Kevin Nash: Why He's Needed on WWE Monday Night Raw

The plot thickens.

On the August 22 edition of Monday Night Raw, Triple H was told that Kevin Nash had been in a car accident. Hunter presumably left the arena, leaving John Laurinaitis in charge.

Who comes down to the ring during the main event to once again screw CM Punk out of the WWE Championship? Big Sexy himself.

Know where all of this is going? Neither do I.

This whole story line, from the moment it began at SummerSlam, has been so unpredictable that we have consistently been left in the dark, with no idea of what will happen next.

Just when it seemed that CM Punk versus John Cena could either keep cooking or perhaps cool off altogether, Nash is introduced into the equation. Now everything is turned upside down.

Cena has moved on to—once again—face another WWE Title chase.

You didn’t really expect John to slide out of the feud with Punk and be drastically changed, did you?

This is Cena we’re talking about here. WWE has to put the belt on him. We all know this.

Meanwhile, Punk is left in what promises to be a much more entertaining story line, that will possibly have longer-lasting effects on the whole of WWE.

Who better to spark a story line of this nature than Kevin Nash?

Nash has been a polarizing figure in many ways since he dropped the leather glove of Diesel and put on the black and white of the nWo.

His outspoken, unapologetic attitude about the business has been scathing at times and has rubbed many old-school wrestling fans the wrong way.

For a lot of those fans, Nash is another one of those WWE creations that Vince McMahon put together on his superstar assembly line and rolled out to the public, in spite of the products’ low quality.

To put it another way, Nash is not exactly Shawn Michaels in the ring.

Some go as far as to say that for most of his career in the business, Nash was carried by every guy he has ever worked with.

Perhaps there is some truth in that claim. After all, would Nash have looked as good in the ring with someone who wasn’t as talented as the guys he worked with?

In WWE, it was The Undertaker, Bret Hart and the aforementioned Shawn Michaels that made Nash look like a star.

In WCW, it was Sting, Randy Savage and, well, most of the locker room, as the nWo angle placed everyone who was not a member squarely in the line of fire, and flat on their backs.

But that was then, this is now.

The Monday Night War is over, WCW is dead and gone and 52-year-old Kevin Nash returning to a prominent on-air role is not exactly the invasion of The Outsiders in 1996.

So, why has WWE brought him back?

Why not?

I get the argument that CM Punk could possibly end up getting buried as a result of Nash being inserted into this story line. But let’s face it, wasn’t that a possibility from the start?

On the night of Punk’s infamous promo, I had two thoughts after watching Raw. The first was, “Wow, that’s good stuff. This could be big.”

The second thought, however, was, “I wonder how long they will give him until they push him back down again?”

Punk’s position in the company is like anyone else currently on the roster not named Triple H, John Cena, Randy Orton or The Undertaker.

He is valuable as long as they have something for him to do. When the ideas run out, so does the employment.

So Punk’s possible negative impact from all of this may or may not have a serious effect on him.

I also understand that some fans point to TNA’s blueprint of running angles as to why bringing Nash in is a bad idea. He’s a veteran who is way past his prime.

This is TNA’s thing, and besides, does WWE really expect him to draw a dime right now?

But it should go without saying that WWE is not TNA.

The same simple idea can be given to each company, and one company will make it work, sell out a 30,000 seat arena with it and make a pile of money with it. The other company will mishandle it, destroy the workers involved and make it a silly and embarrassing spectacle.

One guess as to which company does what.

The bottom line here is that Kevin Nash is needed in WWE and will end up being an asset to the CM Punk-Triple H angle, not in spite of all the good and bad, but because of it.

His era of the pampered, spoiled, overpaid pro wrestler is perfect fodder for Punk, and Punk’s verbal assault on what he considers to be the worst aspects of the business.

Nash is the enemy that Punk has wanted the whole time. It’s a perfect rivalry.

What about the fact that every fan twenty years and older absolutely loves the Attitude era, and lament its eventual death?

Having Nash back in the fold brings a certain nostalgia, but more than that is the fact that Nash was such a huge part of those days during the Monday Night Wars.

In fact, it could be said that if not for Hall and Nash entering WCW as The Outsiders, that WWE would have never introduced the Attitude era.

All of that work—the promos, the matches, the crazy spots—everything that made WWE must-watch television during that time was all done in an effort to defeat the rise of two former employees.

What more would Nash have to say to justify his current presence in the company?

At this point in his career, Kevin Nash’s motivation likely does not revolve around a personal agenda.

He did not leave one company as a well-paid top guy, and he went to the competition as a much better-paid top guy.

It is also not about ratings, or revolution or anything of that nature. Nash, at his age and his place in the industry, is possibly on his last run, and he just wants to have fun. Any matches, main events or feuds that may come as a result of it will just be an added bonus.

Kevin Nash, if he knows anything, knows how to do business.

He understands what works and what doesn’t, and he knows why he is in the position he’s in.

For all the rest of us who are just speculating on what we believe WWE’s reasoning is for involving Nash, we will just have to wait, watch and enjoy the ride.