During his recent appearance on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff commented on WWE reviving classic WCW events.
It’s been 16 years since the demise of WCW, but Starrcade and WarGames are both returning next month. Bischoff thinks it’s great that a whole new generation of fans will learn to appreciate the legacies of these events.
“Everything changes with time and WWE owns that intellectual property; as we see on the WWE Network that they are monetizing it on the WWE Network and exposing that content, which quite honestly, there are wrestling fans now that had never heard of WCW, or Starrcade, or War Games.
They were too young or weren’t wrestling fans at the time; so there are a whole new generation of fans that are becoming familiar with sports entertainment, at least WCW’s role in it that hadn’t heard of it before, so it only makes sense to expand the ability to monetize it as many ways as possible. I mean, I think it’s great and happy to see it.
War Games and Starrcade was Dusty Rhodes, not Eric Bischoff or Ted Turner, but Dusty Rhodes; so new fans to see it and learn about it, and understand that legacy, I think it’s a wonderful thing.”
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently appeared as a guest on The Sam Roberts Wrestling podcast. Bischoff spoke at length about Bret Hart recently burying him on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast and also addressed whether or not he regrets on ‘letting’ Chris Jericho jump from WCW to WWE back in 1999.
Here are the highlights of what Bischoff said about:
Bret Hart recently calling him a ‘loser, maggot’ and his own thoughts of working with ‘The Hitman’:
“I didn’t listen to your show with Bret. I’m generally aware of the kind of things that Bret says because he’s been saying them for years, so it’s nothing new there. I’m sure he didn’t break any news. He’s just a miserable guy. He’s the type of guy–and I said it in one of my responses on Twitter; he has a giant hole in his soul, and he’s going to have to fill it with hate for somebody. When he came to work for me he hated Vince McMahon. He hated everybody in the McMahon family; he hated Shawn Michaels; he didn’t want to work with Hulk Hogan. He hated Ric Flair, he hated Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, he hated everybody, and I had to listen to that. It was a major effort to get him and Flair on the same page; which wasn’t because of Ric, it was because of Bret; he just hated everybody.”
His belief that he always treated Hart well and that Hart didn’t try hard to fit in at WCW:
“If you just watched him or listened to him over the years, he was able to get into the WWE Hall of Fame so he buried the hatchet with Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels, of course he did, but you know, Bret showed up in WCW, it makes me laugh when he says he didn’t like how he was treated because we paid him a lot of money and treated him extremely well. Here was a guy that would show up 45 minutes before television started, before a live TV show and he would show up looking like he would sleep in the gutter the last three days; and he had no energy, no real desire to integrate himself and insert himself in the process. He wasn’t at all passionate about anything he did from day one.”
If he regrets letting Chris Jericho go from WCW:
“I tried really hard to keep Jericho. I offered Chris a lot of money; I did everything I could to keep Chris, but Chris was determined to leave WCW because he really only used WCW as a stepping stone to get to WWE, and once he used it as a stepping stone to come to WWE, there wasn’t anything I could have done realistically, I don’t think I could have kept Chris Jericho in WCW.
“I’d’ be lying if I said that I recognized that type of talent back then, but I didn’t. I knew he was a great talent and I wanted to keep him, but we had Bill Goldberg, we had Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Sting; we had a pretty deep main event level roster, and I didn’t see at the time how I could have broken Chris into that category within the time frame that he wanted to be in it; I just couldn’t do it. I hated seeing Chris Jericho go, I really did.”
Check out the complete Eric Bischoff interview from The Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast here:
There have been reports of Global Force Wrestling “hemorrhaging funds” recently. A fan asked Bischoff if he was interested in purchasing Global Force Wrestling and Eric said that he was “not in the market for a clown car at the moment”. Bischoff worked with TNA from 2010 until 2014.
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff has released yet another episode of his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, where he spoke on his days as the head of WWE’s biggest competitor of all time. In his latest episode, Bischoff details how scared he was when former WCW World Tag Team Champion Buff Bagwell broke his neck inside the WCW ring during a match on WCW Thunder in 1998. Here’s what he had to say:
“The only thing I remember about Judy Bagwell was when Mark (Buff Bagwell) broke his neck in the ring. I think we were somewhere in South Carolina and it was pretty serious. When Mark broke his neck he was in the ring for a long time not moving. That was one of the first times that I was really scared for someone. I had gotten to know Mark, we weren’t good buddies or anything like that, but there was something lovable about him. He’s just like that obnoxious kid in school that you really didn’t want to hang out with but in a group of people he was pretty fun. Mark was like that for me.
“He wasn’t a guy that we’d go out and have dinner with. He’s not someone I’d jump on my motorcycle with and ride up into the mountain with. In the right environment he was fun to be around, in small doses. There were parts of Mark that I really, genuinely liked. When he broke his neck I was really, really fearful for him and what might have happened to him. I remember I went to the hospital and stayed in the room with him for awhile when it was pretty serious and his Mom, Judy, was there. She obviously loved her son very much. She was very upset and that’s all I remember about Judy Bagwell.”
Former WCW President and Monday Night RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff recently took to his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, to comment on the now-former NXT Champion Bobby Roode’s recent main roster debut on SmackDown Live. Bischoff claimed that he sees Roode being successful anywhere on the WWE’s card, even as a main eventer, and made an interesting comparison between Roode and AJ Styles. Here are the highlights:
Could Bobby Roode be successful as a main eventer:
“I think Bobby Roode has all of the talent in the world to be successful anywhere on the card, including the main event. I can’t say enough good things about Bobby Roode. As a human being, as a performer… I am just surprised it has taken this long quite frankly. I expected Bobby to kind of explode out of the scene much the same way AJ Styles did. I can’t say enough good things about him.”
If he wishes Roode and AJ Styles got a shot like this in WWE sooner:
“No. They are where they are because of what they learned, because of the experience and because of the journey. Both AJ and Bobby, neither one of them are injury prone. I still think they’ve got a lot of runway left in them. I really, really do. They are great athletes, unbelievably talented, smart, they know how to conduct themselves both in and out of the ring. All of that will lead to a lot of longevity in my opinion. I think we are going to be seeing AJ Styles and Bobby Roode for a long time to come.”
Former WCW President and Monday Night RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff took to his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, to discuss the upcoming Fatal Four-Way SummerSlam pay-per-view (PPV) main event for the WWE Universal Champion between Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe, and Braun Strowman. Early reports suggest that none of the Superstars involved in the match know the finish just yet, and likely won’t be told until the last second in attempt to keep WWE’s plans under wraps, except for Brock Lesnar.
Lesnar’s contract states that he must know the finish to all angles, segments, and matches he is involved in. Bischoff reacted to this on his podcast and claimed to love it and believes WWE should do this more often:
“I think it’s awesome. They should do it more often. I really think that, first of all, it makes it more exciting. The fact that we are talking about it on this show and others are talking about it and that they are even doing it is great. It will make for a better product. I love it. I used to get a lot of heat for doing stuff like that. If you go back and read some of Dave Meltzer’s stuff about stuff that was, “going on behind the scenes,” I guess some of it was.
“Some of it was accurate but some of it wasn’t. He’d say that everybody hated Eric Bischoff because, “he was kayfabing the announcers,” and, “he was kayfabing the talent.” “He wouldn’t tell anybody what the finishes were.” That’s true. That’s true! There were some people that were pissed off about that and some of it is true but it was the right thing to do because it just added energy.
“Sometimes it was negative energy and sometimes it was positive energy but there was talk. There were heat. People were expressing themselves about it. I think they should do it way more often. The product is too homogenized and sanitized. Too many people know what is going on all the time. I would love to see them do anything that they can do to bring it back to that point where you are just not sure what is going to happen.”
We are just less than a month out from the biggest combat sporting event in history, as UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is set to make his professional boxing debut against the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. McGregor has never competed in a professional boxing fight in his combat sports career. Recently, former WCW President and Monday Night RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff took to his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, to comment on the spectacle.
The topic was brought up due to the recent rumors going around that Brock Lesnar is contemplating a return to mixed martial arts (MMA) competition in the UFC after his WWE contract is up. The UFC is reportedly targeting returns for Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, and Brock Lesnar late this year to help what has been a poor financial year. Bischoff was asked if the UFC regrets allowing McGregor to partake in his superfight with Mayweather due to their poor financial year, and here’s what he had to say:
“I don’t think it’s a decision you second guess, I think it’s the other way around. I would have made the same decision if I was in that seat. Conor McGregor is going to be a bigger star as a result of fighting Floyd than he was a year ago or six months ago.
“That’s assuming that the fight isn’t a complete embarrassment for Conor. I don’t think it will be. Assuming it’s not Conor McGregor is getting more press now and is a bigger brand name now than he ever would have been in two years in UFC. It’s a smart move on their part.”
Former WCW President and Monday Night RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff took to his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, to react to the news that ex-TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter could be working with WWE in an on-screen capacity. The comparison of Carter to Vickie Guerrero came up, and Bischoff explained why Carter would not be a good authority figure heel on WWE TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4hyPVBc0yE
“The difference is that Vickie Guerrero was an inherently good performer. Dixie Carter is not. Dixie is not a great performer. It took all day for her to get ready to do a two minute in-ring. It was tough. It was really tough. The other part of the equation here is her as a performer. I can take this perspective with a lot of people if you want to break it down. For a character like Vickie Guerrero you have to be really comfortable with people hating you. I can tell you from personal experience that I thrived on it.
“I still do in certain situations when you can get people to react the way I want them to react. You bring out that heel in your personality and have fun with that situation. I like it. Dixie Carter’s problem with being a heel, in my opinion having worked with her and known her for awhile, is that she wanted everyone to love her. She doesn’t want anyone to hate her. If you don’t have a personality that not only allows you to be comfortable but also dig deep and find new, creative ways to capture the little moments when they reveal themselves and exploit them as a heel then you won’t last two days. That’s the problem.”
– Ahead of his appearance at tonight’s (Fri. July 7, 2017) Dinsmore’s Midwest All Pro Map Mania event, former WCW President and WWE Monday Night RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff reunited with his storyline nephew Nick Dinsmore (Eugene) from their time in WWE. Check out the picture here:
— "Eugene" Nick Dinsmore (@UGeneDinsmore) July 7, 2017
– Former WWE Champion Randy Orton took to Twitter and retweeted the following jab at Universal Champion Brock Lesnar’s schedule:
WWE 2K18 is so realistic that you can only play as Brock Lesnar five times a year #Merch
— WWE Creative Humor (a sub of TKO Creative Humor) (@WWECreative_ish) July 6, 2017
– You can find the full card for tonight’s RAW exclusive live event from Madison Square Garden here below. The show will feature two matches from SmackDown Live, and it should also be noted that Cedric Alexander will be replacing Austin Aries in the Cruiserweight Championship match against Neville:
* Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt
* Dean Ambrose vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz
* The Hardys vs. RAW Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus
* AJ Styles vs. WWE United States Champion Kevin Owens
* Cedric Alexander vs. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville
* Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe
* Dolph Ziggler vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
* Karl Anderson vs. Finn Balor
* R-Truth vs. Goldust
* RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax & Alicia Fox vs. Bayley, Sasha Banks & Mickie James
The WWE has one of the hottest feuds of the year on their hands, as WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar is set to defend his strap against “The Destroyer” Samoa Joe at the Great Balls Of Fire pay-per-view (PPV) next month. The pair have been hyping up their match extremely well these past few weeks, as the numerous confrontations between Joe, Lesnar, and Paul Heyman have been the hottest parts of Monday Night RAW as of late.
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff is a huge fan of the program between “The Beast” and “The Destroyer,” and took to his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, to advocate for why Joe should go over on Lesnar at Great Balls Of Fire:
“When I’ve worked with people on the creative side of things I tell them, “This is more of an art than it is a science.” While there is a WWE formula what it really comes down to is that you’ve got to keep an open enough mind to feel what the audience is reacting to. If you get so committed to a certain direction and outcome and if you see SummerSlam at the end of your creative horizon. If you see the outcome that you have in mind for SummerSlam and come hell or high water you’re going to get to that destination what you are probably going to miss along the way is great opportunities.
“If you’re so focused on one outcome you don’t see the potential of others and perhaps. I hope for Joe’s sake this is one of those situations where regardless of whatever they thought they were going to do with Braun or Roman, not to take anything away from both of those guys because I am a big fan of both, if all of a sudden Samoa Joe comes from out of left field even if he was just designed to be a stepping stone but the audience is reacting to it then… damn son! Shift gears. Take that exit. See what’s on the other side of it because it might be better than the original destination.”
Brock Lesnar and Samoa Joe are in the midst of what is arguably been the rivalry of the year thus far. Joe won a No. 1-contenders match for the WWE Universal Title back at Extreme Rules when he defeated Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, and Bray Wyatt in a Fatal Five-Way match. Now “The Destroyer” will collide with “The Beast” at Great Balls Of Fire next month for the Universal title in the main event.
For the past few weeks on RAW, the pair have been going at it via verbal exchanges and physical altercations, and things really got heated last night (6/26) when Joe jumped Lesnar from behind while he was making his way to the ring, and locked in the Coquina Clutch on the Universal Champ.
The rivalry has been well received by the WWE Universe, and former WCW President Eric Bischoff took to his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, to praise the work between Lesnar and Joe. Bischoff even compared the feud to the program between Lesnar and Goldberg earlier this year:
“I love that match-up,” he said. “I can’t say enough about Samoa Joe and I think just chemistry wise and intensity wise that’s a very natural match-up. So was Bill Goldberg, by the way, but Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar had history attached to it.”
Bischoff continued, “They did a great job with that history. They had a great angle in WWE but Joe is fresh. This has never happened before and Joe is a guy who can go toe-to-toe with Lesnar with character, intensity and the ability to make me believe it in the ring. When they are standing there eye-to-eye and chest-to-chest I believe it. I think it’s great.”
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff took to his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, to comment on the upcoming boxing mega-fight between all-time great Floyd Mayweather Jr. and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Many fight fans are giving “The Notorious One” little to no chance against “Money” when they get into the squared circle, but Bischoff isn’t one to sleep on McGregor so easily.
Bischoff explained why he thinks the Irishman actually has a shot against Mayweather, and why he has a better shot at beating Floyd than CM Punk had in his mixed martial arts (MMA) debut:
Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor:
“They are boxing rules and that’s, no doubt, an advantage to Floyd Mayweather but Conor McGregor is going to come at Floyd from different angles. Connor is not your typical boxer. While I would agree that Floyd should have a decided advantage because it is boxing rules I would not be surprised, and won’t be surprised, if Conor McGregor puts Floyd Mayweather in a situation that Floyd just doesn’t know how to react to.
“He’s not used to fighting someone like a Conor McGregor. Conor will be coming at him from different angles. Conor’s going to have a different ring style, pace, approach and sometimes different can be very effective.”
If Conor has a better chance of winning than CM Punk did in his MMA debut:
“Oh my God, absolutely. Absolutely. At least Conor McGregor is a fighter. It’s not like he’s never thrown a punch. It’s not like he’s never been hit. He’s a fighter. CM Punk wasn’t a fighter. It’s not even a close comparison.”
There was a ton of controversy surrounding the finish to the first ever female Money In The Bank (MITB) Ladder Match last week, as James Ellsworth climbed the ladder to retrieve the briefcase and dropped it down into the hands of Carmella. Many grew upset at the fact that a man technically won the first ever female MITB Ladder Match, forcing SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan to strip Carmella of the briefcase and ordered a rematch to occur on next week’s episode of SmackDown Live.
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently took to his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, to comment on the whole ordeal, and called the WWE’s decision to re-do the match a ‘bad move’:
“I think it’s a bad move. It’s a mistake I’ve made in the past. Sometimes you learn from your mistakes. At least, sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. When you build up to a big event on PPV and you build up the stakes and you build up the expectation and you basically deliver a screwed finish and then re-match it on free tv… it diminishes the long-term expectation of future big event matches on PPV when that happens. I think it’s a really bad idea. By the way, I’ve done it and the results were always negative”
Former Impact Wrestling star and former NXT Champion Samoa Joe has found a tremendous amount of success since making his main roster debut in the WWE. Joe won a Fatal Five-Way Match against Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, and Bray Wyatt in the main event of Extreme Rules earlier this month, and became the new No. 1-contender for Brock Lesnar’s WWE Universal Championship.
Joe has done plenty of people proud since jumping up to Monday Night RAW, and that includes former WCW President Eric Bischoff who took to his podcast, Bischoff on Wrestling, to comment on “The Destroyer’s” newfound success. Bischoff stated that he ‘loves’ the decision to put Joe against Lesnar at Great Balls Of Fire, and wishes him nothing but the best:
“Love it. Joe is one of the coolest people I know. I saw Joe at WrestleMania a couple months ago and I just couldn’t be happier. That’s all. I couldn’t be happier. It warms my heart in such a great way. He’s such a good guy and such a talented guy. He’s stuck it out and put up with so much crap. People saying, “Bro! You’re too fat, bro! You’ll never get over, bro!” He’s emerged. He took all the criticism. He’s an amazing talent and, God, I just wish him the best.”
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff took to his podcast, Bischoff on Wrestling, to comment on Jinder Mahal’s recent WWE Championship win and fans’ criticisms over Mahal being portrayed as the ‘evil foreigner.’ Check out what he had to say here:
Jinder Mahal winning the WWE Championship:
I loved it. I loved it. Great move. I didn’t know he was actually going to get the title. As far as getting him featured and giving him a spotlight it makes all the sense in the world to me for all the right reasons. Business wise, strategically and also as a character. As a new character and as something that is fresh. He’s not the same kind of recycled cookie coming out of the cookie press with a little different flavor. I think this is really unique and that’s what WWE needs right now.”
Fans being critical over Mahal being portrayed as the ‘evil foreigner’:
“He should be a bad guy because right now he’s the hottest thing in the hottest company on the face of the Earth! I absolutely fricking guarantee you there is no one in India going, “Oh! WWE is coming to India and Jinder Mahal is the champion and I’m not going to go see them because he’s a bad guy!” (Laughs) No. No. Stop, leave your social justice warrior stuff at home when you come into pro wrestling. It’s not applicable.”
Eric Bischoff recently took time during his Bischoff on Wrestling podcast is discuss the …dive controversy surrounding Randy Orton. He had this to say:
“Drawing more money, what does that mean anymore? Again, I like Randy a lot and I have a ton of respect for him so I do not mean this to be any kind of a shot at Randy. But Randy has the luxury of having a very successful career with for what is in all intents and purposes — it wasn’t intentional but [WWE’s] a monopoly.”
“Yes, WWE makes a lot of money and as a result so does Randy. Randy hasn’t had to change his style because he has the privilege of working for a company that is able to pay Randy a lot of money. And he doesn’t have to go out and make his living on the independent circuit. Randy doesn’t have to go out and create new fans. All Randy has to do is stay on the treadmill.”
“[Randy] has that luxury, that privilege of getting [his] seven figures and having a check show up in the mail once a month for things [he] don’t even remember doing, and getting merchandise money because [he has] this machine behind [him] that prints that money. And a lot of people don’t, the vast majority of people don’t. It’s a little bit like the music industry where 2% of the people make 98% of the money. Well, I don’t think that 2% of the people who are making 98% of the money should necessarily look down their nose at the other 98% who are trying to craft a living.”
Credit to Still Real To Us for the transcription.
What do you make of Bischoff’s comments? Let us know in the comments.
On the latest episode of his Bischoff on Wrestling podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff commented on President Donald Trump’s controversial firing of FBI Director James Comey. Bischoff, a hard-line Republican, suggested the idea that President Trump used the line “I wish you the best on your future endeavours” in his termination notice to Comey.
The US President’s official letter of termination to Comey includes a line that will be familiar to wrestling fans: “I wish you the best in your future endeavours.”
This phrase has been used with regularity before WWE began using it as their tagline when releasing wrestlers, but some, notably Bischoff, find it interesting that Trump, a WWE Hall-of-Famer, would use it in the context that he did.
“He future endeavor-ed him! I thought it was just awesome!” Bischoff said. “Look, I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I’m really not. You can get lost in that. Literally, you can lose your mind if you think about that stuff too much but come on! That had to be some tongue-in-cheek shit right there. I thought it was great. That had Vince’s fingerprints all over it.”
“I loved it,” Bischoff continued. “That was not a government boiler-plate termination letter. That was a kick in the balls on the way out the door termination. Like I said, I don’t subscribe to conspiracy theories, but if that wasn’t Vince McMahon and Donald Trump having a yuck over the phone I don’t know what it was.”
A copy of the letter sent to Comey can be read here.
Eric Bischoff was the latest guest on Lilian Garcia’s Making Their Way to the Ring podcast, powered by AfterbuzzTV. In this candid interview, the former WCW President opens up about his father who was paralyzed, his history with Vince McMahon and WWE, why he didn’t want his son to wrestle, his last interaction with Matt Anoa’i and more. You can listen to the full episode here:
AfterbuzzTV sent int he following highlights of what Eric Bischoff said about:
His Last Interaction with Matt Anoa’i
“The last time I saw Matt was about I think about a year and a half ago he and I were on a, we made a personal appearance together, small little signing somewhere on the east coast, and we rode together in a car and it had been the first time I had seen him in a long time probably five to seven years, and we didn’t talk about wrestling, we didn’t talk about our experiences in the WWE—although they were all good ones and positive ones, we just talked about family and food because we both loved to eat, and we talked about our families and I think that that’s to me what I’ll remember, yes he was in the WWE, he was a superstar, he comes from a long, you know lineage of phenomenal talent in our industry but the guy was a family guy that just loved his spare time spend time with his family and cooking and enjoying life.”
His Biggest Contributions to Wrestling:
“The overall contribution I like to think I made was changing the way the business worked, we wouldn’t be watching three hours of Monday Night Raw live if it wouldn’t have been for the stuff I did when I was at WCW, we wouldn’t have had the attitude if it weren’t for some of those things I did in WCW that kind of created the need for that kind of content, there’s so many, we wouldn’t be watching Cruiserweights right now on 205 Live if it wasn’t for some of the things that I brought to the table back in the 90s so I think there were a lot of contributions that I made not directly to WWE but indirectly that we still enjoy very much to this day and has led to some of their success.”
Why He Turned Down WWE’s First Attempt at Bringing Him In:
“They had called about a year before and people don’t know this ya they called me about a year before you know Vince called me in whatever it was 2002. In 2001 I was in Wyoming in the summer and I got a call from JR, and JR wasn’t exactly excited to call me at the time you know he still had a chip on his shoulder a little bit and he called me and said, “hey you wanna come in and work a program?” and I said, “well, whats the program?” and he said, “well we’re working on it” and I said, “well sure, when would you want me to start?” “you gotta be here Monday” well this is like Friday and I had a house full of people, it was over the 4th of July, I had like twenty five or thirty people, friends and relatives that had driven in from all over the country for a family reunion and I’m thinking ya I’m not just gonna pick up go up there for a Monday Night Raw to participate in something what they’re not really sure what it is quite yet, it wasn’t right you know, so I politely passed and when I did I thought well that will be the last time they call me.”
How Vince McMahon Convinced Him To Join WWE:
“We got on the phone and the first thing he said to me, and I’m paraphrasing this okay so it’s not exact words, but he basically said right out of the shoot he goes you know Eric I would like to think that if the situation would have turned out differently and you would’ve come out on top, that you would reach out to me for an opportunity to step back in…what a gracious, elegant, classy, humble thing to say.”
The One Question Vince Asked Him Before Joining WWE:
“The one thing he did ask me, he said, well is there anything you won’t do? I said, ya I won’t move to Connecticut, other than that I’m your guy and I guess that’s all he wanted to hear is that I didn’t, I wasn’t bringing any stipulations, I wasn’t coming in with a list of things I would and wouldn’t do.”
Not Wanting His Son To Wrestle:
“I didn’t want him to get into professional wrestling…I tried hard to talk him out of it…because I knew the hand writing on the wall, I knew that the business was becoming more and more difficult, there were less and less opportunities than there were you know, there’s really only one company to work for and it was the WWE and unfortunately for my son you know his last name is Bischoff and that comes with a certain amount of baggage, it comes with a certain amount of opportunity too don’t get me wrong, but you know when you’re the second generation of a wrestling personality even though I’m not a wrestler, the name is kind of there.”
Mistakes He Has Made:
“Certain people have, especially in the industry have a perception of me and they think they know how I think and how I’m going to react and I’ve gone into meetings before with other wrestling organizations I’ll leave unnamed and groups of people that I won’t name and they’re expecting me to tell them what I think they should do based on my success because I’ve had some success, and the first thing I tell them is look I am worth way more to you as consultant or as an executive producer not because of the successes I’ve had, but because of the mistakes I’ve made. I’ve learned I’m way way way more valuable because of the depth and breath of failures and mistakes than I am from my successes.”
The WWE recently posted an article and listed 5 people that could replace Mick Foley as Raw GM. Foley was fired from the position on this past week’s episode of Monday Night Raw. Here are the names included on the list.
Eric Bischoff
Bischoff has already played the role of Raw GM before. It didn’t end well for him, as he was fired and thrown into the back of a garbage truck. Eric Bischoff will be inducting Diamond Dallas Page into the WWE Hall of Fame during Wrestlemania weekend. Bischoff returning to weekly television as the Raw GM is pretty unlikely.
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Stone Cold and Vince McMahon have quite the history. While it would be entertaining to see Austin, Stephanie McMahon Triple H have a power struggle on Raw every week, it most likely will not happen. Austin has a very successful podcast and hosts a reality show. Austin has been Co-General Manager with Eric Bischoff and even played the role of CEO for a brief period of time.
Jim Cornette
There is absolutely no chance in hell that this would ever happen. It is borderline miraculous that Jim Cornette is even a part of Wrestlemania weekend this year. Cornette also hosts a very successful podcast, in which he often mercilessly bashes the WWE product and the performers involved in the company. I think this would easily be the most entertaining Raw GM but this would never happen. Jim Cornette will inducting the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express into the WWE Hall of Fame. Cornette has often bashed the WWE Hall of Fame in the past and claimed that the WWE Hall of Fame is just another marketing creation by Vince McMahon. It will no doubt be must-see television when Cornette inducts the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express during Wrestlemania 33 weekend.
Edge
This one is intriguing. Edge would be an interesting Raw GM and would certainly challenge Triple H and Stephanie McMahon on their shenanigans. I can’t imagine that Edge would want to return to the weekly travel grind that is professional wrestling to play a fictional general manager. However, if he was to be the next Raw GM I think it would be a solid choice. Edge & Christian also have a podcast that launched today. Their first guest was WWE Universal Champion Goldberg and you can check that out by clicking here.
Kurt Angle
Out of all the names on this list, this one seems the most likely. Angle has made it known that he wants to wrestle again in the WWE and is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during Wrestlemania weekend. Behind the scenes, Angle and the WWE have had a rocky relationship over the years. The WWE might be hesitant to have Angle return to the ring right away and would want to make sure he is 100% healthy if they chose to do so. Angle as the Raw GM makes perfect sense because it introduces Angle back to the WWE Universe and allows the WWE to build a storyline that hopefully will lead to the in-ring send-off that Angle deserves.
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff will induct Diamond Dallas Page into the WWE Hall of Fame next week.
Bischoff spoke with WWE.com about the news and said he’s honored. “It puts a smile on my face because I know how much it means to him. This is the Holy Grail for him.”
Page and Bischoff’s relationship dates to the late ‘80s, when the two worked together in the AWA, where Bischoff was an announcer and DDP was the manager of Badd Company. They’d work together in WCW during the Monday Night Wars, as Bischoff led the charge against WWE RAW and DDP rose to superstardom battling the nWo. One one fateful night back in 1998, they even competed against each other when Bischoff teamed with Hulk Hogan against DDP and late night talk show host Jay Leno.
DDP has talked about the WWE Hall of Fame induction being the crowning achievement of his pro wrestling career. It’s DDP’s big night, but Bischoff admits he’s nervous about the induction.
“It’s a little overwhelming, in some respects,” he said. “But I’ll save the reasons why for the ceremony itself, because they’re very personal and poignant.”
Congratulations to Eric Bischoff and DDP. Catch Eric Bischoff’s weekly Bischoff on Wrestling podcast on the MLW Radio Network.
ERIC BISCHOFF CALLS NWO “GREATEST FACTION OF ALL TIME,” DISPUTES SEAN WALTMAN’S MONDAYNIGHT WARS STORY ON A SPECIAL EPISODE OF X-PAC 12360
Former WCW president Eric Bischoff joins Sean Waltman on a special crossover episode of the X-Pac 12360 podcast. With MondayNight Wars, drug testing, and more topics up for discussion, the two debate whether NWO or D-Generation X were the better faction in a conversation that starts on Sean’s show and ends on this week’s new episode of Bischoff on Wrestling.
Here are the highlights, sent in by Christy Olson:
Sean asks if Eric knew that Vince McMahon told all the WWE that talent they can’t talk to anyone in WCW: No I didn’t, certainly didn’t know it. But I’m not surprised by it, having been on both sides of the equation so to speak and also working with WWE, having been in the position that I was in. It doesn’t surprise me at all. I think it’s one of those things, as you pointed out, not a lot of people know that. I certainly didn’t know it until this moment. But it doesn’t surprise me at all. He was fighting for his life, man.
Sean disputes the story told in WWE Network’s Monday Night Wars series: On the Network they talk about [Diamond Dallas Page] calling up Scott [Hall] or Kevin [Nash] and making the overture that way. I seem to remember being out here in LA recuperating from an injury, and I was meeting with Barry Bloom about something other than wrestling, movie stuff, and he brought up the fact that the checkbook was getting opened up in WCW and some big money was being thrown around. The first thing I thought of was get Scott on the phone, because he wasn’t happy. That’s my version of how it all started. That’s my version of how it all started. Is that wrong?
Eric’s response: My recollection of it was really more probably aligned with Page’s, because he lived right down the street from me. Whether I liked it or not, we talked all the time. Usually he talked all the time and I listened. You know Page. But Page knew where we were going and Page maintained relationships with people. I never did. I still don’t to this day…But Page maintained contact, and from what I remember when things started changing , because Page knew what I was thinking, and I don’t know whether he reached out to you, whether he reached out to them, who he reached out to. But somehow, the way I recall it, Page really reached out to Scott first. Maybe that happened simultaneously with you. Maybe you and Scott had a conversation. I don’t know. But from my perspective, that’s kind of what I remember.
Sean reveals the move to WCW move didn’t go down as planned: In our group, the way we were talking, I was going to be the first one to jump. What happened was I went to give my ninety day notice and my contract had already rolled over. So I was screwed. So Kevin and Scott could go, but I couldn’t.
Eric on drug testing in WCW: I think drug testing was something that we felt we had to do. It was something that we felt if we didn’t do we were vulnerable. It’s a little bit like risk management in a big corporation. There’s certain things you put into place just to make sure you don’t get sued–not that you necessarily want to, but you have to.
Does Eric think he belongs in the WWE Hall of Fame?: This is hard to talk about for me. But I’ll do my best and keep it short, or try. I have two answers for that. Obviously it’s always great to be recognized by your peers, right? I would be lying if I said that wouldn’t be important to me. It wouldn’t be true. But I will say that I’m not sure I’m comfortable with it either. That’s because it’s my own personal belief, and this doesn’t have anything to do with me, this is just the way I feel about things. I am a peripheral character, and I’ve said this before. If the WWE decided to add an executive wing to the hall of fame for people on the business side of the business were recognized, then hell yeah! I think I should be there. In fact I think there should be a statue of me there, because I think in many respects I’m responsible, at least partially, for the success of what the WWE has become today…I think as an executive yeah, I’d love to be recognized for that. But to be in the same Hall of Fame with guys like Roddy Piper and Ric Flair and all the guys that are in there that spent years learning their craft inside the ring, I don’t feel like I’m in that neighborhood, bro. It feels a little weird to me.
Would Eric accept if asked: I don’t know. First of all I’m not holding my breath that it’s going to happen. There’s a lot of dynamics involved. Honestly I don’t think about it. I’m not assuming it’ll happen, and I won’t be disappointed if it doesn’t.
Eric and Sean debate whether NWO or D-Generation X were more influential. Eric’s answer: NWO was new. It was fresh. It was an entirely different take on wrestling factions. There was the Four Horsemen. It’s not like it was the first time there was ever a faction. But it was the first time you ever had badass, cool heels. It was the first time that we saw so many of the antics and the things we saw the NWO do backstage. The NWO story took place in parts of the arena that nobody had ever seen on camera before. It broke ground in so many different ways that I think it paved the way and created a template almost for DX, and to this day I still see more NWO merchandise than I see DX merchandise. So from my point of view, because we got there first and because I think it still exists in the minds of so many people today, my perspective at least is that the NWO was the greatest faction of all time in the wrestling business, and therefore probably more influential in the long run.
Sean’s response: Damn it, Eric! I want to take DX’s side so bad in this. Damn it! Help me out here…
Check out Bischoff on Wrestling for part two of the debate, and subscribe to X-Pac 12360 on AfterBuzz TV to catch all new episodes!
Last night, Ronda Rousey made her long awaited return to the octagon. Her last bout was over a year ago and we was knocked out by Holly Holm. At UFC 207, Rousey returned and was immediately given a shot at the Women’s Bantamweight title. Rousey went up against the current champion Amanda Nunes and this fight was even more lopsided than her fight against Holm. Nunes retained her title and knocked out Rousey in 48 seconds. It has led to an onslaught of jokes on social media. Many pointing out the fact that it the Lesnar/Goldberg match was longer and that CM Punk lasted longer in his UFC debut.
Rousey has made it known that she is a fan of the WWE. She also made an appearance at Wrestlemania 31 along with The Rock in a confrontation with Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. It took Rousey a lot of time to recover from her last loss. If Rousey does ever wind up joining the WWE, it probably will not be for awhile.
Discussion: Do you think that Rousey’s disappointing defeat to Amanda Nunes will prevent her from joining the WWE? Eric Bischoff also stated that the mystique surrounding Rousey is gone and she wound’t draw as much money now. Do you agree with that sentiment or do you believe that Ronda Rousey would still succeed in the WWE? Share your thoughts below.
– Ryback continues to fight WWE over the trademark of his “Feed Me More” phrase. The Big Guy attempted to trademark the phrase back on August 1st, 2016, however WWE had already filed for the mark back in January.
– Stephanie McMahon recently signed a “wrestling contract extension” according to a recent 10-Q filing from WWE. Stephanie will remain with the company through October 7th, 2019, at which point her deal will be extended on an annual basis until either party gives a 90-day notice prior to the auto-renewal date.
– Former WCW President Eric Bischoff shared his thoughts on Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar’s segment from Monday’s RAW on the latest episode of his Bischoff On Wrestling podcast. “Unless you are there in the moment and are a part of the process you really don’t have a 360 degree view of anything,” Bischoff said. “With that acknowledged and said, I have to question whoever’s decision it was to set the story up in Minneapolis. I’m not going to suggest that I ever sat down and tried to create a structure for a story or a time line for a story and asked somebody to tell me where we were going to be playing this story out. In which city. I never did that. I wasn’t that smart and didn’t have that vision if you will. I was smart enough to know that there are occasions because every city has it’s own personality. It really does.”
He continued, There were occasions like if we knew we were going to Philadelphia in three or five months for TV or PPV we created our format because we knew we were going to be in front of an audience with a certain type of personality that was going to react a certain type of way. It was kind of predictable.”
Eric Bischoff says he’s looking forward to bringing legal action against Matt Hardy for comments made during a recent shoot interview.
RF Video released a video trailer for their new shoot DVD with “Broken” Matt. In the clip, which has since been DELETED, Hardy did not have kinds things to say about Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan’s tenure in TNA. Hardy said the duo “raped and pillaged” Impact Wrestling, setting off a downward spiral which may put the company out of business this weekend.
In response to Hardy’s remarks about Bischoff’s time in TNA, he tweeted: