Nash Talks About Hall, Vince Russo, & The Future Of TNA

Kevin Nash was recently interviewed by Main Event Radio on CJLO 1690AM in Montreal and spoke at-length on several topics for over 35 minutes. Here are some highlights:

On Scott Hall: "Scott is Scott. He’s always going to have his demons but he has his good days and his bad days. I’ve told him a hundred times that when your gear is basically posing shorts; he’s basically worked in underwear that it’s time to switch your gear because it’s so hard at 50 years old to keep yourself in the kind of shape you need to pull off that look. He was having a good time with the hockey jersey on and all of a sudden he put his tights on and said oh God, I’m not gonna do that. I told him to switch his gear up - put on a singlet like I did. He was the guy who told me when I first broke in to never make it about your body, to make it about your character because your character will never die. Your body goes but the character stays alive. That’s why I let my hair go gray. I want people to say “I remember him 20 years ago – I saw him in an opening match in Montreal.” Nobody’s really aged in this business, everybody dye’s their hair and I wanted to be that guy who aged."

On TNA’s progress: "It’s exciting; it’s kind of a genesis – it’s a new company. I think in a couple of years if things continue to go the way they are we’ll start getting a 2.0-2.2 rating. I think we are competition right now. […] But you look at the WWWF and its seven-year anniversary and look at the comparisons. Their TV tapings were done from Madison Square Garden. You look at the growth patterns of the two companies. When you’re Kia Motors it’s hard to go up against GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota but there’s a lot of Kia’s on the road. And I think it has caught fire.

The thing that makes me the happiest is that I was at an autograph signing last week in Detroit. There were guys that had Vinnie Vegas pictures, Diesel pictures, Big Sexy pictures, and then there were 7 and 8 and 9 year old boys who had Kevin Nash grey-haired TNA pictures. I did it – this is the third generation of kids that I’ve been able to been a part of their lives. The thing that really moves you that you don’t realize when you first get in the business – after you’ve been in it for 20 years and a kid comes up to you and hands you a Polaroid and it’s me with black hair with a mullet back in the early Diesel days; and he says do you know who that kid is that you’re holding? I look at the picture and I’m holding a little baby in my hands. He then said – “that’s me.” Not only have you been doing this a really long time because you’re talking to a 19 year old kid but it’s the fact that he kept that for 19 years. That’s what kind of moves you. It mean’t something to him. To be a part of the industry; it’s just a blast."

On what talent will take over TNA when he retires: "I think that from the nucleus that we have right now – Storm and Roode are really good. I think Roode’s going to be a babyface in his career. I think that that’s where he’s going to become a star. I’ve worked heel against him on a couple of indy shows just to see if he could work face. He really has great fire and makes an amazing comeback. He makes a comeback like guys used to make comebacks like you don’t see. As long you feed him he will make a comeback. He’s a not a three-move let’s go home kind of guy. I think he’s amazing."

AJ [Styles] – once his mic skills get better, which I think they’ve improved immensely. He has that intangible that Shawn Michaels had. He’s electric and you kind of have to just be there for him. He can create so much movement around you that you can just basically, you know – he just uses you as a prop. He really is phenomenal.

I think [Samoa] Joe is going to come into his own. They’ve moved him around into some different places but I think that the thing about him is that he’s not the quintessential wrestling guy. He’s very different but his uniqueness makes him come across. I wrestle him often - it’s not a night in the park. He’s very physical, the things he does to you hurt, and I think all those things add to his believability.

I think Matt Morgan is a very talented big guy. He’s still at that stage in his career that he wants to show everybody how athletic he can be instead of just working like a big man…Just those four guys alone are a good nucleus to move forward. You’ve also got the Black Machismo. The Motor City Machine Guns – I watched them have a match in Tokyo and it was off the chart. They can both talk, they’ve funny, they’re current, they’re really hip guys, and chicks dig ‘em. I’ve always said that if you want to find the intangible in a wrestler and you want to know if you can make money off them – chicks have got to want to be with him and guys want to be him. And if they don’t have those two qualities – if guys don’t want to be you and girls don’t want to be with you – then you’re not going to get over. I don’t care what you do. […] I think guys look at me and say hell I wouldn’t mind being in that big 6’10 body for a couple of days and smack somebody around. And I’ve been very successful in my entire life…I’ve a beautiful wife and I had a slew of beautiful girlfriends behind her. I’ve never not had a beautiful women in my life.

On Vince Russo: "I’ve been a fan of his since Day One. Always have been. There’s a lot of people who don’t like his style of booking. But it’s just like people who watch a movie like Closer with Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman and say “I don’t really like the movie”. And then I say “Did you not like the movie or did you not get it?”. I think he writes smart TV and you have to pay attention. There’s a lot of nuisances that can make sense that kind of connect the dots if you don’t really pay close attention they don’t make sense to you. For me the show Damages on F/X is one of the smartest written shows because you can’t be on the phone and watch that show. You have to commit yourself to watching the show – and you have to do that with us. If you’re going to criticize Russo and fast-forward or TiVo the show, you won’t get the nuisances and what he’s trying to accomplish. He doesn’t sit down and write a two-hour show and expect you not to watch the pre-tapes and say you don’t understand it and say the writing is bad. Try watching a movie with no sound. That’s the beauty of living in the United States or Canada – we have those rights to criticize. I don’t really care if you like my work, don’t like my work, like me, don’t like me; as long as you’re watching I’m happy."