TNAInsider.com TNA Wrestling News, Rumors and Forum

Grantland.com has published a lengthy article on the life and controversial wrestling career of Kevin Nash, who has begun to gain traction in Hollywood. A notable point in the article has the six-time world champion reiterating his stance on "Vanilla Midgets," a dismissive term he used as booker in the late '90s in World Championship Wrestling to describe small-statured, gifted technical wrestlers who didn't project larger than life personalities but were beloved by fans, such as Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko. "Big Sexy" feels the professional wrestling industry died in 2004 at WrestleMania XX when WWE's "Super Bowl" concluded with the image of the under six-foot-tall grapplers reigning supreme as champions and emotionally celebrating. Even though the two wrestlers are now deceased, he still believes they never belonged in the main event scene due to their small stature.

"When Benoit and Guerrero hugged [at the end of WrestleMania XX], that was the end of the business," Nash says. "Has business been the same since that WrestleMania? Has it come close to the Austin era? Has it come close to the nWo or the Hogan era? You put two fucking guys that were great workers that were the same height as the fucking referees, and I'm sorry, man. Are you going to watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch dick? Even if you're not gay, you will not watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch dick. That's not the standard in porno films. So you put a 5-foot-7 guy as your world champion."

Nash has the same problem with today's "Internet heroes," CM Punk and Daniel Bryan.

"They are not bigger than life," he says. "I bet they could both walk through airports and not be noticed unless they have a gimmick shirt on and the belt."

Nash also discussed how The Kliq shifted financial compensation in the wrestlers' favor, how his 1995 heel turn inspired the "Attitude Era" and the subsequent ascent of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, cursing out Tom Cruise's makeup artist on the set of Rock of Ages and more. The full article is available at this link:

Chris Jericho, who worked his way up the wrestling ranks alongside Benoit and Guerrero, publicly took offense to Nash's remarks and responded with another commonly used stance.

He tweeted late Tuesday evening,

Quote

The oft-used point originated from Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer, who has repeated stated over the years that WWE had its worst financial period in company history in 1995 when Nash held the WWF Championship as Diesel.

Nash responded to Jericho's tweet minutes later, writing,

Quote

Jericho quickly shot back,

Quote

- MVP wrote the following on Twitter in response to Kevin Nash's comments about smaller wrestlers not drawing:

Quote

MVP just posted a follow-up on Twitter:

Quote

- Roddy Piper addressed Kevin Nash's comments about the wrestling industry "dying" at WrestleMania 20 when Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero ended the show as WWE's top champions.

Quote

- Chavo Guerrero Sr. also had some comments to share about Kevin Nash as well.

Quote

I sort of agree with Nash in regards to guys like Benoit, Punk, and Danielson killing the business. It's not because of their size, but because they are unlikeable and have no personality. Ric Flair wasn't the biggest guy in the world, but he is considered to be one of the greatest because he was entertaining.

 GaTechGrad, on 08 August 2012 - 10:53 PM, said:

Punk has no personality? Really? REALLY?
Heck, if you were gonna list smaller guys with no personality you could have atleast said AJ Styles.

His best friend is Shawn Michaels. /thread.

 Jackanape, on 09 August 2012 - 12:38 AM, said:

I consider it more of Punk having an Attitude over a personality. If you want to call that the same thing thats up to you.

 Jackanape, on 09 August 2012 - 12:38 AM, said:

AJ isnt the TNA Champion or near the top of the card at the moment so his mentioning wasnt nescessary

 Will, on 09 August 2012 - 12:54 AM, said:

Edited by Jackanape, 09 August 2012 - 01:18 AM.

Yeah. I don't like Kevin Nash. And he lies a lot. But I'm inclined to agree here.

 Omgitzjay, on 09 August 2012 - 12:51 AM, said:

I love Shawn Michaels, and AJ Styles for that matter. But Shawn wasn't a successful champion. Casual viewers expect wrestling champions to be big. And heavyweights are who have always been the big attractions in combat sports.
Edited by JKahn913, 09 August 2012 - 01:23 AM.

 JKahn913, on 09 August 2012 - 01:19 AM, said:

But... you're a fan of Jeff Jarett... a man who is barely 6 foot and never drew a dime.

 Jackanape, on 09 August 2012 - 01:22 AM, said:

Oh, well, it's not that I prefer whom Nash is promoting. It's just that the big guys have brought the boom times.

And I'm sure that Jarrett has drawn some money. He's made a very good living. He's certainly TNA's most successful champion. He got the ship out to sea and kept it afloat.
Edited by JKahn913, 09 August 2012 - 02:30 AM.

ths crazy how Nash is tlking bout Eddie like tht
im surprised Chavo JR didnt have anything to say

I agree with Nash

And at this time I direct everyone's attention to my signature.

 JKahn913, on 09 August 2012 - 01:19 AM, said:

That wasn't what I meant, I was pointing out that he was riding HBK's coat tails to get to where he was and HBK is a foot shorter than him and he goes on to say that only a few years ago it died? I agree that for the most part small wrestlers aren't what people want to see, there are rare exceptions like Benoit, Eddie & Jericho, they were larger than life and they never needed to be a foot taller by default.

You look at guys like Daniel Bryan and then you look at guys like Chris Benoit and there is a major difference. Chris Benoit was a guy that you knew could kick someones ass, and as far as Jericho goes, his personality was just about as big as The Rock and the same with Eddie. and lets not forget guys like Steve Austin & Kurt Angle aren't exactly giants either.

For the most part though, yes, people are 6'4 and higher should be main eventing, but if the personality is big enough, and as long as they don't look like they work at walmart, theres no reason to argue it.

Benoit
Jericho
Eddie
Angle
Austin
Cena even (only 6'1)
Edge (tall, but not exactly built)
Mick Foley
Jeff Hardy

some of the biggest names in like the last 15 years and Nash is supposed to be the expert? Has he ever drawn more then any of these people? nWo don't count there was alot more going for it then Nash.

I guess Nash forgot that not all of the great wrestlers were 6'4 and buff. Ric Flair for instance was only 6'1 and not exactly muscular but he is known as the greatest world champion in wrestling history. Hell a good portion of wrestling legends and pioneers like Verne Gagne and Terry Funk weren't even that muscular either. I guess Nash's memory doesn't go as far back as 1984.

Ive always held my tongue where Nash is concerned because he is clearly a guy that has ruined his body working in an industry that he loves, all whilst keeping himself in the best possible condition that he can for somebody his age. For that, the man deserves respect. However, for this opinion, he deserves ridicule. Its not the "small guys" that have ruined the business, its bad booking and business models.

One of the most popular guys ever in the industry was Stone Cold Steve Austin and he was only 6ft 1. He wasnt exactly stacked with muscle either compared to the rest of the roster. Hes packing more muscle now as an actor than he ever was as a wrestler.

If you really think about the attitude era (for example):

Foley & Austin weren't giants and were some of the bigger names in it. It was pretty much Austin, Foley, Taker & Rock (Triple H really didn't get over as one main guys till like 2002 or 2003 when all of the big names were leaving and he had to take over) You had 2 guys that were big, and 2 guys that weren't. That's 50/50 and the business did fine then.

If EVERYONE is a giant, it's not special.
but you can't look like you work at walmart either.

 Omgitzjay, on 09 August 2012 - 01:41 PM, said:

But he and Stephanie were pretty much the stars of Raw in 2000, and he retained the championship at WM 2000.

 JKahn913, on 09 August 2012 - 02:02 PM, said:

Being pushed doesn't mean you are over (Jack Swagger anyone?), and this was the era where Rock & Austin still ruled the company, being over then was a lot different then being over now, Back then (if you were to compare to ranks with the current wrestling) Triple H was probably around where Alberto Del Rio or Sheamus are now, nothing more than a B-Star. (And everyone knows I love Sheamus)

And last I checked WrestleMania 2000 was one of the worst ppv's of that era.

18,000 attended WrestleMania 2000 (Rock/Triple H)
67,000 attended WresteMania 17 (Rock/Austin)

So I mean... couldn't have been the rock.


(Another thing I wanted to bring up which has nothing to do with what I said above, a guy like Austin wasn't built like a brick shit house and he was in a time when you could still get away with Steroids.)

 Omgitzjay, on 09 August 2012 - 01:41 PM, said:

Nash also said that the style of wrestling that Foley popularised was just "porn" and ruined the wrestling industry as well. I get the impression that Kevin Nash believes that any match he doesnt feature in is ruining the wrestling industry.

Oh also something to point out, on his Twitter if you scroll down his timeline he keeps marking out for punk and trying to reform the nWo with him lol, so he's sucking up to another 5 foot nothing yet a couple tweets later he knocks people that are like Punk, and punk looks like some skinny drug dealer.