Defending my favourite wrestler

[Guest Scott Michaels]

Now, the column. It’s about my favourite wrestler ever, Kevin Nash.

 

Nash is basically despised on the ‘net for a number of reasons, the reasons mainly being that he is lazy, can’t put on a good match and abuses his backstage power. However, all this withstanding, who didn’t mark out when he walked out onto the stage at No Way Out? Who doesn’t wanna see him lock up with Austin, Rock, Angle? I hear silence people! Nash is still a major star. He may not be a Benoit in the ring, but with the right opponent, he can still put on a great match.

 

I’m gonna do something that I’ll get flamed for here…..I’m gonna defend Nash’s behaviour in WCW. Firstly, the claim that Nash was lazy in the ring.

 

I’m not denying that this was true. Nash was extremely lazy, and rarely put 80%, let alone 100% effort into his matches. But if you look at the situation, he had a perfectly good reason for being lazy. Nash was over with the fans regardless of his workrate. This meant that he could put on shitty matches, and yet the crowd would still love the guy. Nash was on a monster contract, regardless of what he did in the ring, and he also was part of the booking committee, eventually becoming head booker. So, put yourself in Nash’s position: working hard in the ring won’t affect your position on the card, nor your push. It won’t affect how over you are with the fans; they will love you whatever. Working hard could cause injuries, and will also tire you out. If YOU were Nash, would you have worked hard in the ring? My answer is certainly NO! Hulk Hogan once said that the best wrestlers were the ones who ‘earned the most money, and did the least miles’. Going by this, Nash is the greatest of all time. I don’t believe in this theory, but I do think Nash did the right thing.

 

When Nash was head booker of WCW, he made himself the focal point of the shows, ended Goldberg’s famous ‘streak’, and booked himself into multiple title reigns. He was accused of burying people he didn’t like, or people who threatened his position on the card. Again, can you blame Nash for this? I certainly can’t. When I became part-booker of the OWA, although it’s imaginary, it’s the same sort of thing, most of my suggestions involved pushing my characters, or my buddies. In an ideal world, I would have been feuding with one of Tim or Christina’s characters over the world title. Power corrupts, and the people who have power become ‘self serving’ and do as much as they can for themselves and their friends. Although we’re somewhat cool now, I buried Sick Boy in the OWA because I didn’t like him, although his RP’s were pretty good. So, this kind of gave me Nash’s perspective. Again, put yourself in Nash’s position; you are given total control over the booking, regardless of the effects on the company; who wouldn’t book themselves into a title reign? I certainly would have done exactly what Nash did. And I’m sure everyone reading this column would have done too.

 

Nash in the WWF is a totally different story. Forget all the people who are worried that Nash will use his backstage power to move himself up the card, don’t be worried. Nash hasn’t been given the keys to the kingdom this time, Vince McMahon is the only boss. The only wrestler that I believe has any backstage pull is probably HHH, because of his relationship with Stephanie. We all saw what happened with guys like Buff Bagwell and KroniK when they messed up. The WWF has no competiton, no enemies any more. So that means nowhere to go if you are released from the WWF, other than joke feds like the WWA. So do you really think someone like Nash will try to pull any backstage stunts? Believe me, he has more to lose than the WWF. Nash will be a good employee, and I for one hope that he can finally silence his critics. After all, for all the wrongs he did in WCW, there’s no denying that every single one of us, and most people on the planet, would have done the same.

 

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Respect the power of Nash!

[Guest DrEvil]

Let me start by saying that I like Nash.  Given a choice I'd take a Benoit/Angle match any day, but I still enjoy a big man match.  I enjoy the slow plodding, no selling, high impact moves, I've never seen one that I'd consider a classic but they entertain me nonetheless.

 

Having said that, what the fuck are you smoking and where can I get some?  We'd do the same thing so that makes it alright?  not even close.  For one thing I would not and did not do the same thing.  For another, what is this perception that someone else doing the wrong thing makes it alright to do the wrong thing?  The wrong thing to do is the wrong thing to do.  It doesn't matter if tens, hundreds, or millions of others would do the wrong thing.  Being in a position of power, it is your responsiblility to do the right thing.  If you take a me first attitude, realizing that your position will not be affected by taking the wrong path, that makes you an asshole, and if a million people take that me first attitude, then they're a million assholes.

 

Nash wrestled lazy matches, matches that I enjoyed but that's beside the point. Others see the top guy strolling around the ring, doing only the most basic of moves, so why should they bust their ass learning movesets and risk their careers flying around the ring.

 

>>Nash was head booker of WCW, he made himself the focal point of the shows.

And look at the result of that.  Despite being over, his matches were just too boring for him to be a consistent main event draw, but he still books himself to be at the top.  Power corrupts, if you can't overcome that corruption, that makes you an asshole.

 

Defend Nash's matches if you want.  The majority of readers here are big fans of workrate, the slow big man style is different, it can be appreciated if you look at it in a different light.  But as a leader, he has a responsiblility to set an example, he needs to work hard to show others what is expected, and he needs to make the decisions that are in the best interests of the company.  He did not come close to fulfilling these responsibilities and gets so much shit as a result of that.

[Guest J*ingus]

I think I've seen exactly five Nash matches which I enjoyed: his PPV matches against Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart (not counting the not-too-good cage match).  I don't understand how people can bitch about the Undertaker's work as being "the worst in the WWF", while Nash is older, slower, and much lazier.  

 

But if you look at the situation, he had a perfectly good reason for being lazy. Nash was over with the fans regardless of his workrate. This meant that he could put on shitty matches, and yet the crowd would still love the guy.

 

Love the guy?  From '96 to mid-'98, he was a heel, albeit a popular one because of the nWo gimmick.  You're not supposed to love a heel.  If you do, he's not doing his job properly.  (And people wonder why X-Pac still gets pushed.)  In the fall of '98 he had a decent babyface run, which was promptly squashed by the crap with Goldberg and the infamous fingerpoke.  In summer of '99 he tried a babyface champion run, and failed pretty miserably.  The audience wanted Sting, Sid, or Goldberg, not Nash.  

 

So, put yourself in Nash’s position: working hard in the ring won’t affect your position on the card, nor your push. It won’t affect how over you are with the fans; they will love you whatever. Working hard could cause injuries, and will also tire you out. If YOU were Nash, would you have worked hard in the ring?

 

So, put yourself in Chris Benoit’s position: working hard in the ring won’t affect your position on the card, nor your push. It won’t affect how over you are with the fans; they will love you whatever. Working hard could cause injuries, and will also tire you out. If YOU were Benoit, would you have worked hard in the ring?  

 

You could also fill that in with Jericho, Raven, Booker T, any of the cruiserweights, etc.  

 

When Nash was head booker of WCW, he made himself the focal point of the shows, ended Goldberg’s famous ‘streak’, and booked himself into multiple title reigns. He was accused of burying people he didn’t like, or people who threatened his position on the card. Again, can you blame Nash for this?

 

Yes.  His self-serving title reigns, killing off Goldberg, and further tarnishing the WCW title linneage all helped kill off that company in the long run.  Good for him and his buddies, they've all got jobs with the WWF, but what about the dozens of other talented wrestlers who are now either in a company who's future is uncertain at best (WWA, XWF) or unemployed?  

 

Nash hasn’t been given the keys to the kingdom this time, Vince McMahon is the only boss. The only wrestler that I believe has any backstage pull is probably HHH, because of his relationship with Stephanie.

 

The thing is, he's been there before.  How else do you explain Diesel's year-long title run, which got worse and lost more money with each passing month, other than him being a friend of Vince's?

[Guest goodhelmet]

well said Jingus but I think you like two more matches with Nash than I do. I enjoyed the Good Friends, Better Enemies match. I liked the Survivor Series 95 and Rumble 95 matches and that is it! If you include tag matches, the match between Diesel/HBK vs. Razor/123Kid was great also but Nash was hardly in. HBK worked overtime!

 

As for his WCW career, he was pathetic. I can't find one match and say that was a great wrestling moment. Kevin Nash does not deserve a belt. He does not deserve accolades for past accomplishments. He deserves only credit for being smart enough to take as much of ted Turner's money as he possibly could for doing NOTHING! Nash sucks and i hope this run exposes him for the farce he is.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I didn't care for Nash ever.

 

His WCW run was a joke.

 

His WWF run was a joke.

 

Now he's back.

 

Woopee.

 

The fact that a guy who has less **** matches in a career than Benoit has in a week...and still gets the huge push...is what's wrong with professional wrestling.

 

If they pushed the guys who were GOOD.  They might just get over too.  And if you have a guy who is over and van deliver...then you've got something.

[Guest goodhelmet]

Well, like we said, if you look at his good  matches they involve two people: Bret Hart and HBK. The Good Friends matchup does rock but if you watch it carefully, Nash lierally stands there the whole time while Shawn bounces off of him like a pinball. I love the match but it is so obvious who is busting their ass.

 

Vinnie Mac pushed this guy and we should consider him a genius?!?!?! He made him  a star but working against Bret and HBK will make a guy look real good. Just ask Bulldog and UT. They've been there done that!

[Guest Big McLargeHuge]

Nash can eat me. Just about everyone has given good enough reasons above, so I won't have to repeat anything already said.