Eric Bischoff interview
Eric Bischoff Interview - Talks about current projects, Jericho as champ
» Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
» On Monday, October 1, 2007 at 1:18 AM EST
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The Main Event sent this recap in:
Eric Bischoff In-Depth Interview Recap...
SHOW: The Main Event, Sunday Mornings from 10:30am -12:00pm on www.MainEventRadio.com and 1690AM in Montreal
HOST: "Reporter" Ryan Rider
Can Be Downloaded At: http://www.MainEventRadio.com
Eric Bischoff recently made an appearance on the Main Event wrestling radio show based in Montreal, Canada. As the former head of World Championship wrestling, Bischoff transcended wrestling with innovative ideas and storylines and a unique mindset for the business. He later became known as the General Manager of World Wrestling Entertainment's Monday Night Raw program. In 2006, Bischoff released his autobiography, Controversy Creates Cash, which became a New York Times Bestseller. In this 40-minute interview, he spoke controversially on numerous topics whether it be WCW, WWE, TNA, why Canada is inferior to the United States, and more.
-Bischoff started off by talking about his current business endeavours since leaving the WWE such as launching his Hulk Hogan energy drink, producing a television show, and an upcoming A&E project which will be announced shortly.
-Talked about how working for the AWA and Verne Gagne and how it was a great experience. The promotion was winding down andwas a regional promotion at the time so he was able to learn things that he wouldn't have been able to had he gone right to WWE or WCW at the time.
-His philosophy for WCW's success: "When given the opportunity to be competitive, it was critical that our brands and our strategy be as different as possible from the WWE back in 1995. That was the goal and that's what I exequted on and quite honestly that's how we were successful. We were substancially better than the WWE at the time, and it worked."
-Bischoff then went on to say that there was no real pressure to beat the competition [the WWE] at the time, and that he was the only one who actually believed that they would be able to compete with the WWE or actually beat them (which they did for 82 weeks in a row). That's what he wanted to do.
-On the idea of splitting the roster in two with the nWo being on brand and WCW being the other: "I didn't want to do it, and it was one of the very mistakes that the company made. I was forced into it but I didn't have much of a vote at the time [due to Ted Turner wanting a Thursday night program added on TNT]. Forcing the company to split the roster watered down the Nitro and Thunder rosters."
-On challenging Vince McMahon to a match at Slamboree '98: Eric thought there was a possibility that Vince McMahon would show up, as a few people who knew Vince really well such as Hulk Hogan were absolutely convinced that he was going to show up. "I was hoping that he would. From a business point of view though, it would have been the dumbest thing that he's ever done which is saying a lot. But at the same time, you know, he's a very proud and competitive individual. He [Vince] would rather fight than have sex half the time."
-When Host Ryan Rider asked what's the true story behind Brian Pillman, Bischoff continued to back up his claim that the plan for Pillman was that all along he would end up returning to WCW. He wanted to further establish the "Loose Cannon" character by releasing him, having him go to ECW and WWE, and then ultimately coming back to WCW. "At least that was the plan, and none of us will ever know if that would have happened or not."
-Bischoff realized that World Championship Wrestling was in trouble in August 1998 and the effects of the Time-Warner/ AOL Merger. The foundation and strategy of the company absolutely changed. "That's when I saw the handwriting on the wall." Without question, he blames the demise of WCW on the merger and considers it to be one of the most catastrophic mergers and acquisitions in history. " AOL doesn't even exist on the New York stock exchange anymore; it was such an embarrasment." Another casulty in the situation was CNN, which used to be the world's leader in cable news, but has never been able to come back. "P eople who knew nothing about the news business were running the news business, the competitors had an advantage, and CNN was never able to recover. It still hasn't to this day." A lot of people who don't know what they're talking about and think that they're smart wrestling fans because they read Dave Meltzer's garbage or Wade Keller's garbage, the truth is they like to blame it [the demise of WCW] on Eric Bischoff, blame it on ATM, blame it on paid contracts, and the truth is I don't know what the hell they're talking about. All anybody has to do is look at the list of casulties from the AOL-Time Warner merger and look at CNN."
-Next, Eric went on a rant about Dave Meltzer and Wade Keller and the others. "They're frauds and they're phony, and they're full of sh**. You're looking at a couple of guys who: a) Don't even go to events that they write about. b) Don't have the first clue about the business that they write about; who report their opinions however isolated, uneducated, uninformed as they may be, write about them as fact and then influence people like you who read that information and maybe don't know what's true and what's not. You look at them as an authorative point of reference because they're on the internet or because they have a newsletter. It would be the equivalent of looking at the National Enquirer and trying to keep up on current events. They're tabloid news, they have nothing really to offer by the way of the real information other than the information that is reported to them second-hand, third-hand, fourth-hand, and fifth-hand. They have too much influence over the perception that the general public has on the wrestling business when they don't even have a clear perception of the wrestling business. If they were honest journalists, they would go the shows that they write about, they would interview people first-hand. The truth is they don't, they editorialize much like the National Enquirer. They take one little grain of truth, blow it into their own agenda, blow it up so it fits their own agenda, and report it as fact. People who live on the internet unfornately believe it.
-On his plan to buy out World Championship Wrestling following it's closure, Bischoff changed his mind due to no television being available for WCW on the Turner networks. There was talks between himself and the Fox Network about bringing WCW there, but ultimately let Vince McMahon have it for $2.5 Million (who he referred to as "the only person who actually cared about WCW at the time").
-When Ryan Rider asked why most people look at the Invasion storyline as a failure, Bischoff corrected him by saying "it was a quantifiable failure". The idea of an invasion, a formula that he claims to have created in WCW for Nitro, the WWE didn't really understand it and it never really was a WWE-style idea. A lot of the guys that were a crucial part of WCW like himself, Hogan, Hall, Nash, DDP [Umm…He was a part of the invasion], Sting, and others weren't a part of the formula. It would be the same thing as having a WWE invasion in TNA, with nobody that you knew representing the WWE. The audience didn't buy it, they didn't believe it, there was no passion." He believed the storyline was unbelievable (as in Shane buying WCW) and made people feel stupid. By the time the WCW guys came to the WWE, "they have already lost the opportunity, it was no longer there."
-On his debut in World Wrestling Entertainment: "I enjoyed it. The idea of heat was overblown on the internet. I was there for 5 years and that should pretty much speak for itself."
-On kissing Stephanie McMahon as General Manager: "That was actually great. She's a great kisser. Setting her over a table and laying a liplock on her, I enjoyed it. She enjoyed it more than I did, but you know, I enjoyed it nonetheless."
-On Eugene being his nephew: He considers Nick Dinsmore to be a nice guy very polite and hard working guy. However, he thought the idea for the mentally challenged character was "kinda lame to be honest with you." He spoke about how a major concept in WWE storytelling is the usage of humiliation as the source of the heat. It's okay once in awhile, but the WWE as we've seen so many times over the years, it seems to be their only device. The company just doesn't seem to understand the way creative people know how to create heat. Humiliation is only effective once in awhile and according to Bischoff, "we've seen it over and over and over".
-Eric then mentioned how there are no real heels in professional wrestling these days. "The performers themselves don't know what heat is." Storytelling, whether it's wrestling or professional theater, whether it's scripted or not, it requires that people care. Making people care means you need a good guy and a bad guy. The WWE doesn't have any good guys or any bad guys right now. "Even the veterans don't get it, I don't think HHH knows how to be a heel to save his life. He's not a heel. The fact is he's Superman, nobody can hate Superman. HHH is a phenomenal performer technogically and psychologically… but he doesn't get the heat part. I challenge anybody, that if he officially turns babyface tommorow, that 6 months from now tell me what the difference of his matches would be. They are [his matches and interviews] would be exactly the same thing as a babyface and they are as a heel!" Commiting to be a heel is risky, if you become a great heel your career will extended for a long time. You can't create a good guy without a really good villian. When you become that villain, you become a very valuable comodity. But most people are either unable, unwilling or just don't know how to become a real heel.
-On the Monday Night Wars DVD : "It was biased towards WWE , one would expect them to do that. Given that, I think overall it was close, not 50/50 but at least 70/30 in terms of balance and accuracy which is pretty impressive coming out of WWE."
-On the infamous "Glass Ceiling" in WCW: "All the guys that were complaining back in the 1990's that they were going nowhere when the Hogans and the Scott Halls and the Stings and the Kevin Nashs and the Lugers were going strong; a lot of those guys went to the WWE and they fared no better."
-That group included one Chris Jericho, whom Bischoff had some comments about: "Did he get a title shot? Was he a champion for 5 minutes? Of course he was. Was it the highlight of his career? Of couse it was." He made it there for a cup of coffee, he was a transitional champion. He got to say he was the champion of the world and unify the titles or whatever he was talking about for a few weeks but then it was over. Then he was back to mid-card status with everybody else who was complaining about being mid-card status in WCW!" After all that, Eric went on to say that he liked Chris Jericho and that he was a great performer and that he liked him personally. Looking at it objectively however, Jericho was on top for a cup of coffee and was put back down when it [his main-event push] didn't work. "I was using those guys exactly the way I should have used them, because that's exactly where they ended up."
-Ryan Rider then asked about a passge in Eric's book in which he made a claim that Canada is dependent on the United States and that they are essentially one country. "I love Canada," said Bischoff. "It's a great place to go fishing. There's a few good restaurants in Montreal. Vancouver's a great place to go watch waHe continued to back up that assetion by saying that if you pulled the plug on the United States, Canada would go down the drain with them and that Canada is totally dependent on the U.S. for it's economy. "It's really the 51st state. They haven't suffered the indignity of being called that but 75% or 85% of the population lives within 50 miles of the boarder….How come whenever somebody gets really sick they come to the United States? Because they'll be on a waiting list and die from whatever it is they have! What drug company that manufactors drugs to save people's lives is in Canada? Zero. I can go on and on and on…does Canada have a navy? People from Canada are going say Bischoff is such an ass. I love Canadians, love Canadians. I just look at things for what they really are."
-About being asked to be a part of TNA in 2002: We [Jerry Jarrett and I] had a conversation. I was not made an offer so to say as dollar signs were not attached, a discussion was had for me to become part of TNA. At the time, I was not really interested of going from the mountaintop of the accomplishments, even with the negative things that had happened, profile of President for Turner Broadcasting and going to a small, upstart wrestling promotion…that wasn't funded very well, but Jerry Jarrett is a good human being but he never really launched a wrestling promotion in today's national wrestling environment. He was a very good, successful, regional promoter. But I wasn't interested in becoming a part of a small, southern wrestling company.
-Advice to TNA to improve their product: Differentiate themselves from World Wrestling Entertainment. Sit down, make a list of all the things you they can do to be different from the competition and quit trying to be better than the competition. Because you can't. You're not big enough, you don't have a 25- or 30-year jumpstart. You're a small company with a small pool of talent and you have to sit down and find ways. "If I knew what those ways are, I probably wouldn't be talking to you right now. I don't have the answers but if they want to be successful they are going to have to find ways. Quite frankly, I don't think they are. They're just a smaller version of the WWE in most respects. Granted, they've got a six-sided ring but other than that, what's the difference.
-On Sting headlining BFG against Kurt Angle: "I don't think Bound for Glory is Wrestlemania or even Starrcade caliber. Starrcade wasn't Wrestlemania caliber and I don't think their Pay-Per-View in October is even close to Starrcade quality. Bischoff is surprised that Sting is still wrestling but thinks it's great that he is. He describes Sting as a great character and said that he can be an important character in the wrestling business as long as he chooses to be. He's got a lot of fans out there, he built a brand, and fans have a long memory and remember that.
-Looking back 5 or 10 years later, Eric Bischoff said he doesn't have time to talk about all the decisions he would have taken back/changed if he had 20/20 hindsight. Regarding WCW Thunder, Eric would have "taken a gun and threatening to commit suicide in Ted Turner's office," if he knew then what he knows now.
-About making Rey Mysterio take off his mask: I don't regret doing that. I still believe, to this day, that Rey would be better off without that mask. He would have been just as much of a character, if not more, if we were able to see his face. He is a cool looking guy, if you got to see his expressions on his face he could have gone even further than he has. "Quite honestly, Rey…and most people would dissagree with me to this day, but I still in my heart believe that Rey could have been as big, if not bigger, had the audience had been able to relate to him because they would see the emotion and feel a little more passion… Otherwise, he is a very good, colorful car crash.
-Eric Bischoff still keeps in touch with Billionaire Ted indirectly, saying hello to each other once in awhile.
-Regarding the "Legends Tour" or wrestling promotion rumors with Hulk Hogan, Bischoff had no comment at this time.
-He would not recommend any young entrepeneurs to follow in his footsteps. "I don't believe in my heart that it would work. The world has changed completely, the television industry has changed completely. Trying to recreate the opportunity is next to impossible." If you're an entrepeneur and it's your passion, find a good local promotion and learn every aspect of the business you can possibly learn from putting up the ring to running the camera to running audio to promoting to becoming a referee before even thinking of becoming a performer or a member of a creative team. It's the same reason so many people want to be an actor, when only a handful of people make a decent living at it.
-On actually wrestling in the ring. Bischoff enjoyed the storytelling and adrenaline but with his age (mid-40's), amount of free time, physical size, and backstage responsibilities he was limited in what he was able to learn and do and didn't really like it. "I usually enjoyed the things that lead up to a match but more than a match."
-How would he improve the WWE if he was in creative: Make things more reality based. Quit doing the same things over and over again and expecting the same result. There's a laundry list of things I would do differently. I would want people around me who had varied opinions. Everything in the company right now has Vince or Stephanie McMahon's fingerprints all over it. And it's the same thing week in and week out. It's larthargic creatively.
-Speaking on Paul Heyman, he puts him over as an extremely talented individual but did not click with him on a professional level. Together they could have been cool but it just wasn't in the cards.
-Have we seen the last of Eric Bischoff in professional wrestling? "Probably. I can't see anything in the near future. I'm looking at different opportunities: wrestling-related and non-wrestling related. It would have to be the right situation and I would have to feel like I would have an opportunity to achieve something that I hadn't already achieved once before. I like new things, I like to achieve new goals, and I like to look for new mountain tops to climb…I would prefer to kinda just look back at my wrestling career and smile and look forward to new challenges.
You can listen to the full interview with Eric Bischoff on www.MainEventRadio.com (September 30th show), in what may end up being the interview of the year!
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