Flair & Piper vs. Nash feud reaches new heights
Three straight weeks of shoot interviews makes Slamboree one of the most anticipated PPVs by insiders
It was a week where the line between reality and hype, fact and fiction, blurred on several levels for both promotions. Besides the well-publicized situation with Leon White (aka Vader, see sidebar), Steve Austin essentially did a shoot interview on Vince McMahon during a hot edition of Raw. While Austin surely had McMahon’s approval to say what he said, Austin’s comments reflected his true feelings about the recent turn his push has taken and the danger of losing his popularity once McMahon started gushing over him on television (see Raw is War “TV Review,” pg. 3). The most fascinating shoot of the week, though, was in WCW coming from Kevin Nash and Syxx, who passionately rebutted the shoot interview Roddy Piper and Ric Flair directed at them last week.
Despite public downplaying by Eric Bischoff, behind the scenes in-fighting continues to rage on in WCW. Kevin Nash leads one faction with Syxx, Scott Hall, and the Mexican crew being his main allies. Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, and Kevin Sullivan have come together as allies to try to offset Nash’s perceived growing influence in WCW. The rumors of Nash’s influence have grown to the point that there was talk Nash suggested to Bischoff that WCW abandon Hulk Hogan in the future and split his salary among themselves. Whether true or not, such rumors leads to a more united opposition to Nash and his perceived power. Nash (along with Hall) being the second highest paid wrestler in the company (behind Hogan, of course), and well ahead of Piper (who works way fewer dates) and Flair (who works more dates), adds to the tension. Hulk Hogan, who has been busy filming a movie, is said to be growing a bit concerned with what is happening during his absence and even sent in a promo to air on Nitro to keep his face in the mix (although he’s always done that when he’s been away from Nitro for more than a week or two).
The heat with Nash dates back to accusations that the Outsiders were not selling for their opponents in the early months with WCW, especially when facing the smaller Ric Flair. That reputation was eventually shed when it seemed all the Outsiders did was sell. But that rep returned at Uncensored when Nash didn’t sell for a series of Piper punches. Nash contends Piper walked away from battle just before he was about to show the effects of the blows. Piper, not wanting to look bad any longer, just shifted his offense to Randy Savage who he trusted to sell right away for him. That incident, which probably no one on Earth noticed except the wrestlers involved, brought Piper into the behind the scenes battle (opposite of Syxx, whom he mentored for a while in their WWF days).
When Kevin Sullivan asked Nash to badmouth Hall on the Apr. 7 Nitro as part of the one-week “break-up” of the NWO, Nash didn’t. Instead, he talked in positive terms about Hall and ripped on Sullivan, mocking his height by calling him “Napoleon.” Those in the anti-Nash faction were so upset with Nash’s comments, they stormed out of Nitro right after Nash concluded his comments. Sullivan, already feeling vulnerable over pressure by management to retire from ring action (which he doesn’t want to do, but he was told last year it would be required of him once his feud with Chris Benoit was over — which explains why his feud with Benoit has lasted so long), only grew more upset when Nash wasn’t punished for defying his authority as booker and personally insulting him during the interview.
Bischoff has spoken to the parties individually and together, and each time the sides seem to become more alienated. When Bischoff confronted Nash about his shots at Sullivan, Nash made a case that in the weeks preceding Spring Stampede, Sullivan had intentionally worked against the best interests of the company by, among other things, on the last Nitro before the PPV giving more TV time to Flair and Piper, who weren’t on the PPV, than Nash and the Steiners, who were in the PPV main event. When Flair and Piper protested Syxx’s placement in the six-man main event tag match coming up next month at Slamboree because he “wasn’t a big enough name,” Nash defended Syxx saying Syxx was the only person who gave the match a chance to be watchable. To make his point, he characterized Piper as a poor worker and Flair as essentially an over-the-hill comedy figure. Flair and Piper were offended, believing Nash should have shown them more respect for the “road they paved” for him to make nearly his seven-figures per year salary.
Flair and Piper took their case to the airwaves, as they recited their own credentials in the sport plus had Kevin Greene rip into “rookies” in the NFL who get big money contracts but fail to pay proper respect to the veterans. Greene’s comments were meant as a shot at Nash, who’s closing in on age 40. Nash was offended that Flair and Piper used the public airwaves to rebut comments he made in a private meeting. Nash, far from a rookie whose credentials include a year on top of the biggest wrestling company in the country, pointed out to Flair and Piper behind the scenes that the last time a wrestling house show (rather than a PPV) sold out Madison Square Garden, he was the headliner. After a week of careful planning, the Nash faction took their case to the airwaves. Syxx addressed the situation first (in what might be the breakout interview of his career).
“I don’t say too much, but I heard Banana Nose Flair out here last week with Piper and he said a few things that kind of made me think. He was talking about this new generation of guys not having any respect. Well, Ric Flair, I know a little bit about the history of this sport and I want to ask you something right now. What kind of respect is it ripping one of the legends of this sport off, Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. You rip his name off, you rip his look off, and you rip the figure-four off of him. You’re a biter, Ric Flair, and I got no respect for you, and very little for you either Piper. If you got any sack whatsoever, you’ll do something about it because I don’t sweat either one of you.”
He handed the mic to Nash, who had as intense a look on his face throughout his speech as he has ever had on camera. “Hey, if you guys [the fans] hold it down, we can get this done real quick. Last week Roddy Piper came out here and said that he had laid asphalt and cut down trees. He called the NWO a bunch of stupid morons. Well, Piper, let me tell you something, coming from a guy that if he had one more synapse fired in his brain, he’d be in a coma, I don’t think too much about that. When I came into this business seven years ago, I looked down the road that you guys paved for us and I saw nothing but potholes. You guys came into this business, strip-mined it, you took what you could get out of it, and you left the young guys behind you nothing. WCW was nothing but a bunch of guys pushing their sons. If you didn’t have a dad in the business, you couldn’t even get an opportunity. Scott Hall was here, I was here. Scott Hall was ready to become a superstar. Hey, I was still a little green. But Scott Hall was ready, and you know what you did. He worked here a year, he proved himself, and you cut his salary [which is true] so he went elsewhere. We went to New York [the WWF] and what did we find when we got there? That’s right, stayed all night, danced a little longer, party time. When we got there, there wasn’t no party, just punishment for the guys trying to dig the business out of the funk you guys left it in. Where I come from… you don’t get respect, you don’t give respect. You better beat respect out of me boys. It’s our turn to shine, it’s the new generation’s turn to shine. There are some yelling young lions up here. It’s time for us to get more than a nibble on the carcass, boys. So while you guys decide to do the limo driving, the lear jets, the champagne, the ugly broads [intended specifically as a shot at Piper for bringing that woman to the ring with him on Nitro a few weeks back], me and my crew have decided we got no problem flying commercial [which was a legit point of negotiation in recent weeks], we got no problem piling three in a rented Taurus, because what we’re going to do, baby, is kick back and try the best we can to patch the potholes you guys have left behind. NWO for Life!”
Flair, Piper, and Greene came to the ring, and didn’t look particularly happy. All three lay on their backs. Flair said, “Come on down guys and pave the highway.” Half way down the rampway, the NWO signaled to the entryway and out walked Scott Hall, returning from his MIA stint. Nash, Hall, and Syxx embraced. The NWO sent Vincent, Marcus Bagwell, Scott Norton, and NWO Sting into the ring. Piper, Flair, and Greene stood their ground in the ring while the NWO circled the ring. The NWO then entered the ring. Nash bumped over the top rope for Greene as the show went off the air.
Although the announcers are trying to characterize the feud as a battle between those with respect for tradition and those without, there isn’t a clear-cut heel faction or babyface faction either on camera or behind the scenes. While the content of the interviews is either nearly impossible to decipher (in the case of Flair, Piper, and Sullivan) or sailing over most viewers’ heads (in the case of Syxx and Nash), the genuine-appearing passion by the participants makes the match seem as important as any match in recent PPV history. No matter what the success level of Slamboree, the chances of everyone celebrating over drinks afterward is pretty slim.
