The following information is from ProWrestling.Net…
WWE legend Kevin Nash was critical of smaller wrestlers during a Grantland feature story.
“When (Chris) Benoit and (Eddie) Guerrero hugged [at the end of WrestleMania XX], that was the end of the business,” Nash said. “Has business been the same since that WrestleMania? Has it come close to the (Steve) Austin era? Has it come close to the NWO or the (Hulk) Hogan era?
You put two f—ing guys that were great workers that were the same height as the f—ing referees, and I’m sorry, man. Are you going to watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch dick? Even if you’re not gay, you will not watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch dick. That’s not the standard in porno films. So you put a 5-foot-7 guy as your world champion.”
Nash expressed the same concerns regarding current WWE stars C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan.
“”They are not bigger than life,” he said. “I bet they could both walk through airports and not be noticed unless they have a gimmick shirt on and the belt.”
Chris Jericho fired back with the following via his Twitter account…
“Funny how @realkevinnash says wrestling “died” when Benoit and Guerrero were champs-Yet the worst year for WWE biz was 95 when he was on top.”
Nash responded within minutes with the following…
“Once again the puppet master pulls the marks strings .Knew Jericho was a closet mark.First one eliminated on a bulls–t sing show…REALLY!!”
Jericho, again, responded with this…
“Hope @realkevinnash doesn’t tear his quad tweeting! #typicalbigman #nwothirdwheel.”
To read the full story, go to Grantland.com/story/_/id/8241536/wrestling-star-kevin-nash-making-headway-hollywood-keeps-night.
Ray’s Opinion
If you have ever read Shawn Michaels’ ”Heartbreak and Triumph” book, you will see how much of a hypocrite Nash is being in this interview. In the book, Shawn told the stories how great friends he and Nash were, if it wasn’t for Shawn, a rather small wrestler, Nash would never of broke out into the business. Nash is also being hypocritical that the business ”died” at WrestleMania 20, because the worst year in recent pro wrestling history was in 1995, when Nash was on top of the WWF as the champion. I have lost so much respect for Nash, never should anyone ever bad-mouth the dead the way he did. It’s good that we have guys like Jericho who respects the business to speak for them. I’m also surprised that Nash shit-talked about Punk, who he recently said should be the center of a new nWo faction, with Nash of course involved to protect the title. I’m looking forward to see if Punk replies to this, I’m sure he will. Nash seems to be desperate for attention, so he decided to create some controversy. All in all, ton of respect lost for Nash and I hope to never see him on a major wrestling show ever again.
I would love to know your thoughts of this.
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Ringsidehustle.com 
Nash is completely delusional. Nash was the lowest drawing WWF/E AND WCW Champion, EVER. He’s overrated, and the only reason he ever had any success was because of his connections.
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100% agreed. Have you read HBK’s book? In it he pretty much Nash was just a big guy who couldn’t wrestle, but he said it in a nice way. I don’t know what Nash is thinking here. Complete idiot.
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Nash is, was and always will be a big guy who can’t wrestle. Nash would get picked apart if he were in the ring with any of those guys. Nash and Punk are friends too, I wonder what Punk is gonna have to say about that comment.
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Yeah that’s what I said about Punk too. I’ll tweet him, who knows, he could reply, haha. Apparently Nash is working in Hollywood so why he’d bash wrestling like that IDK.
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Kevin nash…ohhh Kevin Nash. The one who drawed the worst ratings.
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Regarding ratings he was okay, but regarding revenue and stuff he was shit in 1995.
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Somebody should sick Super-Shredder on him!
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Punk or Jericho probably will, haha.
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If it wasn’t for HBK (a so called little guy) Nash would’ve never become the star he was in WWF and WCW.
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What Nash ever had to say was barely relevant at any point in time, let alone now! I probably wouldn’t recognise him now if he slapped me in the face let alone was wearing a gimmick tshirt. What a total dick! Benoit and Eddie at WM20 was one of the greatest wrestling moments of all time, and it will take far more than a washed up has been to ruin what they both worked really hard for!
Go crawl back under your retirement rock and jog the hell on! Mother fudging eegit!
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What Nash said was one of the dumbest things I’ve heard in awhile and still can’t beleive he had the audacity to say anything negative about Eddie. I’m glad Jericho, Piper, MVP and Chavo Sr. called him out on his crap.
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The fact that he did have the audacity to say something about Eddie is what annoyed me most. Not so much with Benoit but at the same time it was sick.
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The sad part is you can get away with just about anything just by saying he has the right to an opinion.
It could be to get attention as well.
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I agree! It also annoys me when you look at his track record of success in the industry. Let’s examine:
1. His year long reign as WWE champion in 1995 was the worst drawing year ever for the company.
2. His run as a booker in WCW was widely considered as the beginning of the end for that company.
3. His return last year was pathetic. His match with HHH at the TLC PPV had the least amount of heat of any major match on the card. Plus the ringwork was terrible as Nash missed spots and appeared to be blown up from exhaustion.
Aside from his ’96-’98 run in the NWO, Nash has contributed absolutely nothing positive to the professional wrestling industry.
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1)No it wasn”t.
2)No it isn’t.
3)Yes it was, but he was still over in his 50’s despite stinking up the ring.
Maybe true, but the 96-98 nWo changed the face of the industry. Nash is one of only a handful of guys who’ve ever reached THAT level.
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Hey John! I would like to start off by saying I am in no way upset with you and I enjoy interacting with anyone about wrestling. With that being said, I respectfully disagree:
1. There is numerous documentation of records (attendance and PPV buyrates) which verifies this. In fact, WWE live event business immediately picked up after Bret Hart regained the title from him at the 1995 Survivor Series. Plus, Jericho is very smart about the business and wouldn’t have mentioned that in his response to Nash if it wasn’t true.
2. While WCW was riding high in 1998, they were showing all the signs of an impending decline. However, there is no way that anyone who was around then or really researched that period could dispute the fact that the first nine months of 1999, when Nash had a large role in the booking, was when WCW creatively fell off a cliff. The ratings and overall direction of the company nosedived that year. I have the stats to back this up somehwere in my bedroom.
And while the NWO did revolutionize the business, it was ultimately the selfishness of its key members that led to WCW becoming a laughingstock from by late 1999. Two hot years does not make someone a legend of the industry and as far as being a draw is concerned, he is not even close to being in the league of Hogan, Austin, Rock and Flair. As far as longevity, stardom and influence goes, he’s not even touching Cena, Jericho, Edge, Mysterio, Angle, Undertaker, HHH or Michaels either.
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Hello Jeuron. I feel I have to take issue with what you stated.
1)Regardless of how “smart” they made be, many wrestlers state things to get themselves over, which aren’t true. Both Nash and Jericho do this. I’d be surprised to find a wrestler who doesn’t do it. Documents are also not always accurate I don’t believe that WWF sold more than 93 000 tickets for WrestleMania III. PPV numbers are also deceptive as they represent a percentage of the total available buys, they are not fixed representations. And there are multiple criteria in what constitutes “success”, ratings, PPV buys, ticket sales, merchandise sales etc. etc. etc. You can’t obsess over one or two things and ignore the bigger picture…
2)Which leads into Number 2. The Big One. WCW began its downward spiral in 1998. Of that there can be no question. However, why oh why do a group of people lay the blame squarely on Kevin Nash? Personal vendetta? The fact is, WCW was not a standalone promotion like the WWF. it was a small part of a much larger organization(Time Warner). They had to answer to Time Warner. And Time Warner could(and did overrule) them on everything. The big moment came when Time Warner took a far more “hands-on” approach in 1998, and totally “reimagined” WCW. Yes, Nash was part of a booking team(not THE booker) during 1990, but everything had to go through a Time Warner board, who edited/changed/added things as they saw fit. When the final “Script” was completed it barely resembled the booking team’s original plans,
Now here’s the thing no one likes to admit:Who were the huge draws that made WCW so hot during the boom period? Hogan, Nash, Hall, Giant, Luger, Piper, Sting. None of these guys were “workrate” guys. Sting didn’t even wrestle! Hogan(the Champion) barely did. And the new star was Goldberg. So much for the Benoit/Guerrero/Punk/Bryan train of thought! The other MAJOR thing that got WCW over was its attitude. Scott Hall wasn’t a worker, but when eh showed up on Nitro the way he did, he was over. What got WCW over was how badass and rebellious it was, not guys doing holds. And what killed it off was Time Warner’s decree that there be no more “international objects”, and that it become Family Friendly Fun. However, people like to blame Nash.
Is Nash as big a star as Austin or Hogan? Of course not. But Id certainly put him above Edge.and Mysterio, and yes Benoit and Guerrero.
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I’m not as outraged as some people are. He isn’t totally burying Eddie and Benoit: he said they were fantastic wrestlers but not world champion material, so I don’t think it’s as offensive as some portray it to be. I missed a lot of Eddie/Benoit because I didn’t have access to wrestling back then. I didn’t have sky and I lost interest when I turned 12/13.
However, to say that the business died because Benoit and Eddie were champs? It’s a stupid thing to say and it sounds like typical Nash. His last run in the WWE was a complete bust and he’s made of glass. Eddie and Benoit’s legacy will last forever (as much as the WWE would rather we forget the latter’s).
Not to mention that smaller guys had been champs before Eddie and Benoit. HBK being a prime example.
Nash’s legacy is that of a big man who can’t wrestle. One of the contributory factors to the death of WCW. And that of an idiot.
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Yeah, it’s the hyperbole that angers people.
It reminds me of some in the IWC. They’ll say they’d rather get cancer than watch a segment with Hornswoggle. It’s just dumb.
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I’m not as outraged as what I came across with my opinion in the column, but to speak disrespectfully about deceased wrestlers like that is so wrong. No matter what way he was trying to say it.
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Yeah, poor tact.
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Even more reason to not like Kevin Nash.
Disrespectful, disillusioned, and just plain wrong, regardless of whether this was just a way of getting some attention. Which, really, I have a feeling that this is probably what he honestly believes. His follow up interview wasn’t any better.
For example: “I don’t remember Stan Lee when he started Marvel Comics making a 5-foot-7 guy.”
Hmm, yeah, Nash is right, Peter Parker, aka Spiderman (5’10”) could never get over. Same goes for Steve Rogers (Captain America), Wolverine (5’3″) and multiple members of the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four- Human Torch (5’10), The Thing (6’0″), pretty small for a behemoth), Mr. Fantastic (6’1″ same as Punk), Daredevil (6’0″), Ghost Rider (5’10”).
That’s just some of the super heroes who shouldn’t be superheroes from the Marvel side of the universe. Who wants to help Nash, and out the faux heroes of DC?
I wonder what Nash thinks about Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, or how about Randy Savage? All of which are 6’1″, the same as CM Punk. Ok, so Michaels and Savage were much more muscular in their day, but Savage also died of a heart attack last year, and Michaels, well we all know his drug history.
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Great info regarding the superheroes, it just adds to the list of his hypocritical outlying.
I read the full article and to be honest with you, I am quite shocked with the bullshit he said.
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Wrestling is not a comic book. You may as well compare pro wrestling to Hannah Montana!
The fact is every guy who has ever drawn has been larger-than-life. Either physically, like Big Show or Andre. Or personality-wise like Piper or Austin. When you have a guy who has both, like Hogan, you have a legend.
A guy who is five-foot-seven and has the charisma of a lump of mud is not gonna draw. Benoit never drew. Guerrero’s run as WWE Champion was a flop, and they had to put the belt on JBL to stop the bleeding. Guess what qualities JBL possess that Eddie didn’t?
The only “smaller” guys who have ever drawn were a)still physically larger than the average guy on the street and b)full of charisma.
The business hasn’t ended, but it certainly isn’t in the middle of a boom period either.
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You’re looking at this in a light I’ve never looked at before, which is good.
You made great points, but Nash took a cheap shot on the whole business. Do you know why? Because he is trying to make it as an actor and he is trying to keep his name hot. Also, he knows Triple H has the keys to the kingdom so no matter what he says, he still has WWE as a backup.
Sure wrestling isn’t in a boom period, but you can argue Nash put wrestling, along with nWo, out of the boom because of them always main eventing and not pushing younger talent.
What Nash said was still wrong, no matter what way you look at it. Saying shit like that about dead wrestler’s is wrong.
But you made a great argument and thank you for your comment!
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Many people do call wrestling a “live-action comic book”. I forgot who said it(a former comic book writer); a quote about comics, but the jest of it was “Comics aren’t about realism, they’re about idealism.”.
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I understand that Nash is trying to get himself over, as it were, but what he said still rings true. I disagree about Nash and the nWo putting wrestling out of the boom.
As far as saying stuff about “dead wrestlers”. Well facts are facts. I also don’t feel that Eddie and Benoit are remembered in the same way today. If they were both still alive I would say the same thing about WrestleMania XX. It is a peculiar thing that when someone dies you feel the need to walk on eggshells when discussing them. I never took the kind of cheap shots that many people do at other dead people. I merely stated that, while both guys were talented in a worker way, neither guy really had the correct tools to headline PPVs as World Heavyweight Champion. Very few people really do possess what it takes. Eddie and Benoit were amongst the very best of those that didn’t/don’t have all the right tools. But, sorry if I offend you, they weren’t World Heavyweight Champion over.
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The nWo kind of did force wrestling out of the boom. If WCW had pushed younger talent when they had the chance and stop pushing guys like Hogan, Nash who were always in the main event, they may of never went out of business, thus furthering the MNW. Not so much the wrestlers, but the entire way they were booked.
You didn’t offend me but I’m just saying it is cowardly to say something controversial about someone who is dead, obviously they have no chance to defend themselves. That’s what annoyed me most more than anything.
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Those Guys Are My Faves And I Know That Eddie Has A History With Drugs And Benoit’s Murders, But Nash Is Just A Big Man Who Is Only Remembered For The NWO. (Which By The Way, I Only Cared For Hogan In The Group) At Least They Have Memorable Matches. Nash Has The Most Boring Matches, Most Stupid Attitude, And Can Tear His Quad Like Vince At Royal Rumble 2005
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