[26th April 1997] Despite public downplaying by Eric Bischoff, behind the scenes in-fighting continues to rage on in WCW. Kevin Nash leads one faction with Scott Hall & Syxx being his main allies. Ric Flair, Roddy Piper & Kevin Sullivan have come together as allies to try to offset Nash's perceived growing influence in WCW. Nash & Hall being the second highest paid wrestlers in WCW (behind Hogan, of course), well ahead of Piper (who works fewer dates) & Flair (who works more dates), adds to the tension. 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 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. When Sullivan asked Nash to badmouth Hall on the March 31st edition of Nitro as part of a one-week "break-up" of the nWo, Nash didn't & instead, he 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) only grew more upset when Nash wasn't punished for defying his authority as booker & personally insulting him during the interview. When Bischoff confronted Nash about his shots at Sullivan, Nash made a case that in the weeks preceding Spring Stampede, Sullivan 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 & Piper, who weren't on the PPV, than Nash & the Steiners, who were on the PPV. When Flair & Piper protested Syxx's placement in the six-man main event tag match 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 & Flair as essentially an over-the-hill comedy figure. Flair & Piper were offended, believing Nash should have shown them more respect for the "road they paved" for him to make his seven-figures per year salary. Flair & Piper took their case to the airwaves, reciting their 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 veterans. Greene's comments were meant as a shot at Nash who was offended that Flair & 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 & Piper behind the scenes that the last time a house show (rather than a PPV) sold out Madison Square Garden, he was the headliner. After a week of planning, the Nash faction took their case to the airwaves passionately rebutting the shoot interview Piper & Flair directed at them the week prior. While the content of the interviews is either nearly impossible to decipher or sailing over most viewers' heads, the genuine-appearing passion by the participants makes the match at Slamboree seem as important as any match in recent PPV history. [9th June 1997] Three hours after Shawn Michaels & Bret Hart got into a backstage fight before Raw in Hartford, Conn., Kevin Nash & Roddy Piper did the same in a locker room after Nitro in Boston, Mass. After the disaster of a match with Nash & Hall facing Piper & Flair, Nash was upset. Piper had agreed to the details of how the match would play out just minutes before going to the ring, once he got to the ring Piper broke script entirely, leading to an embarrassing mess in the ring where at one point in the match everyone was standing around looking at each other. Then the time-cue to end the match came earlier than expected, leaving no time to fix the mistakes or get across the storyline they wanted to. After the match, Nash stormed into Piper's locker room kicking the door in. Nash exchanged words with Piper & gave him an open palm to the face, knocking him to the ground. Piper got up & threw a kick at Nash. Flair & Piper's bodyguard held Piper back. Hall & Syxx held back Nash. Nash told Piper he better not pull the improvisation stunt at the PPV on Sunday. Backstage Bischoff met with both Nash & Piper regarding the circumstances that led to the altercation - no disciplinary action was taken.

• published: 01 Jun 2014
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