WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash didn’t mince words on a recent episode of his “Kliq This” podcast, offering a sharp critique of current wrestling trends, particularly the art of selling and specific booking decisions observed on a recent episode of WWE Raw. Alongside co-host Sean Oliver, Nash broke down what he sees as a fundamental shift in how performers portray physicality in the ring.
A central point of Nash’s critique was the distinction between “registering” a move and truly “selling” its impact. “What I’ve I’m noticing more and more is nobody sells. Everybody registers,” Nash stated. “They register what’s happening to them, but then it’s a turnaround, and it’s like, nobody sells.” He explained the difference with clarity: “Registering is, is just like, you know, like this [a brief reaction], where selling is like, you’re in trouble, you know, like you’re curling up in a ball.”
Nash drew from his own experiences to illustrate effective selling, recounting his approach when working with Diamond Dallas Page. “I can remember a specific time when I was working with Dallas, and I would, I would do something. I’d cut him off, and I would just tell him, I said, like, just sell till I come back to you,” Nash explained. This allowed for a more dramatic and believable narrative in the match, emphasizing that while Page was selling, Nash himself would be “in the corner, like checking my note, like I was selling what he had given me… It’s our match, you know.”
While Nash did offer praise for a recent match between AJ Styles and Finn Balor, saying, “I thought that was an excellent match. I really enjoyed watching that… there was, there was times when they register and times when they sell,” he contrasted this with other prevalent styles. He described some modern matches as going “from spot to spot to spot,” a style where, in his view, performers “can’t sell. They can only register. Because if they were to sell, it would, it would stop the flow of what they do.”
Nash also expressed surprise at the release of Braun Strowman, whom he initially envisioned in a dominant, Brock Lesnar-type role, rather than engaging in segments with Sami Zayn. “I thought that he was going to be kind of a Lesnar, that they were going to kind of give him that kind of a direction,” Nash commented.
Another specific booking decision that drew Nash’s criticism involved a segment where babyfaces appeared to have an unfair advantage. “It ends with the three baby faces in the ring, each one with a steel chair in their hands, and they’re against the two heels. And so those are outside. Heels are outside. They’re outnumbered,” Nash described. He argued this visual could confuse the audience about who the protagonists were: “If I’ve never, if I know that wrestling, but I don’t know these characters… And you were to tell me or ask me, who’s baby face, whose heels? I said, obviously it’s the heels. Are the guys cheating with the chairs?”
Nash also commented on a segment featuring Pat McAfee, which he felt occurred unusually late in the show, “like 25 minutes into the show, that felt weird.” While complimenting McAfee’s performance at Backlash, he found his Raw appearance less impactful, suggesting it felt more like an opportunity “to get his flowers to the fans” rather than building significant storyline momentum.
The WWE Hall of Famer indicated his critiques might have been influenced by his own state, jesting, “Maybe I was jet lagged. Maybe it just everything was just kind of landing on me fucking sideways.” Nevertheless, his observations provide a veteran’s perspective on the evolving presentation of professional wrestling.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Kliq This TV with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
