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Diesel (November 26, 1994 - November 19, 1995)
Bret Hart's replacement as the main man in WWE was Kevin "Diesel" Nash. Diesel had entered the company as Shawn Michaels's bodyguard in late 1993 and gradually worked his way up the card, becoming Intercontinental Champion in 1994, before he was promoted to the headline spot.
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Vince McMahon had utilized Bob Backlund as caretaker, fearing that the fanbase would jeer Diesel versus Hart.
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There were no boos when Diesel squashed Backlund in eight seconds to win the WWE Championship on a Madison Square Garden house show. The response to Diesel was overwhelmingly positive. However, despite the strong start, the wheels would soon fall off the Diesel experiment.
In fairness to Diesel, he was operating in an environment where it was virtually impossible to succeed. WWE made a loss of $4.4 million in the 1994-95 tax year and cuts were felt all over the company.
With the talent roster at it's thinnest in history, Diesel had few money-drawing stars to defend the title against. The fact that SummerSlam 1995 was headlined by Diesel vs Mabel (the future Viscera) said it all.
Diesel's only three decent matches of his year-long reign were against Hart (at Royal Rumble 1995 and Survivor Series 1995) and Shawn Michaels (at WrestleMania XI).
WrestleMania XI saw the WWE Championship relegated to the semi-final position, below the Bam Bam Bigelow versus NFL star, Lawrence Taylor celebrity match-up. However, regardless of his card position, Diesel as WWE Champion just did not draw.
WrestleMania XI drew 80,000 less buys than WrestleMania X, headlined by Hart's title victory over Yokozuna.
The October pay-per-view, In Your House IV, headlined by Diesel's title defense versus Davey Boy Smith pulled in a miserable 100,000 buys.
With business at a record low, McMahon went back to Hart. He scheduled a Diesel/Hart title bout for Survivor Series 1995 specifically so Diesel could drop the belt.
The experiment was over.
