RF Video Shoot Interview with Kevin Nash

I will put up another poll at somepoint tonight on which shoot interview to review for next week.

This shoot interview was filmed in 2007, while Nash was still in TNA

He starts by saying he was a fan of wrestling while growing up in Detroit, watching the Big City Wrestling promotion. He mention coming back to Detroit after playing pro basketball in Europe and seeing Hogan wrestle at the Joe Louis Arena and decided he wanted to pursue wrestling. He said that he approached the Steiner’s in a gym in Atlanta about how to break into the business. He got trained by Jody Hamilton and nine months later, was wrestling on the Clash of the Champions.

In regards to his training, he said that Hamilton taught him a lot about psychology and told him not to do much more than look convincing in the ring, due to his size.

He is asked about the Master Blasters tag-team in WCW. He said that Ole Anderson had an idea about him having a red Mohawk. Nash thought that they were testing him with this and said with the Mohawk, he couldn’t live a normal life. He said that his original partner, Cory Pendarvis (Who went by the ringname of Iron), was supposed to lead the team but quit after six days. Nash said that he was illiterate too. They then gave him Al Greene as a partner but several months later he bitched about jobbing to the Steiners and was fired. Nash was then sent home and told to grow out his hair.

Nash says that the Oz character was all Dusty’s idea and he hated it. After that failed, he became Vinnie Vegas, who we says he modeled after Steve Martin’s character in “My Blue Heaven.”

Nash said that Rick Rude was his mentor in WCW. He states that he instantly went into character when his music hit. He would be smoking a cigarette backstage and throw it away when his song it and went right into the Rude character.

Nash brings up that he was making nothing in WCW at this time. He said that he was making more money bouncing. He then is asked about Bill Watts, who Nash refers to as a bully and an asshole. He said that Watts was the type of person who would tell the executives at Turner that they were paying these guys too much and that they would wrestle for free.

Nash is asked about others at this time. He said that he couldn’t believe that Jim Herd was in charge, because he didn’t know a thing about wrestling, but that was how Turner was run. He liked DDP and Scott Levy a lot too.

Nash tells about how he got out of his contract and joined the WWF. He said that he was riding with Barry Windham, who was close with the office, and constantly stated to him that his wife wanted him closer to home. Soon after that, he went to the office and they let him give his notice. He states that he then asked to borrow their fax machine, were he sent the letter to JJ Dillon and the WWF. The next day, he helped HBK win the Intercontinental Title.

Nash is asked if he immediately hit it off with Scott Hall. He said they did, due to their love of pot smoking. He then said that his first several months in the WWF, he learned by watching Hall and Michaels wrestle.

Nash says that he loved working with Bret. He said that if you let him be the “Hitman” character, he will work with you.

He is asked about the Bruise Brothers (Harris Brothers) and if he witnessed them roughing up HBK. Nash says he got the call while in Germany and it was about Shawn being Shawn and them being sick of it.

Nash says that when he was told he was getting the World Title, his mom was dying of breast cancer. She passed a month after he won. Nash said working with Backlund was tough because they had him chain wrestle.

He is then asked about the incident with Pierre in the WWF. Nash said that he was marking out while in Montreal and wouldn’t do the planned finish. He said that the Undertaker, HBK, and Hall were all yelling at him. During their match, he landed on Nash’s head during a leg drop and Nash got pissed and stiffed him. He said that Pierre tried to fight him in the locker room and Nash said he wouldn’t stop until he killed him. He then said he never got in trouble and that management loved this stuff.

Nash says that the drug use was bad then. He said that they tested for not so the boys all drank and took pills. He said he never used pills until getting to the WWF.

Nash says that the Kliq formed in the Manhattan Center during the RAW face-to-face tapings. He said the days were long and you needed running mates. He said they were giving processed lunch meats and crammed in a tiny room so they needed to get buzzed.

He is asked about his Wrestlemania match against HBK. He said that HBK tried to blow him up and liked their No Holds Barred match at the In Your House PPV a lot better.

Back to the Kliq, Nash said that they used to arrive early to the arena and put signs up that said “Kliq” all over some of the doors. He said that it pissed off everyone else because they thought the Kliq had private dressing rooms.

Nash is asked about comments from Chris Candido and Shane Douglas stating that the Kliq were hard on them. Nash said that he personally was not but that the others drove them crazy. He said that Douglas had a bad house show match against Waltman, who was the barometer, and after that they all thought he couldn’t work. He also refuted Douglas’s claim that Scott sandbagged him in a match by saying that Scott never did that to anyone.  He said about Candido that his girlfriend (Sunny) was fucking half the locker room.

He is asked about the incident at Madison Square Garden where the Kliq broke kayfabe. Nash said that it was fair and Vince knew about it before hand. He says it was the first sellout in years and that they were only leaving due to money. He said the problem was that all the boys stirred up stuff and word got back to Vince and they decided to punish HHH, because HBK was the champ.

He said that DDP brokered the deal to bring him and Hall back to WCW. He said he wrote a letter to Vince but called him before he sent it out. He said that Vince could not match the money and that the guaranteed deal was a lot easier to eal with then wondering how much you will make and waiting for Wrestlemania payoffs.

He says that Bischoff came up with the nWo angle and ran it by Hall. He thinks that Sting was supposed to be the third member but Hogan saw it and wanted to be a part of that. He sid that Hogan was killing the angle at first by doing his rambling wrestling promos. Nash thought that it should be done in a different style. He credits Bischoff for editing the black-and-white promos and puts him over for managing egos.

He said that he and Hall were resented by a lot of the locker room for their big contracts.

He then says how Sean Waltman was not giving TV time in WCW because they told him he couldn’t talk.

Nash is asked about the Arn Anderson retirement bit. He says that Arn thought it was funny but his friends and family stirred him up. He claims it was never meant to be malicious.

He brings up a story about Roddy Piper and how they had an incident backstage in Boston. Piper was no selling Nash’s offense and wouldn’t go with the match plans. He says he slapped him backstage and Piper did not retaliate. They are fine with each other now but never discussed the incident again.

He said that the political tension was real He said that Hogan was making a shitload and had creative control, including a PPV deal. He said when he booked later on, that contract killed him.

Nash said that he noticed Hall became out of control with alcohol when he divorced his wife. People were coming up to him about his drinking all the time

Nash is asked about him refusing to job for the Giant. He said that h was hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat and jokes about people thinking he made up injuries to get out of jobs.

When asked about the death of WCW, Nash says that a lot of wrestling writers live in a bubble, briefly referencing the “Death of WCW” book (Well, Bryan Alvarez definitely lives in a bubble, that’s for sure). He said that Jamie Kellner wanted wrestling off of TNT and wasn’t going to have it any other way. He did talk about how the product was overexposed, thus making them give away too much stuff for free. He refers to Thunder as their “Waterloo.”

Nash said he liked Russo but he never got to do what he wanted as he was always monitored. He said that a Standards & Practice guy from the network would sit in their meetings and shoot down 90% of their ideas. The only thing they could do was comedy and Nash says that never works well in wrestling.

He also loved Kevin Sullivan as a booker but stated that all of the faces complained because the heels were booked too strongly.

Nash is asked if Bret changed in WCW. He says that what happened in the WWF changed him. He did admit that WCW misused him.

When he is asked about beating putting himself over Goldberg, he said that it wasn’t his choice and that the match happened in December and he became booker in February. He then said even if he was to put himself over Goldberg, how would that get him over? He mentions how there were “Goldberg Sucks” chants at the arenas during this time. Then when asked about the Fingerpoke incident, Nash claims that everyone came up with that finish. He said if Goldberg didn’t fuck up his hand punching a window, it would have worked great with him running through the nWo before beating Hogan.

Nash is asked about Bischoff referring to him as “Big Lazy” in his book. Nash states he doesn’t care and said he lost his desire, much like everyone else at the top of the card.

Nash is asked about the deal with Jarrett, Russo, and Hogan at Bash and the Beach. Nash thinks it was a work. He also thinks part of the incident in Montreal  between Bret and Vince was a work too, stating that the WWF produced that tape with Vince staggering around and he would never show himself in that light if it was legit.

He is then asked about WCW getting bought out. He said that Bischoff had a group of guys who could have bought it but they did not want wrestling on TNT at all so they sold to Vince. He said that his contract was backloaded and had fourteen months left and was told he could give half of it back and go work for WWF or stay at home for the same money. He also said he was not surprised that Vince did not run WCW separately and knew he would make sure they looked inferior to his guys.

When asked about reforming the nWo in WWF, he said that no one wanted them back and that once the fans cheered Hogan, he knew it was over. He says that Austin did not want to work with Hall. He then mentions of Hall’s contract had him work ten days a month but he did 23 in his first month there, which stressed him out further as he already had custody of his kids.

He said that after he left, he was approached about being a road agent and working with creative, stating that Michael Hayes talked with him. He turned it down because he did not want to move away from the beach.

He is asked about John Laurinaitis. He says that he is too stupid to be evil and calls him a stooge who hired the wrong one-legged man.

Nash states that his biggest regrets were taking too many pills and that he could have been nicer. He does state that you have to be aggressive in this business in order to make it big. He equates it to being on a pirate ship, sleeping with one eye open at all times.

He says he wound up in TNA because of Jarrett. He said his feud against the X Division was an old Mark Madden idea of a cruiserweight bully. He said they were never buried because he won by cheating, then stated that he couldn’t have killed their credibility because in a shoot, he would destroy them. He does put over the workers in the X Division, stating that they are great to watch and improving their psychology. He calls Alex Shelley a breakthrough guy and thinks Jay Lethal does a fantastic job with comedy. He thinks TNA can compete but it’s a slow process.

He is asked about his favorite rib. He says the ones that involve feces are his favorite and states the shit sandwich they gave Sunny was there favorite. He says the shit was his but Waltman put it together.

He is asked about his favorite road story and recalls a time in the WWF when he, HHH, HBK, Hall, and Waltman rented a van in Indianapolis. Everyone except HHH was fucked up on Somas and booze. They parked in front of a hotel and left about fifteen empties on the curb before entering the restaurant attached to the hotel. Waltman was having the “soma shakes” so he just sat in the back of the van.    When they went inside, there were 20 or so cops eating inside. They didn’t want to make it obvious by walking out. They had HHH go outside to take care of the empties but inside, HBK started to have the soma shakes and he started to carry him out but in the process, started bumping into things, which caught the attention of the cops who stopped him. Nash said that HBK was epileptic and the cops were trying to arrest him. He then was given the option of taking HBK to the hospital and did. He stated that he was laughing in the hospital room as the doctor was pissed.

He recalls his first road trip in the business. He was in WCW with Sid, Dutch Mantell, and the Iron Sheik. He said Sheik called him a giant jabroni and smoked a joint then made them stop for a six pack before they went to the gym.

He said the nWo would not work today, but maybe later on only with guys who can grow together. He said he would make Ric Flair their mouthpiece.

He then said that his same problem with newsletter writers is the same one he has with food critics. That problem is that they have never done the work so who are they to state who can work good or not.

Nash says UFC is what’s hurting wrestling. He then says that the more they try to replicate UFC, the worst it will get. He says everyone knows wrestling is fake so they shouldn’t even bother copying their style.

He closes by thanking his fans, stating that he took them for granted during the prime of his career. He says it means a lot when someone gives him an old piece of memorabilia as it brings up a lot of old memories. He gets pissed when people try to rush fans through the lines at signings.

Final Thoughts: I highly recommend this shoot. Nash comes across as relaxed here and doesn’t try to bury anyone. He also gave a lot of backstage details on one of the most popular eras in wrestling. You can tell that he does have a solid mind for the business, especially when it comes to making sure he gets fairly compensated.  It seems like his goal in wrestling was to make money and chill with his friends and he succeeded in that department. If there was any criticism of Nash here, it was that he did seem to rationalize when asked about situations that made him look unfavorable, even after he admitted he had no part of what took place. Anyway, this runs over two hours and forty five minutes and is worth every minute.