WWE News: Kevin Nash Says Wrestling Ended When Guerrero & Benoit Became Champs

In a recent interview with Bill Simmons's Grantland website (as also reported on Wrestlezone), Kevin Nash proved that...well, he's certainly still got a knack for controversy.

There were many interesting stories in this article (it's a good read, both well-written and full of entertaining anecdotes on Nash's part), most notably his view on Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero and what happened when they won the title (edited for, um, explicit content):

"

"When Benoit and Guerrero hugged [at the end ofWrestleMania XX], that was the end of the business," Nash says. "Has business been the same since that WrestleMania? Has it come close to the Austin era? Has it come close to the nWo or the Hogan era? You put two...guys that were great workers that were the same height as the...referees, and I'm sorry, man. Are you going to watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch [member]? Even if you're not gay, you will not watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch [member]. That's not the standard in porno films. So you put a 5-foot-7 guy as your world champion."

"

Stay classy, Kevin Nash.

I think it's a little bit much for Nash to say that Guerrero and Benoit winning the titles was "the end" of the wrestling business; also, the idea that the business not drawing the same since 2004 as a result of Benoit and Guerrero's win is a bit presumptuous, to say the least.

Nash is forgetting (on purpose or not) that many things about the wrestling business have changed since 2004; guys that are smaller started becoming the norm (and also, how much bigger was Nash's best buddy Shawn Michaels than Benoit or Guerrero? Not much), and there really wasn't that much in the way of causality as far as Benoit and Guerrero winning (neither held the belt that long) and the decline of the business. If anything, the decline of wrestling had to do with a lack of competition.

Besides, Nash seems to be forgetting that his WWE title reign almost resulted in WWE going bankrupt.

Some of the other gems in this piece include Nash talking about how people were begging him to beat Goldberg (that people were actually chanting "Goldberg sucks" and WCW kept piping in "Goldberg" chants to cover it up) and that the real reason he missed Starrcade 1997 was because he had eaten an entire pan of pot brownies.

Thoughts? Do you agree that the rise of smaller guys has negatively affected wrestling? Or do you think that Kevin Nash is off base here?