Kevin Nash believes his infamous 2002 quad injury may have prevented WWE from finally bringing The Kliq together for a full-fledged television storyline.
During a recent edition of his Kliq This podcast, Nash reflected on the period when he, Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Scott Hall were all under the WWE umbrella at the same time.
With Michaels back in the mix and Triple H established as one of WWE’s biggest stars, Nash believes there was an opportunity for the longtime backstage friends to finally unite on-screen. “And that would have been, like, that fed me up because we got Shawn [Michaels],” Nash said. “Like, we could have maybe done something and gotten Paul [Levesque] to get involved with us to where that would have been fing, like, the Kliq angle, like finally do the Kliq angle.”
However, Nash believes those possibilities disappeared when he suffered a torn quad. “But I f**ed that up when I blew my leg out because Shawn was back,” he continued. “You know, Shawn was back in the mix. So, ‘Oh well.’”*
The timing had presented WWE with a rare opportunity. Michaels had returned following his lengthy absence from in-ring competition, while Triple H was firmly established at the top of the company. Nash and Hall had also returned to WWE in 2002 following the end of WCW.
Nash’s quad injury occurred during the July 8, 2002 episode of WWE Raw. The match was his first after recovering from a torn biceps, and Nash has previously said he returned several weeks earlier than originally planned.
He recalled raising concerns about the situation with Vince McMahon. “This is my first thing I’ve done coming back, and I’m coming back three weeks early,” Nash said.
Nash added: “And I remember looking at Vince and stuff and saying, doing this kind of s** when people aren’t cleared and ain’t been in the ring is exactly how people get hurt.”*
Nash, Hall, Michaels and Triple H ultimately never worked together in WWE as an official Kliq faction.
The four were famously close behind the scenes during WWE’s New Generation era, with their most infamous public moment coming at Madison Square Garden in May 1996. Michaels, Triple H, Nash and Hall broke character during the post-match “Curtain Call” shortly before Nash and Hall left WWE for WCW.
