WWE Hall Of Famer Details Altercation With Samoa Joe – “I Open-Hand Smacked Him”

One WWE Hall of Famer recalled getting into a backstage altercation with Samoa Joe.

Kevin Nash recently detailed a time when he and Samoa Joe didn’t see eye to eye after Joe went off-script at TNA’s Turning Point 2007.

At that event, Joe was scheduled to team with Nash and Scott Hall to take on the trio of Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, and Tomko, but Hall announced the morning of the show that he would not be in attendance due to a health issue.

Instead of helping smooth over the situation in front of the crowd as he was asked to do, an enraged Samoa Joe cut an unscripted live promo, not only blasting Hall but also calling out Nash and Dixie Carter. He even declared he didn’t care if he was fired for speaking his mind, and he and Nash got into a physical altercation backstage as a result.

Speaking on the latest edition of Kliq This, Kevin Nash detailed the confrontation, first saying he understood why Joe was upset but that his behavior was unwarranted.

“At that point, Joe and I were friends. And I understood his f—ing disappointment and frustration over the fact that Scott no-showed.”

Even after his hostile words, Joe teamed with Nash and Eric Young in trios action in the main event of the show. After the bout, Nash confronted Joe backstage.

“I walked up to him and asked him, ‘What the f–k was that? Was that from [Vince] Russo or yours?’ He smirked and said, ‘That was mine.’ So I f—ing open-hand smacked him. He didn’t go down, but he didn’t say anything back, either, so I smacked him again. And he just looked at me.”

Nash made it clear that he did not punch Joe, and that Joe did not fight back.

Samoa Joe Apologized For His Rant At Turning Point 2007

However, tensions were smoothed over the next day. According to Nash, Samoa Joe apologized to him personally in front of the TNA locker room.

“Joe felt so bad about it that he went in front of all the boys and apologized — directly to me. He didn’t have to do that. But he was man enough to f—ing realize that, ‘I did go into business for myself.'”

Kevin Nash also said the fact that Joe didn’t hit him back and that Nash used open-hand strikes as opposed to punches was a sign of mutual respect between the two men.

h/t WrestlingInc