Former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently discussed a tumultuous time in his career at the former Turner Broadcasting giant. On this week’s episode of the 83 Weeks podcast, ‘Easy E’ would talk about Spring Stampede 2000, the final iteration of the PPV before WCW folded in 2001.
Bischoff revealed some of the issues that he was facing personally around this time. To put the show into context, the PPV came just under a week after the returning tandem of Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff had vacated every Championship in the company. During the podcast, Eric Bischoff would reveal that he ‘compromised’ when it came to the creative at the time. Bischoff would also discuss how the company was “reacting too much to the internet chatter” and that WCW “were allowing the audience to dictate too much” of the product.
Eric Bischoff on Compromising
“I succumbed, I compromised here” Eric Bischoff would begin. “I think that’s, again. Looking back at the entire situation? I lived it, you know? I went through things that the audience will never know about. When I got done watching this episode and PPV? The thing that I walked away with just me personally, and, you know, 20 minutes after it was over? Was that I compromised.”
Bischoff would then elaborate further, confirming how he felt WCW ‘pandered’ too much to the audience and did not drive the narrative of their own storylines. Specifically, Eric Bischoff was referring to the Millionaire’s Club vs New Blood feud. This feud pitted the younger stars of WCW against the established veterans. Bischoff mentioned numerous times on the podcast how WWF’s attempts at the time to call WCW’s talent pool ‘old’ almost directly led to the creation of the angle to try and change the narrative.
Audience Dictating The Narrative?
“While some of those compromises ended up being pretty good under the circumstances?” Bischoff continued. “Overall, this show was really about compromise. And I knew going in that we were reacting too much to the internet chatter. I knew going into this before this show. I knew, based on the creative direction? That we were allowing the audience to dictate too much to us. And we weren’t taking control of our own product. And don’t get me wrong, I listen to the fans. I was the guy in WCW that wouldn’t sit backstage in [the] gorilla [position].”
Bischoff finished by discussing how he would attempt to get the ‘pulse’ of the fans in attendance. “[I didn’t have] can headsets on and watch a little eight by eight inch monitor. That’s a bullsh*t way of, in my opinion, a ridiculous way of trying to gauge or evaluate an audience’s response to anything.”
Bischoff would go on to discuss the PPV at length during the episode.
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