WWE Legend Kevin Nash Reveals How Son Tristen Died
Wrester Kevin Nash returned to his podcast on Monday and described how his son Tristen died last week. He also revealed a life-changing decision they'd made together one week earlier.
Ep. 16 of the Kliq This Podcast is called "Remembering Tristen" and it opens with host Sean Oliver revealing that Nash told him, "Don’t you dare run a best-of show because I have to talk to the world." For the next 90 minutes, Nash did just that. Very quickly he shares that 26-year-old Tristen Nash died on Oct. 19 after having a seizure the previous day.
What led to the seizure is not made clear, and perhaps not even known. At times, the below video of the podcast is graphic. Nash often curses as he describes moments like when the doctor told him Tristen wouldn't live through the event. The majority of the comments on the video are positive and admire the 63-year-old's strength.
Tristen Nash's seizure led to cardiac arrest, and when EMTs arrived, Tristen — according to his father — was "basically dead." He did live to receive some treatment at the hospital, but was in a coma.
Nash's candid conversations about his son help create a more complete picture about the life he lived. He reveals that one week prior, both had decided to quit drinking cold turkey, because Nash had discovered his son was drinking beers while they were recording an episode of the podcast (Tristen was part of the show, and the two hosts were easing him into a larger role).
Earlier this year, Tristen was hospitalized for 60 days after an unspecified even that Nash suggests was related to alcohol.
"This was my cross to bear, alcoholism," Nash says, listing two friends — including wrestler Scott Hall — who died because of it. During the week he was cold turkey, Tristen didn't feel well, to the point that both his parents were caring for him. The extent to which that may have contributed to his death is not yet known.
“I don’t think either of us felt great," Nash shares.
Tristen is described as having been tightly wound, but incredibly kind to everyone he met. He was taking medication for anxiety, but Nash shares a sampling of some of the hateful messages he's received as a way of illustrating what kind of stress his son may have been living through. He's very composed through most of the podcast taping — there's more than a few smiles as he offers dark humor.
“I wondered why my son wasn’t here anymore and the amount of hatred that was passed to me after he passed — he’s the smartest dude in the world. He knew man, he knew," Nash says.
At the 39-minute mark of the podcast, Nash talks about his son's autism and Asperger Syndrome diagnoses as a way of further giving viewers some background.
"My wife and I learned so much from him because he was always exploring and investigating," Nash shares.
Tristen's death was first reported on Thursday (Oct. 20) by WWE reporter Sean Ross Sapp. Tristen Nash was Kevin and his wife Tamara's only child, and in addition to working with his father on the podcast, he was a musician and poet. "The Nash family asks if you could please respect their privacy during this time," Sapp wrote.