Nash Speaks On HHH/HBK, Wrestlers' Wives, Hall, & More
Kevin Nash recently gave a lengthy interview to Newsday.com with nothing held back. Here are the highlights:
On a recent talk he had with Shawn Michaels & Triple H: "We were kind of going through the rosters and saying who are the guys who are going to replace us. Which guys are going to replace us when we retire? And everybody through names around and there weren't a whole lot of names of guys who we thought were going to replace us. You look at a guy like Edge, and now he's starting to realize ? and, gosh, I don't even know how old he is but he I think he's in his 30's. And he's getting to the point where he's had a ton of injuries. John Cena has had a ton of injuries. With these guys, it's almost [a question of] who can last."
On why wrestlers don't take time off for injuries: "I think it was Matt Hardy who not too long ago got like a little injury. And then got another little injury. And he was starting to get a push so he said, 'Ah, I'm not going to take the time off.' And then that injury ends up escalating to something where he has to, because he has to get it fixed. It's hard. I sat one day and I was flipping channels and I saw Cena. I had read that he had injured his neck and I see John in there? I look, and here's this earthworm of a scar on his neck ? knowing that he shouldn't be in the ring already. And it's not that Vince said, 'You need to get here and get in the ring, John.' It's just the fact that John realizes that that spot's golden. And he doesn't want to lose that spot. And as soon as he feels that he can somewhat fill that void."
On his negotiations with WWE last year: "My whole thing was that I came into prominence with Shawn. And I know that Shawn is thinking about ? I don't think he's going to be doing it that much longer. And I kind of wanted to have that circle of life. I wanted it on my wall of shame in my house to have that 1993 picture of Shawn Michaels doing a double-bicep pose with the black headed Diesel behind him and then I wanted a 2010 photo of Shawn Michaels doing the double-bicep pose with the gray-haired Diesel behind him."
On Scott Hall's problems: "I don't feel guilty, but I don't think sad even begins to cover it. Because, to me, Scott Hall is probably one of the most talented guys I've ever been around in my life. One of the most charismatic. It crushes me. I've tried. Everybody's tried. But as much as you want somebody to live a sober life, unless they want to, it's just not going to happen. And I've been around it. Scott's been a close friend of mine. I've seen the demon of addiction and, God, it's just horrible. And people say, 'Well if you want, you can get clean.' I'm of the mindset, being around it as much as I have on so many different levels with so many different guys, that it's a disease. It is absolutely a disease and it has to be treated as a disease. And, you know, some people don't make it from a disease."
On whether he would want to book TNA: 'I have a 13-year-old son who needs a father way more than TNA needs a booker? I don't do anything half-assed. If you put me in there, it means I'm thinking about it 24/7. You have to, because when you're lying there in the sun, you get an idea and it's like, 'God, that's way better than I thought.' And you've got to get up and you've got to write it down. And you've got to change in and so on. I'm really good friends with [Vince] Russo. And I see what he has to go through and the situation that happened where kind of right before the pay per view, some political things go down, and he's left with a show with a bunch of gaps in it and he's got to do his best to fill it. And those are the things that take years off your life. And at this point, right now, like what we talked about earlier ? I'm closer to dying. So, I don't need the stress and they can't put enough zeros at the end of my paycheck."
On critics of TNA's booking: "?For years Stallone and Shwarzenegger ? they said what horrible actors they are. But you know then they do $240 million at the box office. So, I believe there's something to critics. But, you know what, I believe that the 10-16-year-old kid, who's really the meat and potatoes of your demographic, and then from there the 18-35 year-old demographic ? I've never had a 9-year-old kid come up to me and say, 'I think you need to pick up your workrate.' "
On the challenges TNA faces: "I've said this 100,000 times. I would write a show and I'd go to bed and I would say, 'That's show is going to be brilliant.' And then three guys miss two spots and the execution? All of a sudden it's like this domino effect. This guy screws up a finish in match one. This guy does something in match two. And all of a sudden everybody's saying, 'Your show is horrible.' Well, yeah, but if they would have executed those three things, it would have been a lot better. But I take the rap because I made the soup."
On wrestlers bringing their wives around the business: "I remember I was on the road with Rick Rude? And he looked over at me and he said, 'Nash, whatever you do, don't bring your old lady around the business. Not backstage. Not anywhere.'... I don't think there's one of us in which there's not a Jeckyll and Hyde. You're different when you're in your character? There's so many times that you see a pretty girl walking backstage and the guys will walk by and you'll see them go, 'God, who's that? And who's that? And who's that?' And you find out, eight minutes later, it's some guy's wife?The boys are the boys. They see a pretty girl and it does cause controversy. There's no doubt about it. The girls that we have, like the Christy Hemmes, and the Beautiful People, and Tracy ? I look at those girls as sisters. They're part of the team. But it's always that fresh piece of meat that comes in. That's the one that causes [problems]. It's almost like putting chum in the shark tank. That's the one that the boys all start sniffing around ? especially the single guys. And you can't blame them."