Stevie Richards recalls his encounter with Kevin Nash less than a year after the debut of the Blue World Order.
Steve Richards made many parodies throughout his run in ECW, but none could match the success of the Blue World Order. In November 1996, Richards, along with the Blue Meanie and Nova (Mike Bucci), repackaged themselves as the Blue World Order — a parody stable of the New World Order (nWo) in World Championship Wrestling. Upon their debut, Richards referred to himself as “Big Stevie Cool,” mimicking the nickname of nWo member Kevin Nash, who was formerly known as “Big Daddy Cool.”
After signing with WCW the following year, Richards finally met the original “Big Daddy Cool.” Speaking on Wrestling Shoot Interviews, Richards recalled the interesting encounter he had Kevin Nash.
“I walked in that building. I don’t know what to expect, and then that’s when Scott [Hall] shook my hand. He’s like, ‘I’m a big fan. I’m a big fan, man, but oh, Kev, look out’. So, I didn’t avoid Kevin, but then again, I wasn’t looking for Kevin at the same time. And he’s pretty easy to spot down the hallway, so you know if I saw him. I was trying to formulate how I would just, like, say, ‘Hey, guys, I had nothing to do with that and whatever,’ and people are laughing. It was a different time. It was still in between really protecting your business and exposing whatever.
“And also, you got to remember the reputation of these guys from the Kliq and WWE. I’m thinking I’m buried day one, that hey can’t take a joke. They don’t have a good outlook on it, or they don’t see it as a sign of respect but disrespect. All these things run through my mind. So, when Scott said that, obviously I’m scared, like, ‘Oh man, what’s going to happen?’ Being beat up is easy, but getting fired day one, that’s the hard part. Right before when I got into my rental car, I literally felt, he’s so tall, I feel his hair touched my temple.”
“So, I turn around and I look up at him and it should have been filmed because it was great. ‘Well, well, well, Big Stevie Cool. We meet at last,’ and my back is up against the rental car. I’m like, ‘Hey, man, I just want to let you know I’m so sorry. Paul [Heyman] wanted us to do it. And I never meant disrespect’. So he goes, ‘All right, we’ll see about that,’ or something like [that] to let me sweat it.”
Luckily for Richards, Nash was indeed joking. “He gets in his rental car. He calls me over and he goes, ‘Dude, I’m just messing with you.’ He goes, ‘We all think it’s fantastic.’ I could have just fell on the ground and passed out. I was just like, ‘Man, we love doing it, but we wanted to reach out to you. But I was scared that what would you say if I called?’ He goes, ‘Dude, don’t worry about it.’ He goes, ‘Did you at least get paid for the shirts?’ And I was like, ‘No.’ And he goes, ‘Now I got heat with you.’ That’s what he said.”
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