Kevin Nash Fires Back at Critics Who Called Him Lazy

On the latest episode of Kliq This, Kevin Nash pushed back on critics who have called him lazy in the later years of his in-ring career. The topic came up after co-host Sean Oliver brought up a fan-made video of Nash’s career set to a song by his late son, Tristen. You can check out his comments below:

On critics who called him lazy:

“I’m not a giant. I’m a big guy, and that’s one thing about being a big guy. People don’t understand. I don’t suffer from gigantism. I’m a 6’10” basketball player. That’s what Kevin Nash is. I also loved bodybuilding from age 12, so it was my love for iron and my love for entertainment. There was so much criticism. They said, ‘Name a good match that Nash had after 2000,’ and I took offense to it. But when it comes down to it, I probably only had a handful, and they were all with Paul [Triple H] after that. But I had some solid matches with Mick at TNA, and I had some solid matches with young talent that basically worked around my shortcomings. I just don’t think people understand there’s a huge difference between being lazy and being crippled. When I was a kid, I used to watch Ironside, and when he didn’t chase the guy down, I don’t remember saying, ‘God, that Raymond Burr is a lazy motherfucker.’ I was smart enough to realize he was in a wheelchair.”

On the condition of his body late in his career:

“If you watched me walk down that ramp on Raw, you could see how far my right knee goes in, and that’s with a Breg brace on it to keep it in that position. When I took that thing off, it was dug to my bone. And I can’t take painkillers, because when I do, I throw up. Everybody acts like they know my journey, and you don’t know anything about me. You don’t know what kind of pain tolerance I have. You don’t know what it’s like to be operated on 35 times, and after about seven, you start wondering, ‘Man, is this it?’ You don’t wake up in Pittsburgh while they’re opening your neck up, coming out of anesthesia, and know that they had to paddle you to get you back, that you flatlined. Nobody’s going to tell you, ‘Oh yeah, by the way, you flatlined. We fucked up your anesthesia.’ Hate me, don’t hate me. I was great, I was the shits, I was lazy, I wasn’t lazy. I don’t give a fuck.”

On what people don’t know about his life:

“I watched Frank Grillo, the actor, express himself in an interview, and he basically said what I just said: you don’t know anything about me. You don’t know anything about my journey. You know nothing about my life. Google will give you an outline, but Google doesn’t know what it feels like to tear a quad. Google doesn’t know what it’s like to lose a 26-year-old son. That’s why it was so nice today to see a body of my work in a field that I participated in, because I am not a goddamn wrestler. I wrestled. I don’t wrestle anymore. I didn’t wrestle until I was 30. I’ve been Kevin Nash for 67 years. I lived my life, as I did with Scott, as I did with Triple H, as I did with Shawn Michaels, as I did with Sean Waltman, as I did with all my friends. I don’t think any of my friends, when we talk to this day and tell each other at the end that we love each other, think it’s a work. I lost my dad at eight years old, but I know that man loved me. I lost my mom at 34 years old, but I know that woman loved me. I know my 26-year-old son loved me. I’ve been blessed with the amount of love that I’ve had in my life, so I’ll take my life over your pathetic lives all day long, because I wake up every day just happy to be here for another shot.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Kliq This with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.