Eric Bischoff Talks Where WCW Would Be At Today, TNA Goals & More

Eric Bischoff was interviewed by Brian Thompson of the Neck Breaker Podcast. Here are some highlights.

If people in the wrestling industry read dirt sheets: “Oh, sure. I mean, anyone that says they don’t is probably lying to themselves or intentionally lying to somebody else. I for one read them and I read them for entertainment because it amazes me how small minded or uneducated a lot of these supposed wrestling experts, or people that put themselves out as experts, are and how far off the mark they are about so many of the things that they write and the positions they take. I also read them because a lot of times, things leak from inside of the office and you need to be aware of what’s out there in the universe when there are certain things you don’t want out there. Whether it’s a story line or a talent issue, or a direction that you’re going. So, I monitor it simply to make sure the things I deem [secret] need to stay inside and part of story, part of character and part of talent development do so. And when they don’t we’re pretty hard to find out why not and the reason for that leak. But ya, it happens. I’m sure for some people more than others, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t check them on a regular basis.”

Where would WCW be if it were still around in 2013: “It’s impossible to answer with any credibility because there’s just no way of knowing. Had we had the television, had we had the financial backing, the way we did by the way. It wasn’t a question as to whether or not we were going to get the financial backing. We had it. That wasn’t the reason why we didn’t acquire WCW. The reason we didn’t acquire WCW is an incoming, rotating door, new head of Turner at that time, took prime time television literally out of the deal that we had already negotiated. Once that happened there was no way to make any sense of it. It was really just a video library and some ring mats. There’s no way of knowing. I can tell you what I would have liked to happen, but who knows what would have happened.”

If there’s anything TNA is doing better than WWE: “That’s hard. I have a lot of respect for the folks over at WWE and I have a ton of respect for what they’ve accomplished within the industry. So for me to take an adverse position on anything they’re doing, quite frankly I’d be thrilled with just about any of their mistakes at this point. [laughter] When I look at the television product, and again you have to look at what we do and what they do within context, meaning they’re on probably the number two or three network that averages more than likely 3 million viewers all week long in prime time. We’re on a smaller network. They’ve got a budget of probably, and I’m guessing, I don’t know this, but they’ve got a budget of probably 6, 7 maybe even 800,000 an episode to work with. We have a fraction of a fraction of that. They’re a 30 plus year old company that’s been around for a long long time. It’s got a lot of brand affinity and history and relationship with generations of wrestling fans around the country and around the world. TNA has been around they say ten years, but probably really seven or eight as a viable company. So you can’t really compare. It’s not apples to apples.

“That being said, when I look at the way we tell our stories, I, along with my partner Jason Hervey, have a very successful television production company, one of the more successful ones in Hollywood and we have since 2003. We produce shows for every major cable network and a few of the bigger networks like NBC. We have a fairly good knowledge of television and how it works and the audience and what the networks are looking for. One of the advantages I think TNA has with BHE [his company], myself and Jason, is that we’re able to bring things that work in other formats, particularly in reality, and integrate them into a wrestling format. The wrestling format has pretty much been the same for the last 15 years and prior to that it was the same for 30 years. Now we’re changing things. We’re adding more reality. If you look at the Aces and Eights story, that story from conception to what you saw last night is over a year old and while along the way we’ve had to bob an weave a little bit, make some changes due to circumstances, some of them out of our control, whether they be injuries, talent contract issues or whatever, for the most part we’ve been able to keep that story very on the rails, very episodic.

“If you saw the show last night [with Bully Ray's explanation about joining Aces & Eights], for the first time ever, we’re taking the audience back and showing them what they missed. Not that they may not have tuned in, but they may not have realized how that story was unfolding before their eyes. It’s a little bit like putting on a magic show and then taking people backstage and showing them just a little bit of the magic. We didn’t show them all the magic. We didn’t get into all of the nuance and detail because there’s some of it that we’re still going to reveal; we didn’t lay everything out there last night. But that’s never been done before. We’re essentially telling or teaching the viewers how to watch our show because what we’re doing and the way we’re telling our stories is different than what we used to do and it’s certainly different than what WWE does. As in any program, it doesn’t matter what it is, you have to train the viewer or guide the viewer along the way to help them really understand where those changes are and how to watch the show. Hopefully now viewers will start watching for little nuance within a story. They’ll start looking for the bobs and the weaves and looking for the depth of the story that was actually created, as opposed to grading a dropkick or talking about a hurricanrana.

“It’s time that the wrestling product evolves and becomes much more episodic as well as more character driven, but in a real way. Not just pay lip service to it, because everybody pays lip service to it. We’ve done it. We’re building long term arcs and we take those long term arcs and create weekly bibles. And we take those weekly bibles and they’re the basis and the outline of every format. We plan our shows six months in advance. I don’t care what anybody says, that doesn’t happen anywhere else. It’s certainly not happening in the WWE and anybody that says it is is lying through their teeth. We know enough people there on the creative side of things to know how that process works and it’s not what we’re doing. Now, they’re having tremendous success doing not what we’re doing [laughter] so more power to them, but you’re asking me what we’re doing differently and I think the way we tell our stories, the way we’re trying to help our audience along to how to appreciate and watch those stories, as well as providing great wrestling action. I think that’s what we’re doing differently.”

If he has any TNA goals: “My goal isn’t as much personal achievement in TNA because quite frankly my role is such that I’m not positioned to achieve much on a personal basis or a professional basis, individually within TNA. I’m a support mechanism. I oversee to a large degree creative, along with Bruce Pritchard. I enjoy the hell out of working with the staff that we have. We’re looking forward to bringing in some more people. I really like teaching them the thing’s I’ve learned, not only from the wrestling business, but the way to present television, the way to present story, the way to present character that’s new and different than the way we’ve always done it in wrestling. I get a big kick out of that. It’s very rewarding for me to work with those guys and watch them grow.”

Hulk Hogan Wanted to Portray A Heel Character Against Ultimate Warrior

In a newly published interview with Fighting Spirit Magazine, TNA Wrestling Superstar Hulk Hogan claims that he had proposed to turn heel six years before he actually did in World Championship Wrestling, during the 1990 build-up to his all-babyface WWF Championship match against Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VI.

"Vince and I were best friends, but when we talked about money, we were enemies," said Hogan. "So I went [to WCW] with the red and yellow, beat Ric Flair, and Hulkamania took off again. Then, creatively, I turned into a bad guy, which I always wanted to do in the WWF, but nobody wanted me to. I always said, 'I could be the best bad guy ever. Just let me do it', but no-one wanted me to be a bad guy. 

"At Warrior's time, I really wanted to f--k him as a bad guy; I wanted to beat The Ultimate Warrior in Toronto, but as a heel. I just thought it would be intense, and I would be the best bad guy ever. I could have done it, and then said, 'Forget the prayers and the vitamins, I did it for the money!' But it's just creative differences, and Vince knows what he's doing, believe me. I just wanted to try something different in the WWF." 

When Hogan turned heel to form the New World Order with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash at Bash at the Beach on July 7, 1996, he was very hesitant on the career-altering maneuver. Former WCW boss Eric Bischoff stated in his 2006 autobiography, Controversy Creates Cash, that Hogan was initially dismissive toward his idea of leaving the red and yellow behind to become a villain. Then shortly after Hall and Nash became a force on WCW programming, Hogan, who had not spoken to Bischoff in months, proposed that he be the third man in the group. Up until the pay-per-view event at Daytona Beach, Bischoff was unsure if Hogan would follow-through on the idea, and had Sting agree to join the New World Order in case "The Hulkster" changed his mind at the last minute. 

The six-page interview with Hulk Hogan is in Issue 91 of FSM, available now from WH Smiths and Easons in the UK and Ireland, and for iPhone/iPad and Android via FightingSpiritMagazine.co.uk.

Eric Bischoff Calls Bret Hart A "Sad, Broken and Bitter Person"

Eric Bischoff appeared on Inside The Ropes Thursday night where he addressed critical remarks from WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart. Highlights from the interview are as follows: 

On Bret Hart’s run in WCW: "I had spoken to and met Bret several times before he made the jump. I was obviously excited to have him but clearly Bret Hart was a very broken....and in my opinion still is, from the interviews I hear him do, a very sad, broken and bitter person. That was pretty evident when he first came over. He was a shadow or a shell of his former self. Wherever Bret was, the high point of his character, what I got was a kind of broken, sad shell of that and quite honestly I don’t think he’s ever come out of it." 

On Bret’s recent comments saying he “knows nothing about wrestling” and calling him “an idiot”: "It’s not unusual for guys like Bret Hart, from that era....the only way they know how to get over is to get over at the expense of someone else. Bret Hart’s trying very hard to stay relevant. Unfortunately, he’s no longer relevant. He was a big star, he had a big name at one point, he was an important character in the history of the business but he’s not any longer and I’m sure that’s hard on him. I know myself how it feels to realise that that your biggest and best days as a performer are behind you. I’m very comfortable with that, I’ve embraced it but it’s hard for a lot of guys who’ve never been anything other than performers. They have a hard time with that. It’s not easy getting older in the wrestling business, believe me, when you’re surrounded by younger and younger people who in many ways aren’t as over or as skilled or as popular as you may have been or still are now. But this business is a business that’s served by youth and change. And for someone like Bret, that manifests itself in his personality, lashing out at others. It’s funny, when he came to me he hated Vince McMahon, he hated everyone in the WWE from the office to half the roster. He didn’t have a good thing to say about any of the McMahons. Then when he got the opportunity to go back and work for them, he had to shift that. Then his hatred was for someone else like Bill Goldberg for giving him a concussion and now it’s for me and for Hulk, there’s no rhyme or reason for it and as far as his opinion of my value and what I’ve achieved in the wrestling business, I’ll let my body of work and success speak for itself." 

His future in TNA: "I really don’t plan on being in the wrestling business too much longer and I say that in a very grateful and positive way. This business has been great for me and my family. It’s been almost 30 years. I’m still shocked to this day. My goal now isn’t to accomplish anything professionally, because I’ve kind of been there, done that. My goal now and this is gonna sound kinda corny, I really like teaching. I like watching guys like Matt Connaway and Dave Lagana, watching them grow into new areas that they haven’t been able to get into before. Someday, hopefully, in the near future, I’m going to be able to walk away from this business and when I do, I want to be able to know that I was able to shape, in one way shape or form, guys who will carry on and be the future of the business. 

Bischoff also talked about signing Randy Savage to a WCW contract, comparisons between Aces and Eights and the nWo, and much more. The full interview is available at www.facebook.com/theinsidenetwork.