Kevin Nash Shares His Views On The WWE Brawl For All
WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash has delivered a scathing assessment of one of professional wrestling’s most controversial experiments, calling the company’s handling of the 1998 Brawl For All tournament “rotten” during a recent episode of his “Kliq This” podcast.
The infamous tournament, which featured legitimate unscripted fighting among WWE superstars, has long been regarded as one of the company’s most significant creative missteps. According to Nash, the fundamental error wasn’t just the concept itself, but how WWE failed to capitalise on the tournament’s legitimate outcome.
Bart Gunn was a southpaw and none of those guys were boxers except Johnny B. Badd (Marc Mero), he was a Golden Gloves boxer. Bart just knocked out everybody.
For those unfamiliar with the controversial competition, the Brawl For All combined elements of boxing and wrestling in a tournament format where outcomes weren’t predetermined. Much to the surprise of WWE officials, Bart Gunn (Mike Polchlopek) emerged victorious after defeating favourites like “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, Marc Mero, and Bradshaw in the finals.
Kevin Nash’s criticism centres on the disconnect between establishing a performer as legitimately tough through an unscripted competition, then failing to reward that performer with an appropriate push afterward.
Psychology wise it’s horrible. You’re putting a shoot in a work so basically you have established that Bart is the baddest motherf*cker in the territory and you don’t turn around and give him a push. That’s rotten.
Instead of leveraging Gunn’s tournament success into a meaningful storyline, WWE kept him off television for months before booking him in a legitimate boxing match against professional knockout artist Butterbean at WrestleMania XV. The result was predictable and devastating – Gunn was knocked out in just 35 seconds. Shortly afterwards, he was released from the company.
Kevin Nash Says He Refused To Put Over The Ultimate Warrior Before Leaving WWE For WCW
Kevin Nash spoke about why he refused to put over The Ultimate Warrior before he left WWE for WCW. However, when Vince McMahon suggested Warrior, Nash refused because he felt that Warrior was not “one of the boys”.
H/t to ITRWrestling.com