Kevin Nash does not like CM Punk one bit.

Initially sharing the stage at the tail end of Punker's first run in WWE in 2011, it looked like Nash and the “Best in the World” were going to have a match following their fight at SummerSlam, but in the end, the match never happened, as Paul “Triple H” Levesque took it upon himself to take things right to the face of the “Second City Saint” before securing a huge win at Night of Champions in front of thousands of fans in Buffalo, New York.

While Nash did get plenty of screen time before he rode off into the sunset at the end of that particular WWE run, including a loss to Triple H at TLC, he never got to wrestle Punk in an official match, even if he certainly would have liked to.

Discussing the match that never happened on his Kliq This podcast, Nash revealed why Levesque took the match he expected to wrestle, which has more to do with the now-CCO of WWE's disdain for Punk than any on-screen reason.

“It’s funny now that Vince has taken a backseat to this whole thing, that I see Paul, he owns it now. Like, he has ownership of that company as far as, when they say he’s creative,” Kevin Nash said on Kliq This via Fightful. “His demeanor, he is in complete control of that situation. There has never been anybody of his talent in the ring… he was with us, and we were all ruthless, and we were all very driven for our success. It’s such a different Paul now. When I was supposed to wrestle Punk, he got under Triple H’s skin so bad. Paul just came up to me and said, ‘I’m going to beat him. You’re not going to wrestle him. I’m beating him.’ Cool. That’s why me and Punk never wrestled. He made the call, ‘I gotta beat this f**ker.'”

Is Nash's recollection correct? Did Levesque genuinely dislike Punk enough to “take” Nash's match, which is similar to what happened on television too, or is this just more shooting from a shooter who is getting incredible run from media outlets for his take on the “Best in the World?” Fans may never know, unless, of course, Punk or Trips decide to comment on the situation themselves.

Kevin Nash wants to see CM Punk succeed in WWE.

So, based on everything Kevin Nash has said about CM Punk, it's safe to say he doesn't want to see the “Best in the World” succeed in WWE, right?

Whoa, whoa, whoa, not so fast, my friends, Nash actually does want to see Punk succeed for himself, WWE, and his good friend Paul “Triple H” Levesque, he just doesn't know if it will happen, as there's just too much drama abound for things to operate in a predictable way.

“You can say whatever the f**k you want about Phil… I hope, for the WWE and Paul [Triple H] that it’s successful as f**k, and I hope for him it is,” Kevin Nash said via Fightful. “Sean Waltman and I were talking the other day, we’re talking about Straight Edge, that’s always been his thing, that he’s Straight Edge. I think Straight Edge would mean in every category, whether it be anti-depressants, whatever it is. As life goes on and you continually get involved in these situations that, at times, I’m sure in retrospect he’s looked back and said, ‘That cost me five million dollars,’ and you’re not smoking a little cannabis to take the edge off or not having a glass of wine, I think it’s very difficult to not, in any form or fashion, to just absorb.”

Asked by his co-host, Sean Oliver, if he thinks Punk would be better off if he had a decidedly less straight edge way to take the edge off when things get stressful, Nash said no, before explaining in a very unfortunate way that some tigers just can't change their spots.

“I’m not saying use drugs or alcohol or anything illegal,” Nash said. “Paul Levesque says he’s a different person than he is ten years ago. Say you’re a serial r**ist… I was going to say a plumber, but serial r**ist, and ten years ago, he’s a serial r**ist. I’m a different person, he’s a different person… oh wait, he just r**ed somebody nine months ago. He still had an episode in AEW.”

Well, excluding that incredibly unfortunate metaphor, it's safe to say Nash doesn't have very high hopes for the future of Punk in WWE, even if he doesn't want his Kliq pal to have to go through the same headache Tony Khan dealt with over the summer.