Guest EastCoastJ Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 All apologies for not posting the newsletter lately. I decided to take a few weeks off of on my subscription while I move as I don't have a reliable mailing address. Here's some bits and peices posted by the Torch as of late though: - Shawn Michaels wanted to have a private in-ring practice session with Hulk Hogan before Summerslam. Hogan turned it down because he said his body can only take so much physical wear and tear at this point in his life and he doesn't want to waste any bumps when it's not for money or in front of a crowd. As a compromise, Hogan worked a dark six-man tag match after Raw in Pittsburgh on Monday with Michaels on the opposing team. This week on Raw, Michaels gave a glimpse of his strategy for wrestling the largely immobile Hogan at Summerslam. He created movement in response to Hogan going through limited motions of throwing him around. - Besides wanting Michaels to superkick his son, Nick, Hogan also suggested Michaels make desparaging remarks about his daughter. Michaels also turned that idea down. - The line on Batista right now is that management is protecting him since they feel without Triple H, he is largely lost in the ring (as far as being a top-level player) and in danger of quickly being exposed to fans if he gets too much TV time. Batista, though, is said by everyone to have a great attitude, a desire to learn, and a realistic understanding of his strengths and weaknesses at this point. (Note from John: Guess that's why he wasn't even on SD that one week, eh?) - Daivari is headed to the Deep South developmental territory in Georgia until he can be repackaged. Tough Enough 4 alums Ryan Reeves, Mike Mizanin, and Nick Mitchell have been working out there recently. Bill DeMott has been running a boot camp like atmosphere there in recent weeks as they work toward running regular TV tapings within a few weeks. - Regarding the locker room atmosphere, one wrestler says: "Most guys just want to stay healthy, stay under the radar, and not get fired. It's sad that that's what the locker room has come to." - Saturday Night's Main Event is scheduled to be a RAW brand only series. - Triple H's biggest challenge personally is balancing his personal and professional relationship with Steph because he disagrees with her A LOT, but has to bite his tongue based on their relationship and the fact that "he does what he does" and "she does what she does" and they have to respect each other's boundaries. - Triple H and Ric Flair are now scheduled to return to Raw on Oct. 3, the first episode that airs on USA Network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EastCoastJ Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 Torch Talk with Kevin Nash: Part 17 - "The only reason Booker T has made it this long is because he is black" Torch Talk with Kevin Nash, pt. 17 Originally Published: August 13, 2005 Torch Newsletter #874 The following is the 17th and final installment of a six-hour "Torch Talk" with Kevin Nash conducted on March 24. In this installment gives his thoughts on various people he's crossed paths with from Bobby Heenan to JBL to Shane Douglas. Plus he talks about referees and ribs on the road. Wade Keller: Talk about Bobby Heenan. Kevin Nash: I thought Jesse (Ventura) was a great color guy, I really did. I really enjoyed his color growing up. But Heenan had such a broader range. Heenan is much quicker than Lawler and more cerebral, more cutting kind of humor. I remember when he left New York and they threw him out, he had the toilet paper hanging out his ass. I think it was in White Plains we did it. He walked out the door and I said I couldn't believe they were letting him go. He just asked for a little bit more money because WCW had offered Bobby some money. Bobby was told they couldn't match it. Well, f--- you then. But he did it with class. He left with class. He had toilet paper hanging out of his ass and being thrown out of the building. I mean, he left with class. As an announcer, he did a job going out the door. Keller: What are your thoughts on Mark Madden? Nash: A good friend. I think right now he should be working. He's real cutting edge. Madden's one of those guys who's a heel announcer because you either love him or hate him. He's just one of those guys with an opinion on everything. He's not afraid to state his opinion. It doesn't matter if you're a babyface or heel, he either likes you or not. The reason he lost his job in WCW is because of his inability to get along with (Dallas) Page. It was just one of those deals. At the same time, when Page came out, Madden said, "My God! He's got a leather mask on! No wait, no he doesn't." He'd say, "Page looks so old, he should put f---in' baggage claims on for ear rings." I mean, when he said sh-- like that, it's a top babyface and he's dogging them. I mean, to me, I love Madden. I went to Pittsburgh with a buddy of mine and I'll tell you, Madden is over as f--- in Pittsburgh. You go places and you see people walking over to you and you expect them to say f--- you, but they're all nice and say hi to Mark. He's a big celebrity in Pittsburgh. It was good hanging out with him. I've appreciated him and enjoy his wit and humor. Keller: How about Kevin Sullivan? Nash: Really, somebody, if I was in charge of something, I would bring in. He can generate heat. He doesn't let up on booking heat. Watching Dusty (Rhodes) book, he books like a babyface. Very little heat. He's a babyface. Sullivan does the opposite. Beat the f--- out of everybody and pummel them down and let somebody emerge from the ashes. That's such a different way to book. Sullivan doesn't get the credit he should have gotten for the NWO. People on a daily basis tried to make the NWO give back and he would not allow it to happen. Keller: Konnan. Nash: He was a really good friend, then we had some problems when I took over the book (in WCW). He did the infamous no mas match with Luger. I put the f---in U.S. belt on him as basically a buddy-system because he was super over to see if it would click. He was one of those guys who I thought would pick up his stride, but he left me high and dry and ended up blasting me and Bischoff in USA Today for the creative team being the sh--s. It was one of those deals where he's blasting me. He says, "Well, I didn't mean you." I'm like, "F---, dude, I'm head of creative and you're blasting creative in USA Today. That's me!" It's one of those deals where Carlos is Carlos. If somebody is trying to f--- up Carlos, I wouldn't let anybody hurt him. You know, I love him to death, but he's his own worst enemy. It is what it is. He's had a lot of sh-- in his life. When you get to know these guys and get to know them as multidimensional human beings with the sh-- they went through on so many different levels, he went through a lot of sh-- in his life. He was another guy who probably thought the WCW train wasn't going to stop anytime soon. He didn't get picked up by the other squad and life got hard for a lot of those guys, those guys who weren't prepared for that. I love him to death, but he is who he is. It's the old scorpion sits on a frog, wants to take a ride across the lake on the frog's back. The frog says, "You won't f---in' sting me?" Scorpion says, "No, I won't sting you. If I sting you, you'll die half way across the lake and I'll die, too." The scorpion stings the frog. The frog says, "Why'd you sting me?" Scorpion says, "F--, I'm a scorpion, that's what I do." That's Carlos. Keller: Shane Douglas. Nash: He had it rough coming in to New York. They gave him a lame gimmick. Keller: He really clashed with you guys, too. Nash: Not with me. It was with Scott (Hall) and Sean (Waltman). They always brought guys in and put them with Sean (at first). I don't know if he hadn't worked in a while or what, but when he came in, if you couldn't have a (good) match with Kid, you were f---ed. We were in Cincinnati at the Cincinnati Gardens, which was a great f---in' building back in the day. They had a stinker. We came back and we said, "Kid, what do you think?" He said, "He ain't got it." And he was f---ed, that was it. If Kid said he ain't got it, then he was f---ed. He didn't get over with Scott. Scott didn't like the way he worked. He (Douglas) woke up on the European tour with an injury and said, "I can't work tonight." Then he wanted to go home on the first bus. Yoko(zuna) found out he was on the first bus and told him, "Why don't you go watch f---n' Hunter and Razor work so you know what the f-- to do?" It was one of those deals where it was the European trip and everybody got on him and ragged him and he just said, "F--- this sh--." Keller: He was used to being top dog in ECW. Nash: I tell people this. I told Dallas, "Do not f---in' go up there by yourself. You don't know what it's like to be in the shark tank. You have no idea." He's like, "Yeah, bro bro bro bro, I know everything." And I'm like, "F---in' dude, you don't know dick, okay? You've been in this biodome for f---in' eight, ten years. You don't understand, they will eat you alive." He went up there and low and behold they f---in' ate him alive. They had Sara (Undertaker's wife) smackin' him around. Keller: Stay positive! Nash: (laughs) F--, good luck. Do a rail of meth. He got up there and got f---ed over. That scarred him. It basically ruined his f---in' career. He really thinks that's a huge goose egg in his career that he didn't go up there and get over. Keller: Why did that not work out? What force was working against him? Nash: Everything was working against him. Name someone who was on the Confederate Team that got over with the Union after the merge. I mean, sh--. They did everything they could possibly do to f---in' kill everybody from Scott Steiner?the only reason Booker T has made it this long is because he is black. They bastardized and killed every f---in' human being that worked for the other company. Keller: Except John Laurenaitis. Nash: Yeah, but an amoeba lives wherever. He can live in a petrey dish. Keller: He politically was seen as a corporate climber the second the acquisition took place. Nash: He told (WCW corporate president) Brad Siegel and the rest of those guys when he came to WCW that all of the top guys were late to TV and if you put a fine in, we can recoup 30,000 dollars each Monday. I had a stooge in the room when he said it. I called him out in New Mexico. I called him out for two hours. I said, "There's Moe, there's Shemp, and there's you, you f---in' stooge." I dogged him for two hours and I was supposed to win the belt from Booker T that night. It was a Nitro, and I went to Bischoff and said, "By the way, I can't f---in' work because we worked in Albuquerque last night and we had to drive and I got four hours of sleep because I had to be here at 11:30 a.m. and I don't physically think I can take care of Booker in the ring, so I won't be able to work tonight. He said, "Go sleep in one of the f---in' buses." I said, "Nah, that's not in my contract to sleep on a bus. But thank you anyway. You go ahead and keep your program, but I'm not going to be able to work tonight. I've already talked to my agent and he agrees with me." They said f--- and had to rewrite the show. It was one of those deals where, "Okay, let's see who's got the bigger d---." Looking back at it now, I wonder, why did I do that? I guess because I could. On top of that, I did it because nobody else could. At that time, he would have f---ed everyone over. Keller: Bradshaw? Are you surprised at the level he's at now? Nash: To a degree, yeah. But at the same time, it's good to see that a good guy ends up on top. I think he's a real good guy. He's always been good to me. He's intelligent. I've heard people say he's a bully and all that. I'm 6-10, 300, he wasn't going to bully me. He was nice to me. You'll hear half the wrestling community say the fact that he's been on top for a year shows how sh--y the talent depth is. Keller: There's truth to that. If Brock Lesnar was around or Kurt Angle was 100 percent healthy, JBL would not have had the chance. But, I don't think a year ago people would have thought if Brock and Angle were taken out of the mix, that JBL would have made the top ten list of their replacement who would hold the Smackdown title for ten months. Nobody would have included him in their top ten. Nash: The smart thing they did is they didn't hotshot and move that belt around. Now, you know what, when somebody beats him, it means something. They did the smart thing. They knew they had nobody who was over, so let's make time get somebody over. That's what they used to do back in the day. Keller: If somebody would have taken Vince Russo and explained that to him, things might have been different. Nash: (Exasperated) F---! When David Arquette won the belt, all the times I had won the WCW belt just went out the window. That belt absolutely meant nothing. Keller: Russo's defense is, hey, look at the circumstances. It was a total fluke. It was a tag match. He just walked into the ring and made the cover. He didn't really beat anybody. Nash: Nope. Nope. Nope. It was wrong because of all the guys who went up and down the road for all of those years and banged around and wished they could get a heavyweight title match, let alone a belt. For them, that to me was, talk about a downfall of the business. And it's not like Clint Eastwood won it. It was a guy who was in Eight Legged Freaks. I would have rather put over Courtney Cox. At least she's over. Keller: Paul Heyman? Nash: I don't really know Paul. Keller: How about from a distance as a student of the game looking at his contribution? Nash: I respect what he did. Especially, from listening to Dreamer, learning what they had to work with. I have a lot of respect for Tommy for that. That whole group of guys, it was a real special breed of guys. They did it more for the love than the money. That's so unbusiness compared to the modern era now, especially with guys who take the paycheck and don't watch the matches back and play f---in' videogames instead. To that group of guys, guys like Sabu and Raven and Shane, plus Jericho and Benoit and Eddie?all the guys we robbed (from ECW) that made that show happen, we stole from Paul. They had a great chemistry. They basically shot an angle at the beginning of the show with the NWO, then they talked about it through great matches until the end of the show. And they used those guys as the car crash to keep everybody's attention. And they were. They gave 'em something they had never seen before. That middleweight where we had f---in' (Ultimo) Dragon and Rey and Eddie and Dean and Chris (Benoit). F---! We had ten guys who could go. There were four matches a night that you'd sit in the locker room and go "f---!" Keller: Does that reconcile very early on in this interview about how wrestlers can't look like their gardener on steroids? You are giving tremendous, and I think deserved, credit to them not being the drawing card, but the meat that kept people's attention. Nash: Absolutely. It was what it was. Some of the guys just say that those guys were garnish. I'm like, yeah, garnish the filet mignon. Anybody that was there that didn't appreciate them, huh? I don't care what anybody said, there was a two year period where that was probably the greatest crew of workers in the business. Ever. It was before everyone had the 19 injuries they've got now. Juvi, Chavo, Kidman, Psicosis, there were so many guys. Konnan, too. Okay, this is a great Konnan story. Everybody knows he's a f---in' dog. He's just a dog. So we got to San Angelo, Texas and it's me and f---in' Konnan against Psicosis and La Parka. It's a straight Latino crowd. Ten thousand, eight thousands, whatever, it's sold out in the afternoon. I go in there and ask, "What do you want to do?" He says, "Just come in on the comeback." Konnan goes out there and f---in' works and it's like somebody took over his body. He went out there and lucha libre'd like crazy. I told him, "I understand why you were over in Mexico. You can actually go if somebody f---in' shoots adrenaline into your heart, you f---in' lazy prick!" He went out and tore the house down and handed me the driest, coldest tag (laughs). I said, "Okay, I got it, you can go if you want to. F---, you're been sitting around for four years like a slug. Good for you, man." Keller: Here's a question out of left field. Did you ever care which referees worked your matches? Was there a difference, or were they just there? Nobody ever asks about that. Nash: Yeah. I remember when Joey (Morella) died. I think he should be considered for the Hall of Fame. He was a great referee. Okay, Gorilla's gone. When does Joey qualify? That was another one that crushed me and Scott. Joey did a ton of our matches. Baby Earl is good, but Kyote is better. You get a better false finish with Kyote back in the day. I never liked Nick Patrik's counts. It was too slow. It was hard to get a false finish. But he was real good if you needed a storyline out of somewhere, Nick was the guy you had to go to because he had the ability to carry storylines. It was weird. To me, the referees have strong points and weak points. Mark Johnson, the bald headed guy, was at our last TV. He has an energy to him. You know what I mean? There's a hyper energy from him that was refreshing. He's a little more animated and over the top compared to what we have. He stands out. He stands out more than the matches. Keller: How about Brian Hildebrand? Nash: God, he was the NWO referee underneath the hood. He was great. The thing with him was he was so f---n' small. You look back our tag matches, he almost worked every one of our pay-per-view matches. We wanted him because he was a great referee. He was a great human being. I remember we were in Knoxville and he came and he was fighting for his life. There are times in your life in this business, I remember sitting that night, I didn't even go out, I just went back to the hotel and I knew that he was dying. The guys went out. I couldn't go out. I was sick. You don't want to sell to him. You have to no-sell to him. "Hey, good to see you!" Then he walks away and you feel the bottom of your stomach drop out. F---, man, what did he do? What did he do, God? He was a good guy. There are so many pricks in the world that are alive. Why him? Of everybody, why him? He was nothing but a great guy. Keller: I always remember him shadow boxing moves in the corner during matches. Then he'd be invisible the rest of the match. Nash: Yeah, he was special. I think Charles Robinson was real good. He was another guy I liked. He had a good personality. I meshed with him. Keller: Tell me about one or two of the best ribs from the road. Nash: Me and Sean Waltman when I sh-- in a cup and he put it in Sunny's bag. No, wait, he put it in her food in Europe. She had said, "Could you tell them to be sure they get on the bus on time tomorrow so they don't get into my training and eating." We were like, "Okay, you f---in' c--t. Sh--s on." And it was. I sh-- a Dairy Queen lump of sh-- in a plastic cup and gave it to Kid. Kid took a turd out with a fork and put it between the turkey she was eating. They hid her bags way downstairs in the basement. She got on the bus and sliced into the turkey and took a stab and put it in her mouth. She put the light on and saw it was a turd. She went balistic. Vince called me and asked what was going on. I said, "Well, on the road, sh-- happens." Vince went, "Ho ho ho ho ho ho! Well, ho ho ho ho ho. Well, uh, do you know anything about it?" I said, "Nope, I don't." She flew home the next day and she was done. That was the biggest rib that I was a part of in my career. I remember when eight guys sh-- into a pie pan and they put it in Madusa's bag in Atlanta. Robbie (Rick) Steiner put it all in her bag and then shook it over his head. Deuce no-sold it. She never said a f---ing word. All the boys were, like, all right, she's part of the team. Keller: Why was that done to her? Nash: I don't know. She might have said something. Maybe just to test her because she was a girl. Sonny was out of control. With her, it was warranted. Keller: How about one without sh-- as part of it. I know that might eliminate 90 percent of them. Nash: There was one that Waltman pulled with Owen (Hart) on a guy taking cocaine. There was this guy who was Owen's male rat. His name was Paul. Back in the day, if you could get a rat to drive you for three or four days on a 20 day trip, it'd save you fifty bucks a day. So we'd all do it in a heartbeat. They did a deal where they went someplace and next to it was the wedding place. They went in to get some sleep. Paul and this girl went in there to sleep. So they called from the other room and said, "This is the front office and you gotta get out of there." They said, "Whatever." Then one of them knocked on the door and said, "This is the police." Paul walked over. It was Owen on the other side. He said, "F---, what are we going to do with this?" They had a bag of flour in this thing. They gave it to Paul and said, "Get rid of this!" So Paul runs to the bathroom and dumps the sh-- down the toilet and flushed it. So Owen and Sean come back and said, "We got rid of the cops, man! Where's the sh--." It was like Goodfellows. They freaked out when Paul said he flushed it. "What do you mean? That was 20 grand worth of sh--! Oh my god!" They ribbed that guy so many f---in' times. He was just one of those guys you ribbed the sh-- out of. He never caught on. He never realized it was a rib. That was a good one. Owen was the king. I remember one time, it was around Christmas. J.J. (Dillon) had fined Owen the week before. So we're going home for Christmas break in a day or two. J.J. asks, "Has anyone seen my briefcase." Handcuffed up about 20 feet above the floor on a pipe is J.J.'s briefcase. (laughs) Owen got someone with a cherry picker to put it up there so there wasn't a ladder in the place that would reach. And so there's J.J.'s briefcase hanging from this water pipe. Owen looked up and said, "God, I wonder who did that, J.J.?" (laughs) Keller: How did J.J. react? Nash: He had that look that said, "F---, you f---er!" It was one of those deals where you should know better than to f--- with Owen because Owen will have the last word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EastCoastJ Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 Kevin Nash Torch Talk Part 15: Torch Talk with Kevin Nash, pt. 15 Originally Published: July 16, 2005 Torch Newsletter #871 In the following 15th installment of a six-hour "Torch Talk" with Kevin Nash conducted on March 24. In this installment, he talks about the Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels rivalry, Mick Foley's style, and the wrestling intellect of Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, among other subjects. Wade Keller: What is an example of the Clique working together for each other's best interests? Kevin Nash: I remember sitting in there and Vince (McMahon) putting the parameters he did on Shawn (Michaels) and Scott (Hall) for the second ladder match. Basically, he said, "We're trying to be Disney, we don't want violence, we want you to have a ladder match but not use the ladder." We sat there, the five of us, in the room and put together the second ladder match which was actually a greater accomplishment than the first one because they didn't want us to be violent. People don't know that. You watch that back and they really don't use the ladder. They had to try to beat the first one without using the prop. To sit there that night, that was the first night that Paul (Leveseque, a/k/a Triple H) kind of just came into his own. He had one after another really good ideas and everybody was thinking this young kid has a brain for it. Keller: What do you think of the wrestling intelligence of Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan? Nash: I remember one time when Hogan did a deal with the Giant. Giant was standing behind him and Hogan did that thing he does where the people were screaming and Giant was behind him and he does the thing where you're going, "F---in', would you turn, already?!" Then you realize he does the uncomfortably long "doesn't turn" to the point where it actually gets the people, and then you go, "Wow, okay, I learned something tonight. You got me. I would have turned way sooner. Gotcha. You're in control of the crowd." That's the thing about Terry (Hogan). He doesn't do much, but everything he does is f---in' precision, it's well-planned, and it's been happening for a long time. Same as Ric. Ric knows what works and he does it. There are very few guys who have that kind of track record. Keller: Is there anyone not as prominent who impressed you in terms of their wrestling intellect who never got a shot to have any kind of influence? Nash: I think Disco (Inferno). He's my friend. He thinks sometimes way out of the ballpark. It's one of those deals where if I was to creatively do something in this business ever again, I'd want him there. A lot of times the further you go out, the closer you get to what you want. He's the kind of guy who you can ask for an idea and he'll go, "How about this, how about this, how about this, how about this, how about this, how about this?" You're not going to have eight guys sitting in a room looking at each other saying, "Should we order Chinese?" He never got credit, and I think because he's so tenacious with his ideas, a lot of bookers won't use him. Dusty just won't use him because of that. F---, dude, you don't want to drink spring water, don't drink it, but f---in' don't tell me you don't want to drink. I'm watching your sh--, you need some water bad, dog. Keller: We talked briefly about it earlier, but got sidetracked - what about the Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels rivalry? Was it just two rivals who were part of the same era fighting for the same spot? Or was there immaturity on both people's part? Or were they just two opposite personalities who had to coexist? What was it that made their feud so interesting and intense? Nash: I wasn't there when it went down, so I heard about it second hand. I heard from Paul (Triple H). The only reason I heard about it was because Bret's wife said, "I bet your buddies in Atlanta are f---in' laughing right now (about the Survivor Series swerve in 1997)." We got lumped into it, like we were coconspirators or something. I think it was one of those deals where at that point - and I know the mentality that I had was like, I remember being on a New York talk show and talking sh-- about Hogan and (Randy) Savage because I was so pro-Vince. If you were in Vince's camp, you thought Vince's way. If someone was going to walk out of the camp, they became the enemy. I don't think it was a Bret-Shawn thing as much as Bret wanting to f---in' leave and go somewhere else; since he wasn't on the team anymore, they hated him. They coincided for three years when I was there without any animosity. Keller: They had been a fist-fight backstage years earlier. There was a lot of tension between them for years which is one of the reasons Bret refused to job to Michaels in Montreal on PPV. He cited that Michaels had avoided doing jobs before. He didn't respect the way he operated. Nash: I was in the car with Shawn and Shawn never really said anything negative about Bret. He would say sometimes he was kind of a mark. He had a shrine of belts in his house and sh--. Shawn never really said anything negative about him. The thing was, we kind of had the stroke. It was like sitting in the front of a 65 foot yacht drinking Cosmopolitans. It didn't really matter what others were thinking or doing. We were going, we were doing our sh--. We were semi-booking our own sh--, so we had nothing to complain about. Keller: Now some name association. Steve Austin. Nash: Great. And my buddy. One of my best friends. I love him to death. Keller: The Rock. Nash: Gifted. One in probably a billion. Keller: Undertaker. Nash: A warrior. F---in' shop steward. The guy whose been on the assembly line for 25 years. Good guy. Got a good heart. Probably the best big man to ever work in the business. Keller: Mick Foley. Nash: Crazy. Incredibly intelligent. Probably one of the brightest, most intelligent people every to be in this business. When you asked who is intelligent, I missed his name. God, he's on a different planet. Always has been. Too smart for the room, basically. There's very few people who get his sh--. He's in a fourth dimension. Keller: Do you think his crazy bumps and taking ten, twenty chairshot to the head raised the bar too high? Nash: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, how do you defeat somebody with a schoolboy after he takes that f---in' bump off the cage and through the table? The thiing was - I'll say this and I'd say it to Mick's face - it was supposed to be a work. When you f---in' land on 50 tacks, there's no work to that. There's no work to falling 200 feet onto a table. There's no work to falling through the cage. It's not a work anymore. You couldn't have that Hell in a Cell match 15 nights in a row. But, at the same time, I mean, there's a guy who if you know his history, he was Dude Love, he jumped off of his garage onto a f---in' mattress. There's a predestination in his gene pool that made him do that. Mick Foley, Cactus Jack, whoever you want to say, that alter ego and his body had to go through that table on the floor. It's what completes him. That match completed him, I think. It depleted him, too, but I think it completed him. He took it to such a f---in' level that the only thing basically someone could do right now is the Vietnam set yourself on fire. He took it to such a level, and if that's what he wanted to do, he definitely accomplished it. I remember watching it going, "Holy f---!" The whole Owen (Hart) thing, when that happened, you almost thought it was a work when they didn't show it. They said Owen Hart crashed and did it. I thought it was such a horrible way to do an angle. I thought it was an angle at the time. They were doing a lot of racy stuff. I was watching the pay-per-view and I kind of saw the look on people's faces, and I called on a cell phone and finally Paul called me back and said, "Man, he's dead." I went, "Oh, f---!" That was without a doubt the worst thing; I sat and cried that night. I mean, it's one thing for a guy to take pills and kill himself, it's another thing for a guy who never did anything wrong but make people laugh and just was a friend to everybody. I mean, I don't think there's been a person who's ever been in the business who could say something bad about Owen. He was that guy. You could be 25 days into a tour and be in India with diarrhea and he would make you laugh. He was that f---in' guy. If there was ever a f---in' tragedy in this business, man, that was it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EastCoastJ Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 This interview series went on WAY too fucking long. Torch Talk with Kevin Nash, pt. 16 Originally Published: August 6, 2005 Torch Newsletter #873 In the following 16th installment of a six-hour "Torch Talk" with Kevin Nash conducted on March 24. In this installment he continues to discuss various people he's crossed paths with over the years. The 17th and final installment will be published next week. Wade Keller: Talk about Brock Lesnar. Kevin Nash: Interesting... When he came in, he travelled with me and Kurt (Angle). It was funny because of all the shooters, he was the quickest one to be able to land on his back. Most shooters, when they want to bump, want to land on their stomach. The really good shooter guys have that tendency. He was really comfortable doing that, but he was a tough mother f---er and he knew it and I think it was a hard transition for him. Kurt, to me, there will never be anybody like Kurt again. Kurt was the best in the f---in' world. Before he got hurt he was damn near close to the best in pro wrestling. Keller: Do you agree with the criticism of Brock walking away when he did for the reasons he did? Nash: Absolutely not. Obviously he wasn't happy with the situation. He walked away on top. Something wasn't right as far as he was concerned. I don't care who anybody is. When I watch Barry Bonds say, "Uncle, I don't know if I'll ever play baseball again." When I heard that, I went, you know what, I'm not gonna watch baseball this year. F--- you writers, now you've pissed me off because I really want to watch Bonds beat Babe's record. I don't care if he's on the gas, not on the gas, whatever. Just f---in ' let people live their lives. If they don't want to do something or they want to do something, leave everybody alone. Don't be so judgmental. Keller: What about Brock ripping the business right after he got out of it? Instead of talking about pro wrestling respectfully, he spit on it. That's why a number of wrestlers have said they don't want him back in their locker room. Nash: All it shows me is the greenness that you're not smart enough not to burn bridges yet. That's all it shows. Keller: As a person, you got to know him pretty well. Nash: He's a good guy, a real good guy. I've spent a lot of time with him. You know what, I don't know what the real reason was he walked away, but something hurt. They need talent up there and he's a piece of talent. I would welcome him back. Keller: Bill Goldberg. Nash: Enigma. I mean, if there was ever a guy at the right place at the right time, it was him. Another one who a lot of people think is a prick and a son of a bitch. If you know Bill, really know Bill, he's a really good guy. I've seen Bill with no sleep stay up for hours with a cancer kid through Make-a-Wish. People can say whatever they want about him. I've seen a Bill that nobody else ever sees. Keller: From a wrestling perspective, he wasn't enough of a student of the game to be able to fend off the negatives and not end up bitter. Nash: Nobody made him be (a student of the game). It was a meteoric rise and like anything else - you crush people in 30 seconds, then all of a sudden you put the strap on him, you can't go, "Okay, you've been going 30 seconds, now go 20 minutes." F---, you created Tron, you made the game Tron, you can't change the rules in the middle of it. What did they expect? They created a monster and now you want the monster to work. You haven't taught the monster how to do it. He did a decent job covering up his inability to know the business. I don't think he was a sh-- worker. Keller: He just wasn't where he needed to be when he reached that mountaintop and all the expectations that come with it. Nash: No. And that's definitely not Bill's fault. I will never, never, ever chastise somebody who was pushed too fast, too soon. I mean, if somebody told me when I broke in as Master Blaster Steele that "tomorrow you're getting the belt and you're going to go 20 minutes with Flair in f---in' Jacksonville," I'd have gone, "Okay." Keller: How about Sid? Nash: You know, I had a crazy dream the other night. Sid was in it with long, brown hair. And I thought to myself, why is Sid in my dream? Maybe if I ever get creative again, maybe I should contact him because he's in my dream. I think just physically, as far as just a visual, wow. I remember when he and (Dan) Spivey were the Skyscrapers. Me and Spivey actually worked as The Skyscrapers against the Steiners when I was a Master Blaster after my partner left at the Omni show in Thanksgiving. There's some trivia. Anyway, I thought Sid wasn't a great worker, but f---, he can play on my team. Keller: How about Randy Savage? Nash: When I came into the business, especially when I came into the WWF, he was the captain. He was the guy who kind of held the ship together. When he left, losing him was a bigger loss morale-wise than losing Hogan. When he left and went to WCW, that really was a ball-shock because he did Raw in Bushkill and then he was gone. Keller: Why does Vince, of all the people he's forgiven over the years and brought back, not forgive Randy? Nash: I don't think he ever forgave Luger, either. I think if you leave without at least notice, you're not welcome back. I think it's a respect thing. Vince wouldn't fire a top guy without telling a top guy he was fired. He wouldn't just top paying you. It's not a way to do business, just to leave in the middle of the night. Vince isn't going to pack up shop and leave in the middle of the night. He doesn't expect anyone else to do it. That's something they've got to work out. I can see Vince's viewpoint, definitely. Keller: Dustin Rhodes. Nash: Huge shadow, you know? I would not want my son - and I'm not saying I'm anywhere near Dusty's caliber because I think Dusty had a better career than I've ever had - but I wouldn't want my son to follow my footsteps. I mean, it's a no-win situation. There's not many second generation people who have eclipsed their fathers, or third generations. To me, it's more of a hindrance. The guys they're following are huge. Why don't any of the sh-- guys have a kid who's a prodigy? (laughs) It's always the superstars who have the kids. David Flair, geez! Before I wrestle, I'd have stood on top of a tall building and jumped on top of a pole. F---, if I'm Ric Flair's kid, I'm not gonna wrestle. It's like (Michael) Jordan's kid f---in' strappin' on some tennis shoes. F--- it man, go play tennis. Do something else. Keller: Curt Hennig did well for himself. Nash: Curt is probably the best of all of them. He's probably the best second-generation guy. Keller: Jim Ross. Nash: Actually, he was the first guy who I think saw something in me. So I gotta give him a heads up. Thanks, Jim. Keller: How about in his role as head of talent relations? Nash: I always liked him because he was never dishonest with me. I mean, we used to call it the J.J. job. I mean, it's such a sh-- f---in' job. It's thankless. You're a henchman and a hitman for Vince. It's a no-win situation. But you know what, I know Steve Austin loves him to death and spent more time with him than I did. If Steve Austin tells me somebody's a good person, he's a good person. Period. I don't question it. Steve loves him to death. That's all I need to know. Keller: Tony Schiavone. Nash: I like Tony. I mean, it's amazing to me that he didn't get a job somewhere besides doing AM radio for the Braves. I thought Tony was a good guy, a good announcer. Tony was versatile. He wasn't unhip. He was a straight guy. Keller: He was the Pat Sajak of wrestling. Nash: Yeah. I thought he was talented. Keller: Jeff Jarrett. Nash: He's a good worker and a good friend. I think that when he was booking, things were a lot better than they are now. He's got a lot of personal stress in his life with his wife and her situation right now. My prayers go out to him on so many levels. I think that's the only reason I'm still there - because of Jeff. That's the only reason. Flat out the only reason. I won't stab Jeff in the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EastCoastJ Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 Torch Talk with Kevin Nash, pt. 14 Originally Published: July 16, 2005 Torch Newsletter #871 In the following 14th installment of a six-hour "Torch Talk" with Kevin Nash conducted on March 24, Nash talks about his regrets, his brightest and darkest moments, his friends, his handling of money over the years, and his former WCW colleagues. Wade Keller: Does all of the criticism of Triple H ever get to you since you're a good friend of his? Kevin Nash: I get so pissed off at people dogging him. He's the nicest mother f---er. There's not a better guy who's ever been in the business than him. Keller: The criticism that sticks the most with people these days is that he might be obsessed to a fault with the industry and with his place in it. That said, there isn't a Rock or a Steve Austin that he's holding back. Nash: To me, I actually was thinking it would have been perfect for me to come down during his (WrestleMania) match and f--- over Batista and cost him the title. Everyone assumes Batista's winning the title. I'm without a doubt probably his best friend in the business. I thought, god, that sounds like me trying to steal WrestleMania and I don't want that pressure. I'm thinking of a good f--- finish that keeps him with the belt, but I never told him. Let him lose it. I don't want to be that hated. I don't want all of his heat dumped on me in one day. The whole locker room would be saying, "How the f--- does Nash come in out of nowhere from the other company and get all the heat? F--- that, f--- him." So I kept that idea to myself. Keller: Have you stayed in touch with a lot of your former WWE colleagues who aren't in wrestling anymore? Nash: What a crazy group that was. When WCW collapsed, there were so many people who didn't save their money and it just f---ed them over. Keller: It's amazing how many lives WCW propped up. There were adults who never learned to be responsible because they never had to. Nash: There were wrestlers making more than $300,000 a year, and I'd tell them to buy real estate. With a four year deal, you could pay off a nice piece of property. Some of these guys have nothing to show for those big money years. To me, I'm not a f---in' brilliant guy, but I came down here and bought this condo. I bought another piece of real estate and another and another. I bought beach front property down here for f---in' 153 a lot and just turned two of them for over seven figures. I just look at them and say, "Come on guys, I'm not the f---in' brightest guy on earth. I'm a C-average college, C-average high school guy, but I'm smart enough to do this. Can't you guys read? Keller: I think there was an expectation among some of the wrestlers that the gravy train would magically keep being there. Nash: I remember going to Lex Luger's house. He had a 135,000 dollar brand new Porche and a 65,000 dollar Denali Suburban with 22,000 dollars worth of electronics and 12,000 worth of rims. It was a 90,000 a Tahoe, basically. I was still driving the same old sh-- I had ten years ago. It's like, I really don't give a f---. God forbid, I grew up in an atmosphere in Detroit where if you sh-- kicked on in the morning when you turned the key, it was win. I bought the big house in Arizona. Thank god before the collapse of WCW that me and my wife got separated and we sold it for a huge profit. We were lucky in that sense, and then we downgraded because I thought I was going to get divorced and lose half of my sh--. I downgraded my life to such an incredible degree - I mean, I lived in a 1,300 square foot loft in Atlanta while I booked. Sh-- worked out and I ended up better off than 99 percent of the guys. Keller: When of the most important things to do when you're rich is to learn how to live poor just in case. Nash: And I'm so glad I did. The thing was, I have the perfect wife because my wife is, like, she won't spend a dime. She's one of the girls who won't spend money. Keller: Do you ever, looking back at the whole ride you've been on, regret ever getting involved in pro wrestling? Nash: Never. Keller: Would you trade it all to have been an eight-year starting center in the NBA if in the end, you had the same amount of money saved up at this age? Nash: No, because I wouldn't have the double Shawns/Seans, I wouldn't have Scott, and I wouldn't have Hunter. I wouldn't have the friends I have. Keller: What's the darkest moment of your wresting-related life? Nash: Probably Owen. Keller: How about your brightest moment? Nash: You know, as crazy as it sounds, the first night. Absolutely. With that stupid f--ing mohawk and a steroid back full of acne and a sh--y f---in', I guess it was that first taste of the drug that made me want to continue to do it, I guess, forever. Keller: What's the one thing you did that you'd take back? Nash: (pause, deep breath) I think there was a time when I was really a prick. I think there were times when I wasn't the nicest person, that I used my power when I shouldn't have. I made life difficult for people when I shouldn't have. There were times I was a prick. I can't take it back and I can't sit down and tell every person I'm sorry, but I'm a Christian. I've sat down and confessed my sins to my maker and he's forgiven me. But I've been a prick. I have been a prick. I've been known to be one of the biggest pricks in the business. Keller: Which person did you trust whom you most regret trusting? Nash: Gosh, I don't know. We're all so smart to this business, nobody. You don't trust anybody. I mean, over time you begin to trust people, but sh--, it takes you years. You never trust anybody who books. It's the Memphis handshake. You learn that coming in. There's nobody that's f---ed me that I said to myself, "B'whoah! I didn't see that coming!" It just doesn't happen. That's the business. You learn that. I had Jody (train me). I knew coming in what it was (all about). I knew up front they were hanging tenderloins on me and dunking me in the shark tank. There's nobody I've trusted that I wish I didn't because there was nobody I trusted going in. Keller: Was there anybody you did not trust who in retrospect you wish you had? Or was there advice you were given that you didn't trust enough to take? Nash: I think I wish I wouldn't have been so hard on Hulk (Hogan) at the beginning because he turned out to be a really good friend and a good guy. I was too much of a mark to see Terry (Bollea). I just saw Hulk. I guess because I was a mark for him right before I got into the business and he was there and he was a strikeable target from a f---in' Japanese zero, he was someone I could Kamikaze - you know what I mean? It was a who's dick is bigger type thing. We thought we could take him out. We couldn't. You can't. Ah, f---. I remember when we broke in the business. I was sitting in the locker room with Scott Levy (Raven). We were, like, "When do you think f---?n' Hogan and (Ric) Flair will hang it up? F---, and Flair's still doing it as good as about anybody. I mean, I still to this day with f---in' Paul (Levesque, Triple H) would have dropped the strap to him in Greenville. It was right. It was one of those deals where he could have been champ three days. It was one of those places where on the fly I would have called, "Just beat me." Keller: And he could have been an eleven time champion now instead of ten had he done it? Nash: Absolutely. Keller: Give me a short list of the people with the sharpest minds for pro wrestling. Nash: Vince (McMahon), of course. I think Eric (Bischoff) has a real good mind for it. Shawn Michaels. I think Scott Hall has a great mind. I think Paul has a great mind. I think Kid has a good mind, too. That's what made the Clique work. Everybody, we were kind of, you put us all together, we made a human being together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 I went to Pittsburgh with a buddy of mine and I'll tell you, Madden is over as f--- in Pittsburgh. You go places and you see people walking over to you and you expect them to say f--- you, but they're all nice and say hi to Mark. He's a big celebrity in Pittsburgh. I call bullshit. The sports page here always has letters on how big an asshole he is on his radio show. I guess you could say he's over as a heel here, but I give you the Sek 100% guarantee that he's been told "fuck you" more than once. Triple H's biggest challenge personally is balancing his personal and professional relationship with Steph because he disagrees with her A LOT, but has to bite his tongue based on their relationship and the fact that "he does what he does" and "she does what she does" and they have to respect each other's boundarie I always wondered how they got along, considering Hunter seems to be such a mark for old school territory style wrestling and Steph......isn't. The thought of Hunter having to sit there and listen to all her stupid ass soap opera angles while he grits his teeth to nubs makes me LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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