THE OUTSIDERS
Kevin Nash & Scott Hall
1996 - 2010
WCW World Tag Team Champions
TNA World Tag Team Champions
WWE Hall of Fame
Written by Canadian Bulldog
My first exposure to the unique chemistry between Scott Hall and Kevin Nash was in WCW. Not during the nWo run, mind you, but back in the early 1990s. Although both men stood out from physically from most of the roster, they were languishing in the mid-card - Hall as The Diamond Studd and Nash as Oz and Vinnie Vegas. While they weren't a tag team, both men spent time being associated with Diamond Dallas Page.
Within the next couple of years, they'd both end up in the WWF and again, they weren't presented as a tag team. Quite the opposite, in fact, they feuded with each other extensively over the Intercontinental Championship and instead of Page, both men were tied to Shawn Michaels in storylines. Little did we know at the time that the three (along with Triple H and X-Pac) were part of the infamous Kliq backstage.
It wasn't until both men left the WWF in 1996 that they were presented as The Outsiders, booked with the expressed purpose of destroying WCW from within.
The Outsiders gimmick worked surprisingly well, as it felt like Hall and Nash were simply disgruntled ex-WWF stars, hellbent on returning back to WCW after being snubbed years earlier. The story was steeped in reality and it was easily the most creative storyline from the company in years -- all because people wanted to see what would happen next.
Of course, we all know what happened next: At Bash at the Beach, Hall and Nash introduced their "third man" - WWF turned WCW kingpin Hulk Hogan. And while the nWo trio of Hall, Nash and Hogan is probably more iconic than just the tag team itself - the tag team did quite well on its own, too - capturing six WCW Tag Team Championships, and another one with Syxx.
During the heydey of their WCW run, Hall and Nash were easily the most dominant tag team around, running through established duos such as Rick & Scott Steiner, Harlem Heat, The Nasty Boys and The Faces of Fear. They also took makeshift combinations of WCW fan favorites and served as set-up opponents before someone got to the nWo leader Hogan.
One of the reasons The Outsiders don't get their just due among the greatest duos of teh 1990s is because they sometimes split up or added other members (e.g. Syxx, Randy Savage, The Giant) to the act, minimizing their overall impact. Another reason is because WCW was largely de-emphasizing tag teams at that point... similar to how WWE looks at tag teams in the year 2021.
Of course, they did the predictable breakup angle between Hall and Nash in 1998, but that didn't even last a year, as Hall and Nash eventually came together for subsequent versions of the nWo that happened until the company's demise in 2001.
About a year later, Hall and Nash (as well as Hogan) arrived in WWE under the nWo moniker, but it wasn't the same thing. Not only did The Outsiders barely operate as a tag team, but a combination of bad booking, injuries and personal problems ended things before they really got going.
Subsequent reunions of The Outsiders happened in TNA (where they competed under names such as The Kings of Wrestling and The Band) and managed to capture the TNA Tag Team Championship in 2010, albeit in a strange combination with Eric Young. Still, it was evidence that even outside the WCW, The Outsiders were.... 4..... Life!