Kevin Nash Talks Joining WWE, Meeting HBK For The First Time, Advice From The Undertaker, More
Kevin Nash recently sat down with Steve Austin on his podcast. Here are some highlights from the interview.
Joining the WWF: "It was really kind of a flux time because it was right at the end of Hulk. Hulk was only there maybe two months. So it was kind of the whole changing of the guard. Most of the old school guys were gone, it was a pretty young crew of guys. You know how it was, the business was down. Coming from WCW, a good house was we had 1500 people in Jacksonville. That was a great house. The first night I was in WWF was in Albany, New York and I walked in there, a couple guys, I think it was Mike Rotunda and DiBiase were looking out the curtain and kind of shook their like f*** this is s***. So I walked up there and looked through the curtain and there was more people than I had ever seen. I was like holy s***, there has to be like 4000 people. It was just the difference between WWF and WCW."
Response he received from the WWF locker room: "The thing is, the minute I walked in, I had known Scott from WCW too, so I walked in, met Shawn for the first time. It was funny because I was sitting down, Shawn walked up to me and I stood up and Shawn was a lot bigger than I thought he would be. Shawn was like 6"1". He was in real good shape. The thing was, I wasn't really a wrestler I was a body guard, so I was almost treated by the boys like a manager, like I wasn't a threat because I wasn't in the ring. It was a good slide in for me.
"Marty and him had a short run and then he went right into when he had the IC strap immediately because Razor Ramon, Scott Hall, was red hot coming up as a baby face. They put those two together going towards Wrestlemania 10. They were having some great matches, 20 minutes every night, and I got to sit on the apron, basically ringside, and watch these guys not only do their craft, but travel together. Basically it was just talking business 24/7."
Meeting HBK for the first time: "When he speaks to you, you don't think that voice is going to come out of him. We shook hands and then because he requested me and because he got me out of a s***hole, I felt almost like Django. I felt like I owed him. He gave me my freedom. We immediately got along and the thing was, the bigger guys weren't selling for him. So they would sell for me and I'd do one thing. They'd go outside and I'd crack them with a shot and roll them back in, then Shawn would go to work on them. But they'd end up having a hard time selling for Shawn.
"It was just a different era of guys. The thing was, when we would sit in the car and they would talk and of course, Shawn knew we'd be having tag matches down the line. He said you can do two things. He said you can work like Warlord and those guys and not go off your feet, or you can take your size and use it to be athletic and bump and learn to work. He says, because the style's changing. He said that other s*** ain't cutting it no more. That was kind of, for no other word, the Kliq's way it worked. The minute I walked in the locker room, as soon as I got in the car with Shawn and Scott, it was like oh, by the way, nobody likes us."
Advice from the Undertaker: "The thing was, we were kind of building the business so when I started working, 'Taker would come over me and, I remember one night I was working with Backlund in Sacramento and Bob called a f***in' sunset flip. He called it for me, the f***in' sunset flip. So my big ass sunset flips Bob Backlund and f***in' rolls him up and he kicks out of it. I walk through the curtains and 'Taker goes you got a second? If you ever f***in' sunset flip someone again, I'm hitting the f***in' ring. [laughter] He said your back was on the ground and your feet hadn't even left yet. [laughter]"
You can listen to the whole interview (part two) here.
Source: Steve Austin's Podcast