On the latest episode of 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff, the former WCW President and co-host Conrad Thompson discussed the WCW career of The Giant, best known to WWE fans as the Big Show. Bischoff, who was at the helm when Paul Wight was brought in, took a deep dive on Show’s early run, and the challenges of booking Big Show in WCW.
Bischoff said that the veterans in the WCW locker room, some of whom are legendary for holding down young talent, were very supportive of Show in his early days. “Everyone was impressed with what he could do athletically, and at how fast he was picking things up in the ring.”
Bischoff admitted, though, that from a creative standpoint, he had a difficult time figuring out exactly what to do with Show’s character, especially early on.
“Even in [his] early matches, he’s in the ring with some of the top guys in the business, because we needed the camouflage. We needed to camouflage that not only was he somewhat inexperienced, or very inexperienced. But also, what do you do with a guy that’s over seven foot tall and 400 pounds?”
Challenges Booking Big Show in WCW
Bischoff continued. “As a character, if you’re going to put him out there every week, what do you do with that character? Is the character a babyface? Well if the character is a babyface, you’ve got to be able to get sympathy on him. Otherwise, the formula doesn’t work.”
Likewise, Bischoff said, booking Show as a heel came with its own set of challenges. “Conversely, if you want him to be an effective heel, he’s gotta lie, steal and cheat. Eddie Guerrero. Why does a guy who’s seven foot four and 400 pounds have to lie, steal and cheat?”
Bischoff said that the reason Show never reached the level of stardom of an Undertaker, John Cena, Triple H or Batista, is because of that creative challenge.
“It’s just too hard to put him in a role,” said Bischoff. “It’s hard for him to be a babyface you can get sympathy on, or a heel that you believe.”
Other topics covered include Show and Kevin Nash’s relationship, Hulk Hogan’s role in Show’s career, and why Bischoff was not heartbroken when Show left WCW for WWE in 1999. The full episode can be found below.
When referencing this transcript, please credit SEScoops.com. Some quotes have been edited for clarity.
Recently, Bischoff divulged a rather interesting pitch Vince Russo made to him. Russo apparently pitched an angle in which Lance Storm would play Bischoff’s son. Of course, that never took place:
“You know that Vince Russo… when Russo and I agreed to work together, one of his big ideas was that he wanted Lance Storm to be my son,” Bischoff said.
Storm stayed with WCW until its bitter end, and went on to have a decent run with WWE. In regards to WCW’s end, Bischoff opened up about the final episode of Monday Night Nitro – which he wasn’t present for.
Bischoff said that he’s glad he wasn’t there for the final Nitro, and said had he been there, a deal with WWE might have never materialized:
“I am glad I wasn’t there – I am almost certain, knowing myself, that had I been there I probably wouldn’t have worked for the WWE a couple of years later.
“I think my reaction—I wouldn’t have done anything crazy, but knowing myself, I wear my emotions on my sleeve. I’m not really good at hiding s*it. It would have been easy to read me and it wouldn’t have been a positive thing.
“I would have been professional, but I don’t think anybody would say that they kind of dug that Bischoff guy.
“I don’t think that would have been the thought of anyone if I would have been there so I am glad that it turned out the way it did. Like I said, sometimes things work out the way they are supposed to.”
The Starrcast convention is underway in Chicago. The multi-day convention features numerous fan interactive sessions including one last night with Eric Bischoff and Bruce Pritchard.
Both Prichard and Bischoff have weekly podcasts with Conrad Thompson (convention organizer) where they relive their times as key figures for WCW and WWE respectively.
At last night’s “Monday Night Wars” panel, Bischoff and Prichard shared the stage and both reflected on “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s departure from WWE in 1994.
Bruce Pritchard and Eric Bischoff on Randy Savage in 1994
According to Bischoff, Savage approached him in 1994 saying that Vince McMahon didn’t want him to wrestle anymore. Vince had given him a job at the commentary booth instead and Savage wasn’t happy. According to Bischoff, Savage told them he wanted to wrestle but Vince wouldn’t let him.
“Essentially (Randy Savage) told me, he said ‘Vince didn’t want him in the ring any longer. He wanted to retire him to the announce booth,'” Bischoff said. “Randy called me and said ‘I’m not ready to give it up in the ring, is there a spot for me?'”
Furthermore, Bischoff continued to say that Savage’s contract was “almost free” until 1997 as it was covered by his Slim Jim endorsement deal.
Meanwhile, Prichard’s story is that Macho Man had recently moved to Connecticut at the time in order to work in the office. Savage told them he didn’t want to take bumps anymore and was looking at the next 20 years of his career.
“He was saying different things to different people,” Pritchard said. “If he had told us ‘hey I want to go back and I want to be on the road, I want to work, put me in a major program’, to have Randy Savage involved in something – that would have made a big world of difference.”
“Randy expressed to us he didn’t want to take bumps anymore,” Pritchard continued.
The latest episode of Eric Bischoff’s 83 Weeks podcast focuses on Sting’s 1996. A lot was changing for WCW that year. In addition to launching Monday Nitro in the fall 1995, WCW was acquiring WWF talent at a breakneck pace. After signing top names from the WWF like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, 1996 saw many more high-profile acquisitions ushc as Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.
As the franchise player of WCW, there was no guarantee that Sting would react kindly to so many big stars coming in. While some people in Sting’s position would have reacted negatively to so many new challengers to his spot, Bischoff says Sting was the consummate professional and welcomed the new opportunities that awaited him.
“One of the things that stands out to me so much is that (Sting) was the ultimate team player.” Bischoff said. “He was one of the few guys that really was completely supportive. He wasn’t [just] supportive – he was excited that Hulk Hogan was coming to WCW, he was excited that Randy Savage was coming to WCW.”
When Bischoff took over WCW, Sting was the top babyface in the company. With political sharks like Hogan, Hall and Nash entering his waters, Sting took it all in stride.
Bischoff explained “[Sting] was so apolitical in that regard, in an era where everybody was worried about their spot or all of a sudden the spotlight going from them to someone else.”
Head over to 83Weeks.com for more on Eric Bischoff’s podcast.
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently spoke in-depth about the Hollywood Blondes tag team on a recent episode of his 83 Weeks podcast. Bischoff discussed why Steve Austin and Brian Pillman were not kept together as long as some fans would have hoped.
Bischoff admitted that it was more of a financial decision than a booking one, as Steve Austin and Brian Pillman were pulling in too much on their own:
“What had happened with Brian and Steve wasn’t so much of a booking decision about them being together as a tag team as it was a financial decision,” Bischoff said. “I could tell you this for sure — later on, when I did have creative control over wrestling operations around 1994-1995 I was not a big fan of tag team wrestling. Not because I didn’t enjoy watching it as a fan, but from an economic point of view.
“If you look at a tag team, and each one of them is breaking close to $200,000 a year and they are in the ring with those of equal value, now you have a million dollars worth of talent for a seven or eight-minute segment, so from an economic point of view to have two high profile guys in a tag team match and you start looking at the economics of it, you look at it like, wait a minute, I can have two separate stories here at two separate segments to fill my content requirements with for the same amount of money that I am spending on one.”
Bischoff also explained that The Hollywood Blondes would’ve needed opponents on their level, but that would’ve been too costly to maintain:
“To have equal value or status with guys like Steve Austin and Brian Pillman at the time, you had to have other high-dollar guys with to tell stories with. Being limited in what you can do in singles matches and your storytelling for all of the content that you had to fill and put a real premium price tag on the talent that was involved in a six or seven-minute match, or one match for a pay per view.
“So it just didn’t make economic sense, which was the reason, from what I can remember early on was that if we can’t afford it we can’t afford it. Let’s get a two for one here. If we have two great guys with lots of talent it made a lot more sense from a business point of view for them to be singles then for them to be a tag team.”
Listen to Eric Bischoff & Conrad Thompson talk Brian Pillman on 83 Weeks:
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently did an interview with the Sky Sports Lock Up podcast to talk about several professional wrestling topics. During the interview, Bischoff was asked about a potential return to WWE.
Bischoff served as the General Manager of Monday Night RAW from 2002 to 2005. Today he is loosely affiliated with WWE; making sporadic appearances on the WWE Network, having WWE DVD’s released about him and even appearing on RAW 25 earlier this year.
When asked on Lock Up if he would be open to a return to WWE, Bischoff said he’d be open to the idea if the situation worked out for everyone. He also voiced his interest in managing talent in a potential return:
“I would love to do it if it was a situation which would work for everybody, a character like mine, there is only so much you can do from a storyline perspective. You can be that heel authority figure which I was for a few years in WWE and WCW, and it’s interesting and it’s fun but after a while you’ve kind of done everything you can do creatively.
“I’m pretty realistic about the value my character has now. I’d like to manage someone, a young talent that maybe doesn’t have the mic skills. I think that would be fun because I can still get heat.”
You can listen to Bischoff on Sky Sports’ Lock Up podcast by clicking this link here.
After the reports of Brock Lesnar possibly not working the SummerSlam PPV came out, more and more people have started showing their frustration with the Beast’s current title reign online.
During a recent episode of Lock Up podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff talked about his Championship reign and said that it doesn’t mean anything to him as a fan.
Bischoff first discussed how he likes Brock Lesnar and thinks that the current Universal Champion is an amazing performer and there is no one near his stratosphere.
Though continuing on the topic, the former Raw General Manager said that while he will hate to say it’s irrelevant, the title reign of the former UFC star doesn’t really mean much:
“There’s a lot of things I like about Brock Lesnar, but his presence in WWE to me is almost a non-issue. I hate to say irrelevant, but the title doesn’t really mean all that much. Brock’s character, the way it is being positioned, doesn’t really mean anything to me as a fan or a viewer.”
Continuing on the topic, Eric Bischoff discussed how Lesnar’s position seems to be a convenient afterthought to him and recalled how Hulk Hogan’s deal with WCW was similar to Brock’s current contract.
Eric Bischoff worked for WWE as the General Manager of Raw for a long time and he was an on-screen authority figure for the company for almost 3 years.
Since Bischoff has continued his involvement with Pro Wrestling with his 83 Weeks podcast, many wonder if the former WCW President could return to WWE TV with a similar role somewhere down the line.
However, some recent comments from Eric made during an interview with Chris Van Vliet make it seem like the former Raw General Manager is not very optimistic about a long-term WWE return.
During the interview, he was asked about possibly returning to WWE for a regular on-screen role such as the General Manager and replying to it, Bischoff claimed that the ship has sailed:
“No. I think that that ship has sailed, brother. There might be (a massive pop) for a night or two but I’ve kind of been there and done that. With a character like a General Manager there’s only so much you could do creatively.”
Continuing on the topic, the former WCW Star explained how a General Manager’s role in a wrestling show is limited and you are trying to figure out new ways to do the same 15-20 things over and over again.
You can check out Eric Bischoff’s full interview in the video below:
Eric Bischoff’s 83-Weeks podcast has been gaining some traction lately. The former President of WCW is the latest to co-host a podcast with Conrad Thompson. The show takes a look back at Bischoff’s recollections of his time running WCW. His most recent show concerned his dealings with Chris Jericho.
Interviewer Chris Van Vliet recently spoke to Bischoff and asked him how he would book Roman Reigns if he was running WWE. Although Bischoff stated he hates to fantasy book, it turned out he had plenty to say on the matter.
Eric Bischoff on How He’d Book Roman Reigns
“I think the way he’s been packaged and the way he’s been presented and dare I say it because I don’t like to be critical but there’s no other way to say it, he’s been forced down everybody’s throats for two years,” Bischoff said. “But no matter how good you are, I don’t care if you’re Vince McMahon or you’re Steven Spielberg or if you’re William freaking Shakespeare, it’s doesn’t matter. The audience is only going to go so far. You can only force that fish to swim upstream until it just gets tired as has to go the other way. I wish they would turn him heel. I wish they would embrace that.”
Bischoff on WWE SmackDown Moving To Fox
Talk also turned to WWE’s most recent deal with Fox. Bischoff brought up a point which perhaps has gone under the radar regarding the deal.
“(USA Network and Fox Sports) are competitive networks. Now, what’s going to happen when the WWE, which traditionally has been able to cross-pollinate talent and do all kinds of cute little things creatively? What’s going to happen when WWE says ‘We’re going to take this guy who’s really getting over here on FOX and put him over here on Raw for a night?’” Bischoff wondered aloud. “I think some FOX executives are going to go ‘Woah, woah woah! I can give you a billion reasons over the next 5 years why we don’t want that to happen.’ That’s the kind of thing that I think politically is going to be an interesting manifestation of those choices.”
Former WCW President and RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff was recently interviewed by The New York Post to talk about several professional wrestling topics. One such topic was the mega broadcasting deal that the WWE just landed for SmackDown Live on FOX – worth $1 billion.
Bischoff explained how the WWE-FOX deal makes it difficult for other promotions to land big broadcasting deals of their own:
“Anybody who comes along and wants to sell a wrestling show, guess who you are not gonna sell it to? You are not going to sell it to FOX and any of its affiliates and, oh by the way, you are not going to sell it to NBC Universal or any of its affiliates,” said Bischoff.
“So the world in terms of one’s ability to sell a traditional [wrestling] television show to a traditional television or broadcast partner has just collapsed.”
In today’s age of social media and technology, Bischoff doesn’t believe that promotions need big broadcasting deals to make themselves famous. With free streaming outlets like Twitch and YouTube you can essentially make a name for yourself by other means:
“You no longer have to have a big record label behind you and have to kowtow to the politics that enabled you to get there,” said Bischoff. “You can be a phenomenal artist and put your stuff out there on YouTube and find yourself becoming a star.”
You can ready Bischoff’s full interview with The New York Post by clicking this link here.
WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart has responded to the recent comments made by Eric Bischoff about his run in WCW.
During a recent edition of Bischoff‘s podcast 83 Weeks, Hart was a topic of discussion that covered his time in the promotion among other things. For the entire recap of that podcast, please click here.
The pro wrestling legend recently did an interview with The Pro Wrestling Show. A clip of that appearance has surfaced online of Hart responding to Bischoff stating on his podcast that Hart ‘brought nothing creatively’ to his WCW run. This is when Hart fired back. “Eric Bischoff is an idiot, total complete idiot, Hart stated (transcript courtesy of Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet). “Maybe the single stupidest idiot that ever got into wrestling.” “A guy that never came through on anything he ever said, he had zero ideas for wrestling,” the legendary wrestler continued. “I’ve heard him say that I came there and I was a broken man. That I didn’t have it in the heart anymore. That I broke my heart with wrestling. That’s such horsesh*t. Absolutely an insult to me. It makes me so mad I’m glad he’s not around me.”
“He was the stupidest guy I ever met..”@BretHart responds to @EBischoff’s claims on @83Weeks that he ‘brought nothing creatively’ to his WCW run ?
What are your thoughts on the comments made by Hart? Sound off in the comment section below.
The Background
Hart gained success in the professional wrestling business throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the WWE. He left the sports entertainment company for World Championship Wrestling following the controversial “Montreal Screwjob” in November 1997 where he remained until October 2000.
Hart would return to WWE in 2006 to be inducted into their Hall of Famer and later wrestle at WrestleMania 26 in 2010 in a match against Vince McMahon.
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently covered WWE Hall Of Famer Bret Hart’s run in WCW on his podcast, 83 Weeks, with Conrad Thompson. Bischoff first discussed whether or not he wanted Hart to come into WCW with the WWE Championship:
“There were probably two or three different conversations about that. The one conversation that I distinctly remember. I remember that I was in Wyoming. I remember it because my cell phone went off and I was in a cell area that was really sketchy, where I was around a post office in the middle of nowhere.
“I remember going inside the post office to use a pay phone, and I remember standing there thinking, why am I having this conversation again? It is not that important of a deal. I convinced Bret Hart one last time do not worry about the Championship belt. In my mind, I remember thinking this at the time, what I thought Bret Hart should do is given the fact that he is Bret Hart, and you know, Stu Hart and the Hart family legacy, the tradition of the business, what I wanted Bret to do is just pass the belt on.
“Do the right thing. Shake Vince McMahon’s hand. Leave on good terms. The business; the audience would have had more respect for him than to hold on to the belt because he didn’t want to lose in Montreal, Quebec Canada [Survivor Series 1997] because he is a Canadian. That, to me didn’t make any sense.
“Worrying about it didn’t make any sense to me because Bret Hart was coming to WCW. The fans were sophisticated enough to know that if he lost a match it wasn’t going to diminish who Bret Hart was. That logic from talent never made any sense to me. That is when you get sucked in to the work where you work yourself. I tried to explain that to Bret Hart. It just didn’t matter to me”.
He also said that he had a conversation with Hulk Hogan about Hart coming into WCW beforehand:
“I talked to Hulk Hogan. I talked to Kevin Nash, Scott Hall. I talked with Ric Flair It would have been kind of standard operating procedure to have conversations to pick the brains of the top guys that he would have been working with. To make sure there was no chemistry issues, or landmines that I needed to be aware of.
“If there were I would have to deal with them prior to him coming on board not afterwards. I would have probably listened to a number of people suggest best possible ways to take advantage of Bret Hart, including Hulk Hogan. Hulk had a long history with Bret Hart, as did Ric Flair. They had a long history with Bret. They knew Bret Hart better than I did. I had never worked with Bret.
“Quite frankly, I never followed him much in WWF. He was never really my cup of tea. I appreciated and understood why fans loved him. I understood the qualities that he brought, but he wasn’t one of the guys where I watched him and thought to myself that I couldn’t wait to have that guy on the roster.
“I was interested in the perspectives of guys like Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan, who did know Bret at a much different level than I could possibly know him.”
Bischoff also revealed why it took so long for Hart to finally make his WCW debut:
“Why wouldn’t I just drop everything and take in a guy who had a certain amount of time of a no-compete clause; had a broken hand, and just kind of drop everything and throw him in the middle of something without any real planning, backstory and throw it against the wall in hopes that it would stick? Is that the question? That is the kind of prevailing critique that I hear often; how can you take a guy like Bret Hart, which by the way, he wasn’t drawing, there is a reason why Vince McMahon let him go.
“It wasn’t because he was making Vince McMahon money hand over fist. One of the things that I liked—look at what we did with Sting and Hulk Hogan. I wanted long term plans. One of the reasons I thrust myself in creative, and I may have said this to you before, if I didn’t I apologize, but I was never comfortable with creative. I was comfortable with the business side of it.
“I understood the business side of the business pretty well. What I didn’t know I could pretty easily understand and figure out, but that creative side was the voodoo side that I never got close to. I never got close to the creative in AWA; not only was I not close to it, I wasn’t allowed to be in a room close to it when they were talking about creative. That is how tightly held Verne Gagne believed in kayfabing people who he didn’t believe needed to be in the process.
“I had zero exposure to creative in WCW up until 1993, 1994. Even then I was at a distance. I would talk to Dusty Rhodes because he and I were tight and we would talk a little bit, and would explain to me the ideas that he had and sucked up as much as I could. I was fascinated by it quite honestly, but I was still never comfortable being the guy in the room that said yay or nay on something.
“Ric Flair, when I brought him in as a booker, I was never in that room. I would come in and out. There were certain things that I had to be aware of as Executive Vice President, depending on the timeline was of the company and being responsible financially for things.
“I had to have an idea of where we were going, what the pay per views were going to look like, how the cards are being advertised six months before pay per views and all that kind of crap, but I didn’t sit in a room with a team filled with guys who had hundreds of years of more experience than I did and try to influence their creative decisions. I tried to stay out of that. It wasn’t until later on that I inserted myself in that process.”
Ultimately, Bischoff acknowledged the wide belief that Hart’s run with WCW was a failure:
“I think it all goes back to the very beginning. I think it is fair for Bret Hart and fans of Bret Hart to suggest that there was never really a long term plan with Bret. That is fair. Bret came in rather abruptly. We didn’t have a long time to really lay out in a thoughtful way where we can balance different options and really creatively do the best job that we can do. Even with the time that we had, we didn’t do a great job.
“I didn’t do a great job, so I think if you go back to the very beginning with all the things that were going on; with the pressures of WCW Thunder and some of the choices I was trying to make, and the pressures were we getting from WWE, and the pressure we were getting from our own company, and the fact that they were gutting our budget, all of those things were throwing us off of our game, and a lot of that had to do with the reason why, so we didn’t have a good plan, we just didn’t, and that is fair for Bret, and for fans of Bret, but I will also say that Bret Hart didn’t contribute.
“He didn’t try. Despite the ‘hero’s journey’ and the amazingly, Steven Spielberg-ish where he single handedly, against all odds created in Toronto, Canada so that his fans, the multitude of fans, who stood outside in the freezing cold as Bret Hart had to walk over the almost comatose body of the head booker only to prevail in the ring and to prove to all of the bookers and to everybody else that Bret Hart had the keys to the kingdom that night, but despite all of that, Bret Hart didn’t really contribute as much as Bret Hart could have contributed to Bret Hart’s own success.
“In his own legacy. Right now, Bret Hart’s legacy is a bitter, broken guy who wants to blame everybody from Vince McMahon to Eric Bischoff, to Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, to Dean Malenko for God’s sake for all of the things that went wrong in his career. Regardless of all the things I did wrong, that is on Bret Hart.”
You can listen to Bischoff on 83 Weeks by clicking this link here.
Recently, former WCW President Eric Bischoff has released a new podcast, 83 Weeks, with Conrad Thompson to talk about his run with WCW. The podcast has received great reviews from wrestling fans and personalities alike.
Add Graves to the list of people who enjoy this show, as he recently took to Twitter to praise the show:
— Conrad the Mortgage Guy (@HeyHeyItsConrad) May 22, 2018
Bobby Lashley Reacts To RAW Segment
On last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW, Bobby Lashley had a segment with Sami Zayn after Zayn interviewed Lashley’s three “sisters” (who were actually three male indy wrestlers dressed as women).
The segment was very poorly received and got a lot of boos from the crowd throughout. Lashley took to Twitter shortly after the segment aired and had this to say:
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff on the first episode of his new podcast 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff, discussed a number of topics from his time in the WCW. During the podcast, Bischoff revealed which stars got paid more than WCW’s top stars Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.
“It was never a thing with me. We had a budget in place that had been approved the year before by Turner Broadcasting Finance Committee, so I knew the parameters that I had to work with. I knew that politically, from a locker room prospective, I knew that there was no way that I can bring these new guys in and make more money than Ric Flair,” Bischoff said. “Nor did I wanted to put them at the level, even if Ric Flair hadn’t been there, I didn’t want to pay them at Sting’s rate. Sting was the highest paid guy. We were all comfortable with that, the rest of the talent was comfortable with that, but I never used it as a barometer publicly. I knew that within my budget, and Sting being the highest paid guy, along with Ric Flair and a few below him, again, the questions that I did have with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, especially with Kevin because I talked with him more based on our previous relationship with him.”
Even though Nash and Hall were not the highest paid guys in the company, it worked for them because they didn’t have to work as much as they did in WWE. They had fewer dates and an easier schedule.
“Kevin made it clear to me, we put a maximum of 180 dates, WWE was at 250, we may be splitting hairs to a degree, but it wasn’t half the dates. It may have felt that way to Scott and Kevin, but we had a maximum of 180 dates, we never hit the maximum dates, it was around 125-130 dates a year, so it was definitely a lot less of a load than what they were used to,” Bischoff said. “Kevin was expecting his very first child at that time, and in WWE he would have been on the road, add the travel that they worked along with the front and back end of traveling back home and leaving again they were probably gone 300 days a year, so it was a much lighter load. Add the income from pay-per-views, house shows, and all the profit shares, they were probably making $500,000 or more, but they had to work hard to get it, but they both expressed to me, especially with Kevin, it was much of a lifestyle consideration as it was a financial one.”
You can check out the podcast here. Quotes by WrestlingInc.
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently made an appearance on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Bischoff first discussed how he believes his creation of the nWo changed the perception of wrestling in the 90s:
“Context is always king with me. When I was running hard my life was really my office, the inside of a plane, a hotel room, an arena, very little time at home and start that all over again week in and week out.
“I don’t want to say I was living in a bubble so I wasn’t really on the street a lot so lets put it that way and had any contact with unless I was on an airplane or checking into a hotel where people that I was working with or who were people in the arena.
“But when it really hit me was one year when I was over in Japan (must have been 96/97) for one of the big Japanese New Year’s Eve shows and I looked around the arena and there was like hundreds and seemed like a thousand nWo shirts inside the arena and we didn’t even sell them there. So it was like WOW! That is pretty bad-ass.”
In regards to New Japan Pro Wrestling’s (NJPW) Bullet Club, Bischoff explains whether or not he believes they’re ripping off the nWo:
“I don’t look at it as a rip-off honestly. I think it has roots in the nWo and I don’t think that can be denied and I don’t think they are trying to deny it but I think it is more than an homage and I think it is more an extension but certainly its roots creatively speaking are in the nWo. But rip-off to me is something negative and disparaging and I think the Bullet Club is cool.”
While they may not be a ripoff of nWo, Bullet Club has adopted the nWo’s Too Sweet gesture. Bischoff offered his thoughts on the matter and the history of the gesture:
“I’d like to know the first time you saw that too sweet sign on a regular basis? I know they (Hall and Nash) probably did it once or twice as code and like sign language to each other back in The Kliq days as they were breaking but that sign and throwing that sign of too sweet was all apart of the nWo.
“It became something that DX did and now its become something that the Bullet Club is doing but again, I think that the reason the nWo worked and to a degree that DX worked and the reason that the Bullet Club is working is because of the chemistry. If you took a bunch of guys that didn’t have the right vibe and didn’t have it or couldn’t deliver in the ring and just didn’t have that really unique attitude and they were doing the same things that the Bullet Club is now doing would not work.”
Later this month, Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson are launching a new podcast, “83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff.”
As you can tell by the name, the show will feature Bischoff talking about his time as WCW President and the weekly Monday Night Wars with WWE’s Monday Night RAW during the late 90’s and early 2000’s.
83 Weeks will premiere later this month and will be a weekly podcast.
Eric Bischoff was quoted in a press release saying, “Bruce Prichard and Conrad have done an amazing job creating not only one of the most entertaining, but one of the most popular pro-wrestling podcasts in the world, and I am grateful to be part of this line up. No one has ever accused me of being too funny, and impressions are not my thing. But unlike so many others who claim to know what really went on behind the scenes in Turner Broadcasting and WCW, I was at the epicenter. I appreciate Conrad’s ‘prosecutorial’ approach to interviews. His style will no doubt bring out the best in me, and I look forward to a platform that will expose the urban legends and false narratives created by those who have attempted to convince the audience that they have a clue. No brag…just fact.”
For all show announcements, topics, and listener interaction, follow the show on Twitter @83Weeks.
– As we’ve noted, The Undertaker did not appear on last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW to accept John Cena’s WrestleMania 34 challenge. Despite Undertaker remaining silent, Cena continues to poke fun at The Deadman on social media. He posted the following on his Instagram:
– WWE Tweeted out a clip from former WCW President Eric Bischoff’s “WWE Photo Shoot” episode on the WWE Network. During the clip Bischoff talked bout his relationship with two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair. Bischoff talked about having an up and down relationship with “The Nature Boy” for the best 25 years, however, they were able to still put on great storylines during their time together in WCW Nitro:
– Former WWE Superstar Rosa Mendes said in a recent interview with Sportskeeda that she planned on making a return to the ring soon. She returned to the ring this week at MCW Pro Wrestling’s Training Center in Joppa, Maryland for a few training sessions. MCW Tweeted out the following picture of Mendes at their training center:
Fell asleep early, and now I’m up thinking about how I can’t wait to get back in the ring tomorrow, being in that ring is the best feeling in the world, although I’m so sore. It’s so worth it ??
– Eric Bischoff appeared on Monday’s WWE RAW 25 Kickoff pre-show with Renee Young and Peter Rosenberg and talked about coming to work for Vince McMahon years ago. Bischoff says he felt at home pretty quickly in WWE and says he knew within 3 minutes of his first phone call with Vince McMahon that he was excited to work for him former rival. Video from the segment is below:
– WWE taped the following matches on Monday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for this week’s Main Event episode:
* Goldust vs. Curt Hawkins
* Kalisto and Gran Metalik vs. TJP and Jack Gallagher
– The Undertaker returned to WWE TV on Monday’s RAW 25th Anniversary show and cut an in-ring promo at the Manhattan Center’s Grand Ballroom. Taker talked about how many greats have tried to stop him over the years but they all failed. He then declared that those who have fallen may finally rest in peace. Videos and photos from the segment are below:
WWE continues to call up big names to appear on a special episode of Monday Night RAW.
In addition to the long list of legends already confirmed, PWinsider reports that former RAW General Manager and WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff will appear at the RAW 25th Anniversary show, which would mark his first appearance on WWE television since 2007 when he did a segment with Chris Jericho on the RAW 15th Anniversary special. WWE will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the launch of RAW on January 22nd, 2018 in Brooklyn, NY at the Barclays Center.
– As we’ve previously noted, two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair is suing his former management, Legacy Talent and Entertainment, for an unreceived $25,000 as a result of the ESPN “30 For 30” special, as well as $12,000 from an endorsement deal. Legacy responded with a statement to TMZ Sports regarding these claims, and called Flair a liar after his recent accusations:
“Ric Flair has always been known to be dramatic and looking desperately for the spotlight,” Legacy Talent said. “That’s fine as a wrestler but it is despicable when he blatantly lies. As anyone who read [the Ric Flair Grantland article] knows, Ric has always left a trail of destruction in his wake whether it be from his ex wives, the IRS, creditors, or from his former business partners and friends… the debris is everywhere. Our client wishes Flair nothing but the best and is sad that things have come to this after over a decade of hard work and incredible results for their client.
“Our client provided Flair an accounting of funds as they always did throughout their representation,” Legacy Talent said. “Flair then demanded funds that belonged to buyers be released from trust that he had not yet earned and our client would not be bullied into doing anything unethical. In reality the $37,000 in dispute are in his management company’s trust account while we were working out a settlement on the sums of money owed our client from deals and money Flair hid from his management.”
– Former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently teased some big news on Twitter after stating “Game just changed. Stay tuned.” Yahoo reported that Bischoff was named the co-owner of the Cleveland Knights Championship Wrestling promotion. When asked about this by a fan, Bischoff flat out denied that claim – calling it ‘fake news’:
Eric Bischoff is back in wrestling. The former President of WCW was recently announced as the new co-owner of the Cleveland Knights Championship Wrestling promotion out of Ohio.
The first show for the promotion under Bischoff’s reign will be on February 2nd, 2018 at “New World Rising”.
Erich Bischoff and Cleveland Knights Championship Wrestling
The promotion announced Bischoff’s ownership role at their event on Saturday night. Also in attendance Saturday, was UFC fighter, Jessica Eye.
Here are the complete results of their show on Saturday:
“RING ANNOUNCER: Hank Hudson
REFEREES: Dave Dawson, Michael Contos
D.V.D. COMMENTATORS: Jeff Gorman, M.E. Howerton
NEXT LIVE EVENT: Friday, February 9, 2018
(1) “GOLDEN TICKET” 12-PERSON TAG-TEAM MATCH (WINNER OF THE FALL BECOMES FINAL ENTRANT IN C.K.C.W. WORLD’S TITLE TRIPLE-THREAT MATCH LATER ON THE CARD): Taya (Valkyrie)/El Nazareno/Sonny Vice/O.T. Fernandez/”Riot City’s Most Wanted” (Sicend/Mac Mayhem) defeated C.P.A./R.C. Dupree/Ricky Mandel/Pat “Hooked On” Monix/”Bulletproof” Brandon Edwards/”The Impact Player” Seth Allen (Vice pinned C.P.A. via a top-rope leap for a flying cross-bodyblock press to win the “Golden Ticket”) in 12:20!!!
(2) GRUDGE MATCH: “Luchasaurus” Vibora pinned “Mr. Entertainment” J.D. Smooth in 7:39 following a chokeslam!!!
(3) C.K.C.W. WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Champion Vanilla Vargas (with Angel Fashion and Mike Mendoza) pinned Miss Hannah in 7:58 following a spinning sit-out “Tiger Bomb” to retain her title!!!
(4) FATAL FOUR-WAY MATCH FOR THE C.W.A. (CHAMPION WRESTLING ASSOCIATION) WORLD’S CHAMPIONSHIP: Champion El Sensacional Star Roger defeated DJZ, Robbie E, and Mike Mendoza (Roger pinned Mendoza following a “sunset-flip” short powerbomb despite earlier interference from Angel Fashion) in 9:33 to retain his title!!!
(5) “Tokyo Monster” Kahagas pinned “The Firebird” Shawn Phoenix in 5:43 following a modified package-piledriver!!!
(6) THREE-WAY TAG-TEAM “FLAG MATCH” (U.S.A. vs. CANADA vs. PUERTO RICO) (WINNING TEAM GETS TO WAVE THEIR FLAG): “Team Puerto Rico” (El Fenomeno BJ/”The Owner Of The World” Hiram Tua) defeated “Team Storm” (representing Canada) (Jaxon Argos/”The Next Trending Topic” Jack Pollock) and “Team U.S.A.” “The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express” (Ricky Morton/Robert Gibson) (Fenomeno pinned Argos) in 11:29!!! Morton and Gibson blasted Argos with simultaneous shoulder-tackles to enable Fenomeno to complete his “sunset-flip” takedown cradle for the duke!!!
(7) SPECIAL ATTRACTION MATCH: “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn pinned “King Of Sleeze” Joey Ryan in 10:04 following his “Fame-ASS-er” legdrop!!!
(8) TRIPLE-THREAT MATCH FOR THE VACANT C.K.C.W. WORLD’S HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: “The Big Daddy Of Destruction” J-Rocc (with M.M.A. fighter Jessica “Evil” Eye and “personal ring-announcer” Dave Kich) defeated Angel Fashion (with Vanilla Vargas) and “Golden Ticket” winner Sonny Vice (J-Rocc pinned Vice following a piledriver) in 14:16 to regain the title!!!
*****It was announced that Eric Bischoff would be appearing at the next live C.K.C.W. event on Friday, February 9, 2018 as the new co-owner of Cleveland Knights Championship Wrestling!!!*****
(9) STEEL CAGE MATCH TO CROWN THE FIRST EVER C.K.C.W. WORLD’S TAG-TEAM CHAMPIONS: “The Heavy Artillery” (Thunder & Lightning) defeated “Stateline” (Damien Angel/Eddie Taurus) (Lightning pinned Taurus after his partner had elevated him for his “Ace Crusher”) in 7:20 for the title!!! All four participants were bloodied in this cage battle!!!”
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently was a recent guest on the All Things Wrestling Radio podcast. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
The need to define Roman Reigns as a babyface or heel:
“You have to make a choice and you have to commit to a character. You’re either a babyface or a character that the fans relate to, support, love and aspire to be, or you’re not. And if you’re not, you’re heel, you’re despicable and they need to learn to love to hate you. And I think when you take that safe road in-between and let the fans decide…to me, it’s a cop-out.
To me, that’s kind of like raising your hands and saying, ‘Look, I’ve got ideas. I really don’t have a plan, so let’s just put him out there and let the fans choose.’ I think that’s just the most cowardly creative cop-out that I’ve ever heard.”
WWE producing too much programming:
“It’s kind of like football…there’s just too damn much of it. It’s all day Sunday, it’s Monday Night Football, it’s Thursday Night Football…[there] is just so much of it out there that none of it feels special anymore and I think that’s really acute when it comes to sports entertainment and professional wrestling…
I used to produce three hours of Nitro, so I know what kind of monster that is. I would think that it’s harder to watch three hours of content than it is to produce it.”
Former WWE and WCW World Champion Kevin Nash recently made an appearance on Sean Waltman’s (a.k.a. X-Pac) podcast, X-Pack 12360, to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. Nash discussed why he had heat with former WCW President Eric Bischoff after his initial run with the promotion, and Bischoff pitching him the idea for the N.W.O. You can check out the highlights here:
Having heat with Bischoff after leaving WCW, following his first stint with the company:
“He and I didn’t have a relationship, in fact, I actually had heat with him. I was trying to get out of my contract when I was Vinnie Vegas and he said to me that I had talent and that he was going to try and take over this place and that I should stick around; of course I didn’t believe he would take it over,” Nash said.
“He told me that he had heat with me because I told him that I would stick around but then requested for my release the next day, so he told me he was disappointed in me because I told him that I was staying, but I told him, you were an announcer, it wasn’t like you were the boss. It’s one thing to lie to the boss, but I was just trying to get out of the office alive, and go use the fax machine down the hall to get my release.”
Bischoff pitching him the NWO idea:
“It was actually Eric’s idea. Eric pitched it to me. He came out to Scottsdale, Arizona and pitched the idea,” Nash explained. “I remember them doing something similar in Japan but it wasn’t that big of a deal; it was effective but it wasn’t to what the nWo became, so I said okay. I mean, all I am knowing is that I am getting guaranteed money and it’s a lot. For the first time in my life, I am actually going to be able to budget my money because I knew exactly what I was receiving before coming in.”
You can listen to Nash’s full interview on the X-Pack 12360 show by clicking here.
Eric Bischoff recently appeared on Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast where he talked about his time in TNA and more. Below are some of the highlights from his interview:
Reason why TNA hired him:
“The only reason TNA hired me was because they had no choice. Dixie Carter wanted Hulk Hogan, that was obvious; but Hulk Hogan didn’t trust anybody in TNA,” Bischoff said. “When I say trust, I don’t mean to be devious or malicious or anything like that, but he didn’t trust their judgement or their ability, nor did he trust Vince Russo in any way, shape or form. Terry [Hogan] made it clear that if he was going to go to TNA I had to be there to kind of oversee whatever creative was involved with Hulk Hogan. That was my only job; I didn’t go to company meetings; I wasn’t part of any financial discussions, but role was really to oversee creative as it related to the Hulk Hogan character.”
How his role in the company changed over time:
“Over time, that changed; my role kind of evolved and some of that was natural, some of it was because some things were happening internally, and I had a little more influence on the creative side of things, but neither Hulk nor I had any amount of control over strategy, tactics, anything to do with financial, anything to do with that company, We weren’t invited, nor asked for, that company was ran by Janice, Bob and Dixie Carter so we had nothing to do with it. When I ran WCW, I obviously had a lot of control over the business, but when I was in TNA, I had no control over anything other than creative.”
Which superstar he would have pushed if he had successfully bought WCW:
“I think Bill Goldberg was really the guy that we would have built the company around, Certainly, we would have maintained some of the big-time talent like Hulk Hogan, and others but I think everybody recognized that Bill Goldberg was going to be, at that point, the guy in WCW.”
