When Vince McMahon purchased WCW, most of the top talent was locked into guaranteed contracts that paid them millions of dollars. McMahon opted not to purchase these contracts, leaving the top WCW stars with the unique position of receiving money for doing no actual work. Very few WCW wrestlers accepted Time Warner’s 50 cents on the dollar buyouts to be able to sign with the WWF, leaving about a dozen big names on the outside of the wrestling world looking in.
Kevin Nash was unabashed about declaring his intention to sit out the remainder of his Time Warner contract. He thought he would have better bargaining power with the WWF in January 2001 than in March 2000. What an amazing decision that has turned out to be.
The WWF was riding an amazing high in March 2000, having just purchased WCW and putting on Wrestlemania X7, arguably the best PPV of all time. The WWF didn’t need Nash, Steiner, Goldberg, Sting, Flair or any of the other big WCW drawing cards.
Many insiders predicted that McMahon and his staff would not fully realize the potential of purchasing WCW, but none could have imagined how badly the Invasion has been botched. Not only is WCW basically dead in the water, but the overall WWF product has become so boring and stale that ratings are falling at a remarkable rate.
The WWF needs a new direction, and despite the signing of over two dozen new workers in the past six months, needs new blood to freshen up the product. Kevin Nash, along with Scott Hall, can not only provide fresh faces at the top of the card, but with the nWo or some other similar angle, can revitalize a flailing WWF.
Some call Triple H the smartest man in wrestling, but a strong case can be made for Kevin Nash. Nash, who was instrumental in destroying WCW from within, still has amazingly high credibility with casual fans. He has a ‘cool’ factor which will allow him to rise above DDP and Booker T, who have failed to excite WWF audiences. He has remained friends with Vince McMahon and Triple H, two of the WWF’s most powerful personalities.
Nash has positioned himself alongside Scott Hall, who has managed to retain even more cool credibility with casual and internet fans alike, despite not being a major force in wrestling in about three years. There are few times when Hall’s return is brought up in wrestling discussion without also mentioning Nash.
It’s amazing that despite booking himself to defeat Goldberg (which is perhaps the biggest blunder which caused WCW to spiral downward), devaluing the WCW title by giving it to Hulk Hogan, being a lockerroom cancer that taught many younger wrestlers how to act like premadonnas, and an open lack of respect for wrestling and the industry, Kevin Nash is poised to return to the WWF as a returning hero.
Nash will almost certainly be booked as a top star, with title reigns and high profile matches and interview segments. And make no mistake about it, Nash will be up to the challenge. As bad as his in ring work has been, and as poor as his physique had become, Nash knows how to work any system he is situated in.
When Nash finally does reappear on Raw, he will have the wrestling world in the palm of his hand. And that’s exactly where he likes it.
