Kevin Nash has delivered his most pointed criticism yet of TKO’s handling of WWE, unleashing a blistering rant that called out corporate interference in creative, accused TKO of using WWE to subsidize UFC’s financial losses, and issued a stark personal ultimatum regarding Triple H’s future with the company.
Speaking on his Kliq This podcast, Nash addressed the pattern of TKO executives inserting themselves into WWE’s creative direction and the broader culture of changes that have frustrated talent and fans alike.
“(Paul) Levesque takes over and everybody loves the direction that he’s carrying the new WWE program into the Netflix era. Lo and behold, like every other business on earth, the guys above him that don’t have a clue besides get paid more decide to start sticking their dicks where they don’t need to. ‘We’re going to throw this guy in. Let’s put this guy in. How about him in the main event? We have a $500 million deal that this guy is locked into. While we’re at it, let’s make the arena look like NASCAR.’ It doesn’t take anything away from Paul Levesque, because Paul Levesque still knows what he’s doing. If anybody out there thinks this might apply to them, how about leaving the company alone? Get your noses out of creative. Go fuck yourselves. Let Paul run the company,” Nash said.
He then turned his fire on what he described as the real motivation behind the WWE talent cuts, alleging that UFC’s financial situation is bleeding into WWE’s operations.
“If you guys want to cut the talent, don’t throw it in Paul’s lap and make him be the bad guy. Don’t tell him, ‘Give me six years of creative process and give it to me by Wednesday. If I don’t see a certain guy’s name on there, I’m going to cut it by 50%.’ How about just go fuck yourself. How about you grow a set of balls, you walk in, and you tell them because UFC is bleeding through every tourniquet that they have, we’re going to cut people from WWE to stop the bleeding from the other company. UFC is hemorrhaging money, and WWE isn’t. How about we tell the truth,” Nash said.
Nash also issued a direct personal warning about what he would do if Triple H were removed from his position, making clear he would walk away from WWE entirely if it came to that.
“If something happens and Triple H is no longer at the helm because there is some type of power play, I hope you follow my lead because the minute they mess with him, I’ll have nothing to do with that product the rest of my life,” Nash said.
Triple H has since signed a new multi-year deal with WWE and TKO to remain as Chief Content Officer, which was confirmed by PWInsider and Bodyslam in the weeks following WrestleMania 42.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Kliq This with Kevin Nash with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
