JohnCenaFan28
03-29-2009, 08:38 PM
I had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Kevin Nash at Collector's Realm in Poughkeepsie on Saturday afternoon.
Nash, who works for TNA Wrestling these days, is recovering from a staph infection in his elbow. He was showing fans exactly what as wrong with his elbow (a huge hole) by way of cell-phone cameras.
Nash sad he hopes to be back in the ring by the time the TNA LockDown pay-per-view comes to Philadelphia on April 19, where he plans to be part of the "Lethal Lockdown" cage match on Kurt Angle's team against the team featuring Samoa Joe and Jeff Jarrett.
Thanks again go to Joe Sinforoso, Ross Forman over at TNA Wrestling, as well as Kevin himself for doing the interview. Also thanks to Joe DeSario for taking the picture.
Phil Strum: First off, the question that everybody's asking you today. How's the elbow going and how's the rehab on it going?
Kevin Nash: What do I have? Four weeks until LockDown now? If I don't do anything stupid and bust it open, it should be healed. It actually was two centimeters last week and it was ,8 centimeters this week. Over the past week, it made some drastic changes. When I get back on Monday, I've got a vacuum system that goes on it with a pump and stuff. I'll go back on that. That should speed it up a little bit more. When I'm on the road, it's too much of a hassle sometimes to carry that thing with me.
PS: Is that the whole tube you had in your arm on Impact?
KN: Yeah. I'll have that system back on.
PS: So it was a staph infection you got in Japan?
KN: I don't know where. I got a small mat burn on the apron in Japan doing a little spot. Giant Bernard (A-Train) was going to push me into the post and I blocked it, but my elbow struck the pad and I got an abrasion on that elbow. It took about four or five days to kind of fester up. It kind of hit me on Thursday. I got back on Monday from Japan, so who knows?
PS: You're still wrestling with it now? I read somewhere that you did a match with Hall and the Outlaws?
KN: Yeah. I don't know if you could call it wrestling. I'm performing.
PS: Working around it?
KN: Yeah. I do everything left-handed. I don't use the arm. I've got a giant hockey elbow pad that I put on it.
PS: You're a natural righty.
KN: No, I am a natural left.
PS: So is the pad like Barry Bonds or what?
KN: No, I've got an actual hockey elbow pad that I wore the other night. But it's white. The guy that bought it bought me a white one. I can't find any hockey equipment in Florida.
PS: With TNA, how do you feel it's going?
KN: I think it's going great. Our ratings have been strong. We've grown our base. Logistically, the company's getting stronger. The company's growing at a good pace.
PS: What do you think of a lot of the criticism they get creatively for the show? They get hammered pretty bad some weeks.
KN: But, by who? The smarks?
PS: Yeah, pretty much.
KN: It's like anything else, man. One point one percent of the people who watch television know a good match from a bad match and know who can work and who can't work. My kid's 12 years old. He occasionally watches it. He doesn't know if Cena can work or if Khali can work, but he would rather see Khali because he's a freak. Kids are kids.
PS: You think they could ever be legitimate competition for WWE. They've been around for a while now.
KN: Vince has been around for a long time. I think absolutely. It doesn't take much to get a swim. We've already gained about 300,00 viewers in the last couple of weeks.
PS: Yeah, the last couple of shows you guys have had have been very well-rated.
PS : Since we're in Poughkeepsie, I was going to ask you about working this town and one thing I remember the most when you were around would be the night after WrestleMania XI when Sid got the night off. What do you remember about working this town?
KN: Some great things happened in this town. 1-2-3 Kid beat Scott Hall and running out the back. Missing that highspot and being unconscious basically when he ran out the back door into our waiting car. He jumped into our car. I think it was a white Towncar. Me and Shawn were in it. We took off. We came back and got Scott. It was kind of funny.
PS: One of my buddy's favorite moments about that night was that Bobby Heenan invented the name of a hospital that night. He said, 'they better get a bed ready in Poughkeepsie General for the 1-2-3 Kid.' There's no Poughkeepsie General.
KN: Let's see. The one-toilet, one-shower, locker room has got to be a classic with 60 guys. You could imagine how nice that was at the end of the day. That was part of the run. I was reminiscing, coming up today. White Plains, Poughkeepsie, Liberty. We ran those smaller venues to do TVs.
PS: And then even getting the chance to become WWF Champion when you did when you beat Bob Backlund. I remember. I was a teenager at the time, calling the Superstar Line to see if you actually won or not.
KN: You had to.
PS: What was that day like for you, getting that vote of confidence?
KN: I remember the phone call. I had kind of gotten in some trouble on the European trip. I got to the building that day and one of the agents said that Vince wanted to see me when I got back — at his house. I was like, oh God, I'm in trouble. So I was the Intercontinental champion at the time and I went to Vince's house. He wasn't there when I got there. I went out back by the pool. I was just sitting there. He came out and we sat down and we started to have a conversation. He said, blah blah blah blah blah and Vince was just kind of going over the plans he had for me and said, 'at the Garden there, you'll become the champion.' And I'm like, 'I am the champion. I'm already the I-C champion.' He says, 'No, the world champion.' I'm just like, 'holy (expletive).' I am going to be the WWF Champion. That was my dream, to be the world champion.
I'll tell you what, man, when you win it for the first time in your career, it's real. It's all real. I remember that night like it was yesterday. I remember coming home, finally at the end of the night. We went to dinner and then we went to Scores and had cocktails. Me, 'Taker, Jeff Jarrett, Shawn, Razor. Coming home and finally airing my bag out and pulling that belt out, sitting it on the bed and going, wow. People forget, I had only been in the business basically four years and I maybe had 200 matches, not even probably that. 200 appearances, probably around 60 matches when I got the belt. So I was green, green, green. But it is what it is.
PS: It wasn't too far removed from your Oz and Vinnie Vegas days, I guess.
KN: No, it really wasn't. Oz and the Vin-Man. The Vin-Man got me in the door with Shawn. Shawn saw me on TV and liked the Vegas character and asked Robbie Steiner (Rick Steiner) if he had my number and he did. They were looking for a bodyguard and I got out of my contract with WCW and joined Shawn. Thank you, Shawn.
PS: One thing one of my co-workers wanted to ask you when he realized I was interviewing you. He's not a wrestling fan at all, but he was Super Shredder back in the Ninja Turtles and he said, you've got to tell him his scene in "The Punisher" was the best part of the whole movie.
KN: Thank you.
PS: Are you looking to do any movie work right now?
KN: I actually just got a script in the mail the other day. It's supposed to be top secret. It's actually from the director of "The Punisher." (Jonathan Hensleigh). It's the same director. Hopefully, they'll find something for me in that. I'm limited. I'm 6-10. I'm not going to play the dentist or the baker. I'm not going to be the cop that gets out of the car, unless you want a giant cop. I'm kind of limited in what I'm going to do. I take it when I can get it.
PS: Did you have the opportunity to see "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke?
KN: Yeah I did.
PS: What did you think of the film?
KN: I couldn't relate to it. It doesn't emulate my career in any form or fashion. I've done indies since I've gotten older. I see guys get paid at indies. I've heard the stories of guys working for 25 bucks and spending 30 on gas. I've heard those stories. I think it's admirable that people have the passion to do that. I just wouldn't have been one of them.
PS: Even the indie that you're working for tonight [Northeast Wrestling] has a good reputation.
KN: Right. Anybody that I have worked for. I worked for Dave Piro up in Milwaukee. I think we had 1,800 at the last show. The people that I've worked for have treated me well.
PS: One thing I read about and I wanted to ask you about it just because I found it interesting and very admirable was the thing that Dave Meltzer wrote I guess it was a week or so ago, after Test had died, that you had kind of gone to WWE management with the whole rehab program with some of your friends. What can you tell me about that, if anything?
KN: WWE stepped up a while ago. The thing is, WWE has paid for numerous guys way before they did the public...I know plenty of my friends they paid for rehab for. About a couple of years ago, they sent out a letter, basically saying if you had any kind of problems and you had been a contracted player, not a day guy, but an actual contracted performer, that they were reaching out if you had any kind of dependency problems. I had several friends that fit that realm. A lot of them were in very bad shape. I just kind of made sure that they took the opportunity.
PS: How are Scott Hall and Sean Waltman doing now? Do you still keep in touch with those guys?
KN: Scott's not doing well at all right now. I was with him last weekend. He's really having some hard times. You know, the WWE is very concerned even though they've sent him several times on their dime. They're very concerned that one of their guys is still out there and sick. They're still trying to figure out what they can do. It's hard because they're publicly traded. The system...you can't go 55 times, you know. It just doesn't work that way. The longer I've been around the addiction of different people, you just realize that your friends and family can want them to be well, but if the person doesn't have the will to be well, it doesn't matter what everybody else does. Until he wants to take the steps to be clean, he's just not going to be clean. There's plenty of people that love him and want him to do it, it's just, he's got to make that decision himself. We can't do it for him. Nor can Vince or anybody else.
PS: One of the reasons you said you were working on the TNA schedule now was to be able to be with your family. How much of a factor was it for you when you made the choice to stick with these guys?
KN: It's a huge factor because it's hard especially, because to be my age and get one more Mania would have been really special. At the same time, my wife needs me home. My kid's a handful. Even though I'm on the road five days, I'm actually 90 miles from my house. I'm really about 70 miles from my house.
PS: What are your future goals, in the business or out of the business, now?
KN: I've kind of learned, as life goes on, not to make any plans. Things like a staph infection. I didn't go through a table. I didn't get clotheslined. I just woke up one day and now, it's eight weeks later and I'm still sitting here messing with this crap. I just hope to stay healthy. I see Cena on TV with a cherry-red gig across his neck, which tells me he came back way too soon. That's the nature of the beast. That's what we do. We get hurt. You go hard, you get hurt. If you put time in the business, you're going to get hurt. While you're in it, the more cumulative the damage to your body is. I'll do it until I can't do it anymore. Then I'll worry about doing something else then. For now, I still love to be in the locker room, cut up with the guys. I still love to be out with the people. I'm going to bitch and moan to get me there. It's still what I do. Pro wrestling defines me more than any other characteristic in my life. It's what I do. It's what I am. Sometimes, my wife says I've morphed into a character of what I used to be. She says, my voice is deeper. I don't know about that. I think I'm just getting old and tired.
PS: My last question is hopefully, a little light-hearted and whatever, but where did you come up with the Chet Lemon thing and how much of that was you and how much fun did you have doing that show with Booker?
KN: Chet Lemon used to play for the Tigers. He just he was going to be Black Snow or whatever he was. I said, well, I guess I'll be Chet Lemon.
PS: They even had the graphic on the screen for you with Chet Lemon underneath your face.
KN: I thought the funniest thing was. I don't know if you caught it. I said, "My God! Booker T finally shows up to the arena and he strikingly resembles Black Snow! I thought Booker T was ribbing when he did that Wolfman Jack in the first match. I didn't realize he was going to do it to me the whole time. I couldn't even get a word in. It was like Chinese water torture.
PS: Did you ever hear the ones when he did the WWE commentary when he'd be cutting off Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler and talking ove them, calling moves while he was in the middle of making a point.
KN: No.
PS: He was funny. He didn't do the Wolfman Jack voice though. That was new.
KN: It was new to all of us.
PS: It was entertaining if nothing else.
KN: The funny thing is, I remember one time, Roddy Piper had this bodyguard guy. He came on and it was a horrible segment. I think it was the Omni. I think it was the Omni or maybe it was Philips Arena. I know it was Atlanta, where the Hawks play. We sat at the monitor and watched this abysmal segment. People booed. Piper said, you're being too hard on the guy. We came back and knew that the thing was going to just tank number-wise. They broke down the show. It was the highest-rated segment of the night. Scott Hall looked at me and he said, "See. People will watch horrible television." You just have to give it to them. People watch different.
Source: PojoSlam
Nash, who works for TNA Wrestling these days, is recovering from a staph infection in his elbow. He was showing fans exactly what as wrong with his elbow (a huge hole) by way of cell-phone cameras.
Nash sad he hopes to be back in the ring by the time the TNA LockDown pay-per-view comes to Philadelphia on April 19, where he plans to be part of the "Lethal Lockdown" cage match on Kurt Angle's team against the team featuring Samoa Joe and Jeff Jarrett.
Thanks again go to Joe Sinforoso, Ross Forman over at TNA Wrestling, as well as Kevin himself for doing the interview. Also thanks to Joe DeSario for taking the picture.
Phil Strum: First off, the question that everybody's asking you today. How's the elbow going and how's the rehab on it going?
Kevin Nash: What do I have? Four weeks until LockDown now? If I don't do anything stupid and bust it open, it should be healed. It actually was two centimeters last week and it was ,8 centimeters this week. Over the past week, it made some drastic changes. When I get back on Monday, I've got a vacuum system that goes on it with a pump and stuff. I'll go back on that. That should speed it up a little bit more. When I'm on the road, it's too much of a hassle sometimes to carry that thing with me.
PS: Is that the whole tube you had in your arm on Impact?
KN: Yeah. I'll have that system back on.
PS: So it was a staph infection you got in Japan?
KN: I don't know where. I got a small mat burn on the apron in Japan doing a little spot. Giant Bernard (A-Train) was going to push me into the post and I blocked it, but my elbow struck the pad and I got an abrasion on that elbow. It took about four or five days to kind of fester up. It kind of hit me on Thursday. I got back on Monday from Japan, so who knows?
PS: You're still wrestling with it now? I read somewhere that you did a match with Hall and the Outlaws?
KN: Yeah. I don't know if you could call it wrestling. I'm performing.
PS: Working around it?
KN: Yeah. I do everything left-handed. I don't use the arm. I've got a giant hockey elbow pad that I put on it.
PS: You're a natural righty.
KN: No, I am a natural left.
PS: So is the pad like Barry Bonds or what?
KN: No, I've got an actual hockey elbow pad that I wore the other night. But it's white. The guy that bought it bought me a white one. I can't find any hockey equipment in Florida.
PS: With TNA, how do you feel it's going?
KN: I think it's going great. Our ratings have been strong. We've grown our base. Logistically, the company's getting stronger. The company's growing at a good pace.
PS: What do you think of a lot of the criticism they get creatively for the show? They get hammered pretty bad some weeks.
KN: But, by who? The smarks?
PS: Yeah, pretty much.
KN: It's like anything else, man. One point one percent of the people who watch television know a good match from a bad match and know who can work and who can't work. My kid's 12 years old. He occasionally watches it. He doesn't know if Cena can work or if Khali can work, but he would rather see Khali because he's a freak. Kids are kids.
PS: You think they could ever be legitimate competition for WWE. They've been around for a while now.
KN: Vince has been around for a long time. I think absolutely. It doesn't take much to get a swim. We've already gained about 300,00 viewers in the last couple of weeks.
PS: Yeah, the last couple of shows you guys have had have been very well-rated.
PS : Since we're in Poughkeepsie, I was going to ask you about working this town and one thing I remember the most when you were around would be the night after WrestleMania XI when Sid got the night off. What do you remember about working this town?
KN: Some great things happened in this town. 1-2-3 Kid beat Scott Hall and running out the back. Missing that highspot and being unconscious basically when he ran out the back door into our waiting car. He jumped into our car. I think it was a white Towncar. Me and Shawn were in it. We took off. We came back and got Scott. It was kind of funny.
PS: One of my buddy's favorite moments about that night was that Bobby Heenan invented the name of a hospital that night. He said, 'they better get a bed ready in Poughkeepsie General for the 1-2-3 Kid.' There's no Poughkeepsie General.
KN: Let's see. The one-toilet, one-shower, locker room has got to be a classic with 60 guys. You could imagine how nice that was at the end of the day. That was part of the run. I was reminiscing, coming up today. White Plains, Poughkeepsie, Liberty. We ran those smaller venues to do TVs.
PS: And then even getting the chance to become WWF Champion when you did when you beat Bob Backlund. I remember. I was a teenager at the time, calling the Superstar Line to see if you actually won or not.
KN: You had to.
PS: What was that day like for you, getting that vote of confidence?
KN: I remember the phone call. I had kind of gotten in some trouble on the European trip. I got to the building that day and one of the agents said that Vince wanted to see me when I got back — at his house. I was like, oh God, I'm in trouble. So I was the Intercontinental champion at the time and I went to Vince's house. He wasn't there when I got there. I went out back by the pool. I was just sitting there. He came out and we sat down and we started to have a conversation. He said, blah blah blah blah blah and Vince was just kind of going over the plans he had for me and said, 'at the Garden there, you'll become the champion.' And I'm like, 'I am the champion. I'm already the I-C champion.' He says, 'No, the world champion.' I'm just like, 'holy (expletive).' I am going to be the WWF Champion. That was my dream, to be the world champion.
I'll tell you what, man, when you win it for the first time in your career, it's real. It's all real. I remember that night like it was yesterday. I remember coming home, finally at the end of the night. We went to dinner and then we went to Scores and had cocktails. Me, 'Taker, Jeff Jarrett, Shawn, Razor. Coming home and finally airing my bag out and pulling that belt out, sitting it on the bed and going, wow. People forget, I had only been in the business basically four years and I maybe had 200 matches, not even probably that. 200 appearances, probably around 60 matches when I got the belt. So I was green, green, green. But it is what it is.
PS: It wasn't too far removed from your Oz and Vinnie Vegas days, I guess.
KN: No, it really wasn't. Oz and the Vin-Man. The Vin-Man got me in the door with Shawn. Shawn saw me on TV and liked the Vegas character and asked Robbie Steiner (Rick Steiner) if he had my number and he did. They were looking for a bodyguard and I got out of my contract with WCW and joined Shawn. Thank you, Shawn.
PS: One thing one of my co-workers wanted to ask you when he realized I was interviewing you. He's not a wrestling fan at all, but he was Super Shredder back in the Ninja Turtles and he said, you've got to tell him his scene in "The Punisher" was the best part of the whole movie.
KN: Thank you.
PS: Are you looking to do any movie work right now?
KN: I actually just got a script in the mail the other day. It's supposed to be top secret. It's actually from the director of "The Punisher." (Jonathan Hensleigh). It's the same director. Hopefully, they'll find something for me in that. I'm limited. I'm 6-10. I'm not going to play the dentist or the baker. I'm not going to be the cop that gets out of the car, unless you want a giant cop. I'm kind of limited in what I'm going to do. I take it when I can get it.
PS: Did you have the opportunity to see "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke?
KN: Yeah I did.
PS: What did you think of the film?
KN: I couldn't relate to it. It doesn't emulate my career in any form or fashion. I've done indies since I've gotten older. I see guys get paid at indies. I've heard the stories of guys working for 25 bucks and spending 30 on gas. I've heard those stories. I think it's admirable that people have the passion to do that. I just wouldn't have been one of them.
PS: Even the indie that you're working for tonight [Northeast Wrestling] has a good reputation.
KN: Right. Anybody that I have worked for. I worked for Dave Piro up in Milwaukee. I think we had 1,800 at the last show. The people that I've worked for have treated me well.
PS: One thing I read about and I wanted to ask you about it just because I found it interesting and very admirable was the thing that Dave Meltzer wrote I guess it was a week or so ago, after Test had died, that you had kind of gone to WWE management with the whole rehab program with some of your friends. What can you tell me about that, if anything?
KN: WWE stepped up a while ago. The thing is, WWE has paid for numerous guys way before they did the public...I know plenty of my friends they paid for rehab for. About a couple of years ago, they sent out a letter, basically saying if you had any kind of problems and you had been a contracted player, not a day guy, but an actual contracted performer, that they were reaching out if you had any kind of dependency problems. I had several friends that fit that realm. A lot of them were in very bad shape. I just kind of made sure that they took the opportunity.
PS: How are Scott Hall and Sean Waltman doing now? Do you still keep in touch with those guys?
KN: Scott's not doing well at all right now. I was with him last weekend. He's really having some hard times. You know, the WWE is very concerned even though they've sent him several times on their dime. They're very concerned that one of their guys is still out there and sick. They're still trying to figure out what they can do. It's hard because they're publicly traded. The system...you can't go 55 times, you know. It just doesn't work that way. The longer I've been around the addiction of different people, you just realize that your friends and family can want them to be well, but if the person doesn't have the will to be well, it doesn't matter what everybody else does. Until he wants to take the steps to be clean, he's just not going to be clean. There's plenty of people that love him and want him to do it, it's just, he's got to make that decision himself. We can't do it for him. Nor can Vince or anybody else.
PS: One of the reasons you said you were working on the TNA schedule now was to be able to be with your family. How much of a factor was it for you when you made the choice to stick with these guys?
KN: It's a huge factor because it's hard especially, because to be my age and get one more Mania would have been really special. At the same time, my wife needs me home. My kid's a handful. Even though I'm on the road five days, I'm actually 90 miles from my house. I'm really about 70 miles from my house.
PS: What are your future goals, in the business or out of the business, now?
KN: I've kind of learned, as life goes on, not to make any plans. Things like a staph infection. I didn't go through a table. I didn't get clotheslined. I just woke up one day and now, it's eight weeks later and I'm still sitting here messing with this crap. I just hope to stay healthy. I see Cena on TV with a cherry-red gig across his neck, which tells me he came back way too soon. That's the nature of the beast. That's what we do. We get hurt. You go hard, you get hurt. If you put time in the business, you're going to get hurt. While you're in it, the more cumulative the damage to your body is. I'll do it until I can't do it anymore. Then I'll worry about doing something else then. For now, I still love to be in the locker room, cut up with the guys. I still love to be out with the people. I'm going to bitch and moan to get me there. It's still what I do. Pro wrestling defines me more than any other characteristic in my life. It's what I do. It's what I am. Sometimes, my wife says I've morphed into a character of what I used to be. She says, my voice is deeper. I don't know about that. I think I'm just getting old and tired.
PS: My last question is hopefully, a little light-hearted and whatever, but where did you come up with the Chet Lemon thing and how much of that was you and how much fun did you have doing that show with Booker?
KN: Chet Lemon used to play for the Tigers. He just he was going to be Black Snow or whatever he was. I said, well, I guess I'll be Chet Lemon.
PS: They even had the graphic on the screen for you with Chet Lemon underneath your face.
KN: I thought the funniest thing was. I don't know if you caught it. I said, "My God! Booker T finally shows up to the arena and he strikingly resembles Black Snow! I thought Booker T was ribbing when he did that Wolfman Jack in the first match. I didn't realize he was going to do it to me the whole time. I couldn't even get a word in. It was like Chinese water torture.
PS: Did you ever hear the ones when he did the WWE commentary when he'd be cutting off Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler and talking ove them, calling moves while he was in the middle of making a point.
KN: No.
PS: He was funny. He didn't do the Wolfman Jack voice though. That was new.
KN: It was new to all of us.
PS: It was entertaining if nothing else.
KN: The funny thing is, I remember one time, Roddy Piper had this bodyguard guy. He came on and it was a horrible segment. I think it was the Omni. I think it was the Omni or maybe it was Philips Arena. I know it was Atlanta, where the Hawks play. We sat at the monitor and watched this abysmal segment. People booed. Piper said, you're being too hard on the guy. We came back and knew that the thing was going to just tank number-wise. They broke down the show. It was the highest-rated segment of the night. Scott Hall looked at me and he said, "See. People will watch horrible television." You just have to give it to them. People watch different.
Source: PojoSlam