The Burial of Kevin Nash: A Lesson in Poetic Justice

I caught this week's episode of TNA Impact on Thursday night. It was a solid show. The matches were entertaining. Each segment helped move storylines along in a way that left the audience wanting more. A lot of the top performers worked matches. No complaints. Thumbs up.

There was one brief segment that involved Kevin Nash, and if I had blinked, I would have missed him. Upon seeing the gray-haired Nash, I took a quick drive down memory lane. Remember him? A big star in the 90's, Nash had successful runs in both WWE (known back then as the WWF) and WCW. He had numerous title runs and became a fixture in main events and money matches. His biggest claim to fame is the NWO storyline, in which he teamed with Hulk Hogan and Scott Hall to form a heel faction of "outsiders coming to WCW to take over the company." To date, it is arguably one of the best storylines in the history of the wrestling business.

These days, Nash isn't making the same impact. In fact, he has become buried. He's barely on TV. The moments when he makes it on camera, his segments are largely filler, and his matches are squash matches. When it comes to the fans, you can hear the crickets when he comes to the ring. The TNA creative team recently attempted to modestly push Nash by giving his new faction, "The Band" (consisting of Nash, former NWO colleague Scott Hall, and mid-carder Eric Young) a run with the tag team belts. This came to an end due to the recent firing of Scott Hall from TNA, and Nash has reverted back to his ghost presence.

This is a textbook example of poetic justice. For a time in WCW, Nash was a booker. During his tenure booking shows, he either pushed older wrestlers or anyone who was a buddy of his behind the scenes. In the process, he buried many wrestlers, most of whom were, at the time, young, near their prime, and still looking for a taste of triumph in wrestling. Some of these wrestlers were able to recover from this burial. Among them are Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, and the late Eddie Guerrero, all of whom went on to enjoy great success in WWE. Other in-ring performers were not so lucky, and many careers were hurt due to Nash's shoddy booking.

Look, don't get me wrong. Nash has already had success in this business. Additionally, he is past his prime. His situation is not that severe. However, when Ric Flair, Sting, and Jeff Jarrett are on TV regularly, it has to be a bit demoralizing to Nash that he can't find a role these days.

How does the crow taste, Kevin?