Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman were recently interviewed by Justin Barrasso for Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard blog.
With rumors swirling over the past several weeks that Shawn Michaels was close to signing with WCW at the height of the Monday Night War, Nash reveals that it was actually The Undertaker who was close to jumping ship when he became a free agent in 2000. The Undertaker transforming into the American Badass biker was more than just a gimmick refresh, it was actually a move to reposition him as a more generic character that he could have brought over to WCW.
“We had ‘Taker close. All of a sudden he wasn’t the Deadman. He became the American Badass for a reason. That Deadman wasn’t going to f—in’ come to WCW. He would have been the biker character and gone by Mark Calaway.
“All along, I was trying to get guys money, I was trying to get guys paid. And what happened was Vince started giving huge guarantees to the Shawns and Undertakers and those guys and said, ‘I can’t lose my core guys.’”
Chris Jericho has been a vocal critic of Hall, Nash and Waltman over the years, labeling them as one of the main causes behind the demise of WCW. Hall and Waltman think Jericho needs to move on and enjoy the success he’s achieved in the business. Scott Hall said,
“Jericho’s just a whining puss. If you have any talent, you can’t be held back and you can’t be held down. Jericho just whines and whines. He’s gone on to be tremendously successful, and he’s still got a hard on for us. I don’t get it, but nobody makes headlines for saying, ‘Those guys are great guys. You talk about what d—s we are, and then some guy sits down and interviews you.”
Waltman worked closely with Jericho in WCW and WWE and reveals Jericho got a rude awakening when he arrived in WWE.
“Jericho realized, once he got to WWE, ‘Holy s—, I don’t know what the f— I’m doing here. That’s why Vince made him come to me and run his matches by me, even he was working with Boss Man or something. You think you know, until you finally know.”
There’s much more to the interview – including Nash reacting to reports that Vince McMahon was furious with his WWE Hall of Fame speech and Hall and Nash’s jump to WCW.
