Wrestling veteran details backstage altercation between popular AEW star and WWE legend Kevin Nash in former promotion
Wrestling legend Dutch Mantell has recently opened up about one of the most talked about backstage altercations in Impact Wrestling history between current AEW star Samoa Joe and WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash.
Nash and Joe were scheduled to team up with the late Scott Hall at the 2007 TNA Turning Point event to take on Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, and Tomko, but Hall was replaced at the last minute by Eric Young due to the former WWE superstar no-showing the event.
This led to Joe cutting a promo on Hall in front of Nash, who is widely known as the former Razor Ramon's best friend. Despite being good friends on and off-screen, things boiled over between Joe and Nash following the event.
Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash, the best team ever. https://t.co/5LJa89T64S
Speaking on his "Story Time with Dutch Mantell" podcast, Dutch gave his thoughts on the backstage altercation he was present for. The former WWE manager noted that he could tell Kevin wasn't happy from the outset.
“I saw Kevin [Nash] get over-he just eased over to one side of the ring and he’s leaning on it like this, like you don’t know what he’s thinking. But I’m, to myself, thinking ‘this isn’t going down too well with Kevin.’” [2:19-2:33]
Despite not being present for the physical part of the disagreement, Mantell did his best to piece together what he could remember from the evening's events.
“They had a little bit of a crowd around them and Kevin [Nash] just asked [Samoa Joe] ‘what the hell was that?’ And I think Samoa Joe, he said something like ‘well he’s not here I’m not taking the heat’ or something I don’t know what he said, don’t quote me on that. All of a sudden, Kevin just open hand slapped him across the face, which of course altered everybody that ‘hey, they’re not getting along down there.’" [3:02-3:30]
Finally, Dutch rounded off by claiming that one part of the story that was wrong, and Kevin Nash didn't drop the AEW star to the floor.
Samoa Joe will defend his ROH TV Championship this Friday on AEW Rampage
After being away from the ring since ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view, Samoa Joe will be back in action this week on AEW Rampage, where he will be defending his ROH TV Championship.
His opponent for this Friday on AEW Rampage is for ROH Pure Champion Josh Woods, who will be making his first appearance on the show since losing a tag team street fight with Tony Nese against Swerve In Our Glory.
Samoa Joe vs Josh Woods for the ROH TV Championship is set for next week's Rampage. #AEWRampage
It will be Joe's third defense of the belt since winning it from Minoru Suzuki on the April 13th 2022 edition of AEW Dynamite, having already defeated Trent Beretta and Jay Lethal in title matches.
Do you think Samoa Joe will retain the ROH TV Championship? Let us know in the comments section down below!
Please credit "Story Time with Dutch Mantell" and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.