Wrestling champ Kevin Nash’s son, Tristen Nash, has died at the age of 26.
“On behalf of Kevin and Tamara Nash, I have to unfortunately report that their son Tristen Nash has tragically passed away at the age of 26,” Fightful.com reporter Sean Ross Sapp revealed in a statement via Twitter on Thursday, October 20. “Tristen recently started working on Kevin’s new podcast and the two enjoyed their time together. The Nash family asks if you could please respect their privacy during this time.”
No further details surrounding Tristen’s passing have been revealed.
The 63-year-old professional athlete — who has twice been inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hall of Fame — and wife Tamara Nash welcomed Tristen in June 1996 and gushed about parenthood before his untimely death.
“My reason for living,” Kevin, who married Tamara in 1988, captioned an April Instagram photo of his only child.
While balancing his career as a WWE personality ahead of his 2020 retirement, the Dog actor made sure that taking care of Tristen and Tamara remained his top priority.
“I had a wife who was due. I was living year-to-year on whether I got a payday at [WrestleMania]. I didn’t know what I was going to make, and I’m driving a used Mercedes,” Kevin told Sports Illustrated in November 2016 about his 1996 contract extension to remain at WWE. “Then, all of a sudden, I’m going to get a minimum of $850,000 from WCW, and it was for 180 days, which was considerably more days off than Vince [McMahon] at over 300.”
He recalled at the time: “I was coming from a world where I’d sit in the car and watch guys come back from the phone booth after making a collect call home and say, ‘My kid walked today.’ Then we’d drive off to Binghamton, New York, or wherever else. I didn’t want that to be my life. If you’re in this business, you’re already on the road way more than you should be. The majority of our time was Waffle Houses and getting lost with no GPS. You had a map.”
Earlier this year, the father-son pair started their “Kliq This” podcast alongside Sean Olivier.
“I met a great young man this year named Tristen. He worked with me and his dad on a podcast we have, and proved to be smart, sweet, savvy, witty, and mature beyond his mere handful of years,” Olivier tweeted on Thursday, mourning the late musician. “There were big things coming for him, but it was not to be. The unfairness of our short time on earth rears [its] ugly head again & we are rendered speechless.”
He concluded: “To steal a heart so pure, full of potential, is cruelty beyond understanding. Won’t try. I have his last text to me: ‘Love you man.’ I read it 50 times in 2 days &, T, I’m gonna read it a lot more.”
While neither Kevin nor Tamara have further spoken out about the loss of their son, the wrestling community has offered their condolences.
“My thoughts are with Kevin Nash & his family following the passing of his son. It’s absolutely tragic,” Matt Hardy wrote via Twitter after learning of Tristen’s death.
Pro wrestling coach Danny Cage, for his part, tweeted: “Thoughts go out to Kevin Nash & his family. No father should have to bury their son. Heartbreaking.”
