.
Nash said he heard those objections at the time but wasn’t persuaded by them. “Everybody’s like, ‘Oh my God, you don’t understand the luchador.’ I’m like, yeah, hair versus mask. Like nobody’s ever lost their mask before,” Nash said. “Come on, man.”
Mysterio has previously revealed that WCW had attempted to get him to remove the mask before SuperBrawl IX. According to Mysterio, the company wanted him to unmask as early as Halloween Havoc 1997, but he successfully fought against the idea at that point.
Nash believes Mysterio ultimately made the most of his run without the mask. “He did a great job with it,” Nash said.
For Nash, Mysterio’s appeal as a performer was never dependent on the mask. However, he acknowledged that removing it potentially affected Mysterio’s merchandising opportunities. “To me, the mask doesn’t make Rey Mysterio. The mask makes Rey Mysterio money, because he can sell a new one every day that he wears on TV,” Nash said. “So from a merchandising standpoint, I’m sure it killed him. But it didn’t, because WCW didn’t have the wherewithal or the machine to make that money for him.”
Nash said he instead saw an opportunity to make Mysterio’s face recognizable to a wider audience. “I looked at it as, let me get this handsome motherf****’s face out there,” he said.*
Nash also discussed his decision to lose cleanly to Mysterio around the same period, saying he wanted to establish a different philosophy after becoming involved with WCW’s booking. “I was the first guy of size that he beat in the middle of the ring, 1-2-3. That was when I just started getting the pencil, and I put him over. I think it was in Sacramento,” Nash said.
According to Nash, having Mysterio pin him clean was intended to send a message to the rest of the WCW locker room. “I wanted it to be a clear message in the locker room that we’re going to do clean finishes. It’s like baseball. The pitchers do hit home runs.”
Mysterio wrestled without his mask for the remainder of his WCW career before putting it back on ahead of his WWE debut in 2002.
Mysterio has acknowledged in subsequent interviews that although he was uncomfortable wrestling without it, the period helped establish him as a “giant killer” capable of defeating significantly larger opponents.
Nash’s recollection that he booked the unmasking is his own account, and he qualified the statement by saying, “I think.” WCW’s creative process involved several people during that period, and accounts of who was ultimately responsible for the decision have varied over the years.
