Kevin Nash says he believes he booked Rey Mysterio’s unmasking in WCW, and he has offered an explanation for the decision more than 27 years later. Answering a viewer’s question on Kliq This, Nash tied the move to a WCW advertising campaign that he said wanted to show Mysterio’s face.
Mysterio lost his mask when he and Konnan faced Nash and Scott Hall at SuperBrawl IX in 1999. Asked who booked the angle, Nash said he thought it was his decision, but did not present that memory as certain.
“I think I booked that. And we were doing a huge, WCW was doing a huge ad campaign. The ad people had seen Rey without his hood on. And they wanted, like, you’re not going to be in Times Square with a luchador mask on, on an ad.”
Nash said his thinking at the time was that removing the mask would let more people see Mysterio’s face. His remarks address the business case he believed WCW was making; they do not establish that the decision benefited Mysterio.
“I thought so. And then I think people, like, he just done a really good job because for a long, long time, even on his Instagrams and everything else, he would have his mask off, but he’d have his sunglasses on and his hand like this. Like, he did a great job with it.”
Nash also acknowledged the value of the mask as merchandise. He argued that WCW lacked the operation to make the most of that opportunity, while Mysterio himself remained a star with or without it.
“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. 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.”
The discussion moved from the mask to Nash’s later decision to lose a singles match to Mysterio. Nash said he wanted a clean finish to send a message to the locker room when he was beginning to book WCW television.
“I put him over, I think it was in Sacramento. I put him over. And I wanted it to be a clear message in the locker room that we’re going to do clean finishes. The pitchers do hit home runs. So, that was my mentality.”
Mysterio has discussed the significance of his mask elsewhere, and WrestlingHeadlines previously covered the 1999 SuperBrawl stipulation. Nash’s new account is his own recollection of the booking decision and the advertising argument behind it.
Source: Kevin Nash on unmasking Rey Mysterio, via Kliq This on YouTube.
