Kevin Nash Looks Back On WWE's Ill-Fated Brawl For All Tournament

1998's WWE Brawl for All has often been described as one of the worst decisions in the promotion's history, considering that the shoot-fight tournament broke a lot of kayfabe surrounding wrestler ability at a time when kayfabe wasn't completely broken yet. 

In a recent episode of his "Kliq This" podcast, Kevin Nash gave his take on the tournament. A fan wrote into Nash's podcast, proclaiming that WWE should bring back the tournament, leading to the veteran responding sarcastically. "Yeah, that didn't destroy Bart's life," said Nash. 

Bart Gunn, unfortunately, won the tournament, leading to an ill-fated boxing match against the legendary Butterbean, who made quick work of him and essentially ended the credibility he built through the tournament.

"Because that's what you want? You want a legit shoot fight on a work entertainment show," Nash asked. He was then asked if he thought that the tournament was a good idea at the time, which he also denied and pointed out how like Gunn, it effectively ended "Dr. Death" Steve Williams' career too. "No. I thought it was ... there was no upside to it. Killed Dr. Death. The guys that go f**king –- took f**king – they got robbed."

Over the years, there have been many rumors that WWE created the tournament to push "Dr. Death," and that Jim Ross was at the forefront of this decision. However, back in 2023, Ross denied the claims, describing the tournament as a disaster in hindsight. 

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Kliq This" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.