Kevin Nash Says WWE Kept Title on Roman Reigns Because Of Street Fighter

On the latest episode of Kliq This, Kevin Nash gave his take on Roman Reigns retaining the World Heavyweight Championship against LA Knight in the opening match of WWE Money in the Bank. Nash said the result made sense with Street Fighter, which features Reigns, holding its Los Angeles premiere two days later. He also explained how he would have booked it if WWE wanted Knight to win the title, and said the reaction to the finish is part of the plan. You can check out his comments below:

On Roman Reigns Retaining Against LA Knight:

“I think we have to be that beacon on the hill for all the people that live and die professional wrestling and still don’t realize it. Number one, it was absolutely Paul Levesque’s fault that he didn’t go over Roman, because that’s the Kliq rule, and we just hold people down. That’s what we do. No, really, people didn’t put together the fact that the pay-per-view, or PLE or whatever it is now, was Saturday night. It was the opening match. It was kind of a ‘follow that’ match. They had a great match. I thought LA Knight was great; I thought Roman was great. I thought there were some great false finishes. I watched it after the controversy, of course.

“But come Monday, Street Fighter has its big premiere in Los Angeles, to the point where I saw a picture of a Street Fighter poster that looked like it was on the side of maybe a 20-story building in L.A. So do you put this movie out, which they’re hoping does huge, huge numbers? It’s Street Fighter. You’ve got Roman as one of the featured guys. Do you want the water cooler talk to be, ‘Hey, that guy in the movie, he used to be the WWE champion up until Saturday when he got beat’? Or do you just say, ‘Hey, man, that’s the WWE champion’? This is one of those moments in life. We don’t get these moments as pro wrestlers very often, to be on a red carpet and to be a star and to be our champion. The only thing missing would be him wearing the belt over his suit.”

On How He Would Have Booked an LA Knight Win:

“Doesn’t the placement of the match alone tell you? How does the rest of the show follow a world title change? Everybody knows the prize in the two ladder matches is a chance to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase for an opportunity to wrestle the champion. So my whole thing is this: if you really want to book it, great. You book it where LA Knight goes over, but he gets injured. Then you have the guy win Money in the Bank, and he gets the briefcase, and he calls him out and challenges him right there. And Knight does the Spirit of ’76 because he’s a babyface. He can’t [turn it down], and he goes down and gets beat. Very Fingerpoke of Doom. Give it to him early. Take it away before they go home.”

On the Reaction To the Finish:

“Then they have him come out Monday and just do a backstage for a minute. I’m like, ‘Yeah, because it pisses you off, you idiots.’ Out of sight, out of mind. They’ve already lit the fire. There’s nothing better than being chosen by the people, especially when your promo going home to the pay-per-view is that ‘Nobody’s been more manufactured than you, Roman, including your ultraviolet veneers’ or whatever he said. So it’s that whole thing. Do we sit back too far, where we can actually see the pieces being put into the puzzle? Is that our problem? Because we don’t watch it 24/7.”

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