Roddy Piper Vs. Kevin Nash: The Infamous WCW Backstage Brawl, Explored

• Roddy Piper was supposed to hold back but didn't listen to Kevin Nash.
• Piper and Flair were going to face the Outsiders again at the Great American Bash.
• Syxx's interference in the match led to a disqualification. 

On June 9, 1997, the main event of Nitro saw the Outsiders, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, take on the babyface team of "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Going into the match, Hall and Nash were WCW Tag Team Champions, and they were accompanied to the ring by Syxx (the once and future X-Pac). This being WCW, where so many matches ended in a DQ, you could already see where this one was going to go. The match itself was short, barely lasting four minutes before Syxx jumped in, causing a disqualification. Nothing looked memorable or out of the ordinary, but in reality, everything had apparently gone wrong.

In an interview with RF Video, Kevin Nash explained what happened. With the same matchup scheduled for that weekend's Great American Bash pay-per-view, the Nitro clash was only meant to be a tease of what was to come. Talking about it beforehand, the foursome agreed to take the match slow and not do too much, saving much of the physicality for the PPV. Instead, Piper went in hot, immediately going for Nash, and he wouldn't sell any offense from Kevin. Big Daddy Cool didn't like that, so he confronted Piper backstage.

Kevin Nash And Roddy Piper Argued Backstage

Kevin Nash Said He Slapped Roddy Piper Across The Face

• "Hollywood" Hogan helped rile up Kevin Nash after the match.
• Nash said Roddy Piper wouldn't fight back.
• Kevin Nash felt like a bully for hitting Piper.

Kevin Nash told RF Video that he was egged on by "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. Nash then found Piper, saying:

"I went in there just to confront him, like 'What the f**k are you thinking?, and he jumped up like he was gonna come, so I just open hand smacked him. I just smacked him and that was it. I just knocked him down and he didnt' want nothing to do with me."

Kevin Nash said he felt like a bully because Piper was supposed to be this badass, but instead he didn't fight back. Nash called it a bad decision on his part, with even Eric Bischoff looking at him like he was crazy, but he revealed that although he and Piper never talked about the incident, they did stay friends afterward.

According To Roddy Piper, He Took Down Kevin Nash

Roddy Piper Claimed Kevin Nash Was Screaming At Him

• According to Piper, Kevin Nash kicked in the door.
• "Rowdy" Roddy Piper leg-dived at Nash and threw him out of the dressing room.
• The Outsiders won the match at Great American Bash without any issues.

Not surprisingly, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper had a different recollection of what happened that night. On his "Piper's Pit" podcast, Piper said that Kevin Nash was lying about what went down between them. He called their match horrible, accusing Nash of not knowing how to wrestle. Here's what he said occurred next:

"I came to my dressing room. I was maybe fifteen feet from the door. Flair is in there, and Bischoff is in there. I’m just kind of getting my feet up on a bench and taking my laces out. All of a sudden, the whole door comes kicked in, and [Nash] is standing in the doorway saying, ‘What? You think you’re running things around here?’ I stopped. Nobody had an answer for him. So I got up, charged him, leg-dived him, and threw him out of my dressing room!" (h/t Pro Wrestling Stories)

Piper said that Nash was taken away by other members of the roster as he pointed at Roddy and screamed, "I'll see you in Moline!", the sight of the Great American Bash. The tag team match went down as planned without any incidents in the ring or behind the scenes, with the Outsiders winning.

As for what exactly happened on that summer night in 1997 after Nitro, we'll never know. We have confirmation from both men about how it started but not about how it ended. Both, understandably, claimed that they were the victor in the fight, but can you really see anyone slapping Roddy Piper in the face, only for him to sit there and take it?