When nash was talking about austin being so beat ip and tired when he got there it reminds me of beyond the mat when foley was talking to austin and asked him how was he feeling he said im not feeling very good at all you could tell he was hurting when a tough guy like steve says he doesnt feel good hes really hurting but he still carried the company to greatness i think thats why people clicked with steve they seen what owens piledriver had done and he wasnt suppose to wrestle ever again that took balls and people respected him and cheered him on because he was a bmf
The Invasion angle could of been epic if they waited Hogan, Hall ,Nash, Goldberg Steiner and Flair with Booker and RVD would of been enough star power to make the Invasion story line credible
These guys were my heros growing up. Looking at these interviews I just love the respect and the real talk, no nonsense about guys like Nash, Hall, Austin' to name a few.
I really liked Nash's view here....He was able to look at the big picture...views from wwe and Rock and Stone cold's view rather than taking a woe is me type of attitude about it.
Don't agree. Nash intentionally left an important part of the story out (Hall getting wasted leading into Mania day) and brought up Jericho, which Steve has never complained about this match. Ever. And he's always been very vocal when it comes to jobs he wished he hadn't done or jobs he didn't want to do and why he refused them.
His five greatest moves...his only five moves...but they're great! How the Fingerpoke knocked down wcw. I will say Nash was hilarious in The Longest Yard.
I could listen to Hall & Nash talk about the business all day long. They have an honest business like approach that may have rubbed people the wrong way, but a lot of what they say is hard to argue with. Especially Hall. Nash is more the type of guy who figures out how to look out for him and his friends only while Hall seemed like he was more open to giving ideas to everyone.
I was thinking the same thing while watching this. Been watching a lot of Hall interviews lately. Such great insights from these guys. Stone Cold is always great to listen to as well.
Hall really did understand the business. He put over Chris Jericho when Chris had just gotten to WCW even though Hall was supposed to win. Hall said after "I'm a heel, I can get my heat back whenever I want." He knew losing to a guy like Jericho wouldn't hurt him, but it would make Chris in a huge way
That really speaks volumes about the kind of reputation that Steve Austin has in the wrestling business. I’ve always heard that he was a great guy to work with and go up and down the road with.
Just saw Nash on a recent shoot and sucks to see him getting old enjoy the man while he’s here 7ft guys don’t live into there 70s and he’s already 62…legend of the business for sure
Hogan, Nash and Hall had a sketchy reputation coming back in 2002. I wish nWo in WWE could have worked out but there was no way Vince was going to invest in putting them on top to close Wrestlemania. And they were right not to, Hall was hungover at WM and Nash immediately got injured, plus Hogan is Hogan.
If Hall could have stayed clean and Nash didn't get hurt. I liked the idea of a Kliq or Wolfpac nWo with Nash, Hall, X-Pac and HBK. Unfortunately none of them could stay healthy.
@@dustinrhodes4793 Would have helped if Vince didn't lie out his ass to Hall about his contract. Hall signed up for a light work schedule but Vince kept adding more and more work to it. It fucked with Hall's personal life and he fell off the wagon because of it.
Interesting fictional retelling of history. What actually happened was, Austin politicked again to change the finish of the match and killed the NWO angle. Hall realized at this moment that they were F'd and went back to partying. Austin then took his ball and went home 3 months later after refusing to do business AGAIN. Hogan was the most over wrestler in the world after WM and they put the belt on him. Maybe that's what you meant by saying "Hogan is Hogan". Just so we're clear. Austin politicked to turn heel at WM17 and killed his own character. Austin politicked to kill the NWO angle at WM18. So basically the two reasons for wrestling's 90s boom was killed due to Stunning Steve's politics. And we wonder why wrestling died. 🤣
The timing was too quick it definitely would of worked n made tons of money but Vince didn't want Nwo too win again The fans love Nwo no matter what I knew something was wrong when I watched it Making Hogan be friends with Rock It suxs cause It would of created a great storyline but they screwed it up intentionally no doubt so Vince lost a lot of money especially in the Georgia dome.
apart from Kev looking stoned, this was awesomely put, he may not have been the best wrestler out there but he had a good mind for the game, and he really understood that era and what steve was having to deal with, people give Kev far to much shit.
Grilling JR talked about this and while JR echos the plan Nash says, another factor was that Scott Hall apparently partied a little too much the night before, which led to the day of change of the Austin-Hall finish
Hall got told about the change of finish the night before, then went out and partied. Austin didn't get told of the change of finish until the next day
Jericho beating Austin was a travesty. Odd because it rarely gets brought up when people talk about Austin walking out. That loss at Vengeance was definitely the beginning of the end for Stone Cold. He was almost a non factor in 2002. Vince and co. dropped the ball. Steve should have been protected better.
Austin was beat up. His knees were bad, and that neck injury was taking its toll on him. I believe had that broken neck not happened we would have seen more of him, maybe until 2005. The body can only take so much.
Joe M. That’s how I feel I think he would’ve been around until 2005/2006 if he didn’t break his neck. Would’ve been cool to see him work with some of those guys who were just coming up back then.
@@D3wsk we also must remember that Austin was about 36/37 when the belt was finally put on him. So, age was also a factor. With that said, I still believe the neck injury took at least two good years out of his career. I am really not sure though, how the nWo angle could have been any better, though.
The first 24 hours were electric. They cost Austin the title and then beat down the Rock and smashed him with the ambulance. Then the next night on Smackdown Austin gets over on them. Austin/Rock vs NWO could have lasted 6 months to a year with Hogan turning back to the red and Yello the next year. Literally 2-3 years of TV there
Hell no. The fact that Eric Bischoff let Hulk Hogan come over to WCW and then start NWO and had nearly every one be part of the NWO ruined WCW. You couldn't even watch a match with in WCW with out 3 to 6 NWO members coming out and interfering with the match. They Ruined WCW with Hogan and NWO. Hogan had 3 or 4 moves and his hulking up besides that he couldn't wrestle but always got over with the fans. I know I sound like a hater but Hogan couldn't wrestle watch any of his moves he and NWO ruined WCW with other people's help
@@andrewkruzienski770 Nah, probably wouldn't have worked. Rock was going away to film a movie shortly after the draft if I remember right. He missed two PPVs then came back for Vengeance and only stayed till Summerslam. In that time Hogan basically quit after putting over Lesnar and Austin and Scott Hall had left too. The nWo finally disbanded with Nash's injury in July so all the key players were gone pretty quickly. I doubt carrying on the nWo rivalry would have changed much, maybe Austin and Hogan would have stayed if their storylines were different but Nash was still working hurt and Hall's problems were going to end with him leaving the same way. Rock could only come back in short bursts so he couldn't be relied on to carry the story. I think what they did ended up being for the best.
@@butt5ful I think Shawn was supposed to be a manager only, he didn't plan for a full comeback initially. But apparently Triple H was planned to join the nWo with Shawn and Kevin after Summerslam. I don't think that would have lasted personally.
Was a great storyline at the time and I dont think anyone predicted that after 9 years away from the WWE Hogan was still perceived by most as the greatest and most popular wrestler of all time. The angle with Rock was perfect but in hindsight I think Nash has a good point and they could have gotten more out of it. After Wrestlemania The Rock would soon leave for Holloywood and Hogan had a huge fall from grace. To those who think he never put anyone over, Hogan lost to The Rock twice, Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, and tapped out to Kurt Angle. He was buried by Vince.
@@thepublichousebrandcom Nothing at all...that's how the business is supposed to work. He was still being put in high profile matches with guys who were a decade or two younger than him and making money....there are veterans the WWE treated much worse.
He didnt get that reaction in Canada because of a perception that he was the most popular. That isnt true. It was just that he was out for so long, added to the fact that he was always very over in Canada that made him get cheered like that.
Hogan wasn't buried by Vince, and yes Hogan very rarely did in fact lose cleanly to wrestlers, you saw with Warrior at Wrestlemania 6, you saw it with Goldberg on Nitro, you saw it with The Rock the first time and you saw it again with Lesnar towards the end of his last full time run in WWE. Nobody has ever denied that Hogan has great mic skills, is a great in ring performer, and is really good at putting people over....when he actually wants to, the problem is there are far too many examples where that simply wasn't the case, he had to lose dirty to Taker and then faked a neck injury in 91 to kill Taker's at least immediate run as a main eventer, and yes he did eventually pay Taker back at Judgment Day over a decade later but he was also past his prime by that point, he intentionally muddied up and ruined the Sting Starcade finish, he refused to lose Flair in the early 90's when Flair showed up to WWF(to be fair I suppose that did go both ways) he refused to job to Bret Hart in 92 when he was on his way out of WWF, which makes the whole Wrestlemania 9 finish make even less sense when he just gave the belt back to Yokozuna a few months later. Hell even the aforementioned Warrior finish where he cleanly lost he turned around in 98 when and had Warrior brought on in WCW just to have that absolutely stupid angle with Warrior so he could get his win back. And even after Hogan was done as a full time wrestler he came back to WWE and was supposed to do a 3 match series with Shawn Michaels where Hogan would get two wins and Michaels would get one, instead Hogan nixed the whole idea and only did the one match with Shawn at summerslam(hence why Shawn was overselling everything to the degree that he did, still managed to get a 5 star rating out of it which is actually one of Hogan's only 5 star matches of his entire career I guess so there's that) and then he did it again with Orton, where Orton could've benefited greatly from Hogan putting him over, instead Hogan had the match basically be a one sided ass kicking that put himself over again. Did Hogan occasionally put over wrestlers? Absolutely, unfortunately there are just far too many examples of the inverse where someone could've used getting put over only for Hogan to shoot it down
Yea. I don't think Nash realized that or thought about that and put 2 and 2 together during the time this interview was recorded. That is definitely why Mcmahon buried the NWO besides Hogan, when they returned to WWF/E. 100%.
@@jeremydubeck4439 - What are you talking about? Vince gave them HBK to replace Hogan. Nash's injury and Scott Hall going to rehab is what hurried the WWE nWO
They tried to rebuild it with Shawn Michaels, Nash , Hall and triple H.. But Hall got himself fired and Nash got injured and was out for a year. That killed the whole thing.
Love hearing Nash tell stories. I love how he’s matured too. Super no wrestling ego now, honest, I love the older version of Nash. Humbled , matured, tons of wisdom and wrestling knowledge. Priceless person.
Even with HHH and Michaels back on top in mid-late 2002, you can tell McMahon was not all in on Nash. The quad tear notwithstanding, Nash seemed out of place.
This was around 2007 when he was in TNA. I know I'm probably biased but in the interview he is very matter of fact and really doesn't bury anybody. Plus he didn't seem to have consumed a few bottles of wine before/during the interview
They weren't cheering Hollywood Hogan when he came back in 2002. It was the WWF crowd welcoming back the returning king. They wanted him in red and yellow and to beat anybody's ass.
even non hogan fans loved seeing him back. IT just showed the difference between "flash in the pan" guys like austin and rock and utter legends like Hogan.
highjim Austin and Rock are poor examples of a flash in the pan. Flash in the pan is Goldberg or Warrior. Rock would still be the biggest star in wrestling if he wasn’t the biggest movie star in the world. Austin was far more than a flash in the pan, as evidenced by the reverence wrestling historians have for him. He was simply too injury prone, especially by the tine he made it to be the lead dog, main event guy, world champion. Flash in the pan is like The Great Kali. In boxing it would be like Buster Douglas or James Braddock. Or better yet Jerry Cooney.
latest story i heard on the scott austin match was scott came to the arena buzzed/drunk or was out late as hell drinking when he wasnt supposed to be cause of his issues he had going on.
With that original plan, it seems that they should have just invaded wrestlemania.....but I did like seeing shawn michaels in an nwo shirt, was disappointed to see HHH never getting to do angles with nwo
The problem with Vince is that he never thinksi long term. When he sees an immediate cash grab, he takes it right away instead of waiting for the investment to mature so to speak. They would’ve made a lot more money by having the nWo feud as a slow burn instead of quickly turning Hogan face as a knee jerk reaction to the cheers he was getting.
Thing is I get why he can't tbh, with injuries, wrestlers jumping ships at the time, unexpected retirements, etc. You can plan long terms all you want but most of the time something will happen to change the plans. The very few times stars aligned he actually got away with very good long term stories, like Shawn vs Taker whole rivalry.
@@Jennifear Good for you that you were actually there. Wish I was. The fact remains that the fans reaction at Skydome had no impact whatsoever on Hogan turning face since that decision was already made by Vince before the match even happened. Vince simply went with the revival of Hulkamania rather than a long storyline with the nWo because Hulkamania was a WWF/E creation and the nWo was not.
The nWo were never going to be a long term thing. You could sense the watering down of them after the rock ambulance segment. Hogan being cheered just compounded them to the scrap heap quicker than expected. But there was no way they were ever allowing the nWo to go over at wrestlemania 😂 and stand over an attitude era legend,, they shouldn’t have brought them back until the night after wm and then they could have had them go for say 6 months before phasing them out, but there’s no way they were being brought back for anything other than a burial.
A lot of it can be attributed to his size and age. He's 61 years old and 6 foot 10, 300 pounds. Him sounding out of breath, or pausing a lot during sentences, is a pretty tell-tale sign of cardiovascular issues. Pretty common in guys of his size when they get older.
Nash is wrong here about the fans cheering for Hogan over Rock. In every show leading up to Wreslemania - fans cheered 99% for Rock, 1% for Hogan. It wasn't until actual Wrestlemania, in Toronto, that the fans derailed everything and cheered 99.99999% Hogan, 0.000001% Rock.
Wtf you talking about? It was 50-50 at best. The fans popped every time Hogan came out and there were huge Hogan chants during that face-to-face promo. They tried everything to get Hogan a heel reaction including running into the Rock with a mack truck and the fans were still cheering for him.
That's interesting. I know Kevin's been caught in lies before but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here. Before even knowing if the WrestleMania crowd would turn on The Rock they had already decided Hulk would turn face? Should've asked Kevin why Vince booked Austin vs. Hall and not Kevin vs. Hall
I never understood why Nash didn't have an official match at Wrestlemania X8. He could have had one with the Big Show (who didn't have a match), he could have beat him, Hall loses to Austin and then the best of 3 and Hogan loses.
So many fans paint the kliq as some evil backstage politicking thing - whether it was or not makes little difference. Or that Hall & Nash were in close with Hogan in WCW so they're just as manipulative as him. And that's not exactly the case either. I've NEVER seen a shoot or behind the scenes kind of interviews with Kevin Nash being pretentious or sanctimonious. He seems like one of the few people that just talks straight, reasonable, logical, even keel, a little sarcastic too, but he's just not full of shit. He's a sublime individual in my opinion. Cool cat.
For me personally Austin, Rock, Taker, Foley, etc they could lose to Jericho and it wouldn't make them look bad. Jericho was as talented as any of them. He just needed people more established to put him over. I was thrilled he won the Undisputed title that night. I didnt think it would happen and I loved Y2J.
They never booked him strong enough. He is about the very smallest (height wise it’s Benoit, but Benoit was built out of bricks and was a believable pitbull type relentless and freakishly strong for his height type of wrestler, whereas Jericho was never built like that and needed to utilize his quickness, agility and technique to level the playing field) a wrestler can be and still be a believable and convincing world HEAVYWEIGHT champion.
@@Thor-Orion Once Austin became a main eventer, he never really made new stars or put them over cleanly. And from what other wrestlers stated, Austin got really paranoid over his spot. Rock put Brock over clean in 2--2. Hunter jobbed to Batista three PPVs in a row. Foley jobbed to everyone and helped guys like Rock, Austin, Edge, and Orton establish themselves as top guys. I can't remember Austin EVER doing a clean job for an up and coming star.
C.C. Ekeke well i can give Austin a break on that, he was on borrowed time with his neck and he knew it. He busted his ass for 10 years to get any recognition. Rock was pushed out of the shoot. Foley was who he was because the fans would always love him. It’s easy for Rock to put guys over when he knows his spot is secure, he was Vince’s golden boy from day one. And as for Hunter, who is he married to? His personal future was intertwined with the future of the company.
@@CCEkeke but why should he? He lost the title to Kane, his run was similar to Hogan 84-88, he was the most popular wrestler mainstream wise of the modern era. Only an idiot would have had him doing jobs.
@@thepublichousebrandcom actually the Kane lost was because of Undertaker interference and Austin won the title back the next night. The whole purpose of building up a top star is for them to eventually pass the torch to the next up and comer. Undertaker did this with Foley, Brock and others. Rock did this with Brock and countless other people. Even Cena finally started putting over folks like AJ Styles, Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens. Austin, when he was past his prime in early 2002 could have done this with Jericho but didn't. Just saying...
WCW Didn't Want To Form An Alliance With Vince McMahon After He Put All Those Territories Out Of Business & Stole Their Talent- Vince Being A Cut-Throat Business Person.
Kevin, had you not had injury issues, you would have been a 10+ year NBA all-star. Magic Johnson has alluded to how good Kevin was, and his enormous potential.
Fans cheered for NWO/Hogan the way they did because they were "new". It was something "new" for the fans, fans just desperately wanted something "different". I get that all of these things are technically old, hence the quotes, but if you don't get what I mean - fans were sick of everything in 2001 post Wrestlemania X7. Fans hadn't seen these guys in a long time and therefore cheered harder over Rock etc
I guess it makes sense if I really think about it , Steve Austin hated the idea of losing to Scott Hall but had no problem crying in a segment where Kurt Angle threatened to throw him off a bridge. Then I remember that's Kurt Freaking Angle.
If only WWE had stuck with that original nWo plan…I was a keen fan in 2002, and had endured 2001, so seeing all these wCw big names turn up was awesome…..then Hogan turned into a good guy - him v Rock at WM18 was an awesome match, don’t get me wrong, but it killed what should’ve been the angle of the year - the nWo invading WWE and growing exponentially until stopped at WM19 - Rock v Hogan absolutely killed that and ruined 2002, which was awful except for Survivor series, and I think Armageddon was alright. Hindsight’s a great thing, but if only they’d used Brock Lesnar, the heel Jericho, and then Scott Steiner - it could’ve been awesome.
No build, no story, nothing. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Austin carried that company on his back with a broken neck for years and in 2002 the company wrote him off.
@@Rschr101 Austin stated, he would be willing to job to Lesnar, but it had to make sense. The WWE company at the time proved they just wanted absolute nonsense.
Rschr101 After WCW was bought by Vince, there was no Competition, no leverage for wrestlers anymore, even Stone Cold. With all the WCW Wrestlers & new wrestlers, Vince probably had to devalue Steve Austin cause he had too much Power.
People blame Vince for burying the WWE nWo but he didn't. Vince gave them HBK to replace Hogan. He wouldn't do that if he wanted to bury them. Nash's injury and Scott Hall going to rehab is what buried the WWE nWO. No Nash, Hall, or Hogan = no nWo
Crazy when wrestlers say “no I’m not doing that” it’s not your place to say, it’s all scripted, who gives af who wins or loses, just do your job what your boss tells you to do.
