The Downfall Of the NWO: 83 WEEKS
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- Опубліковано 23 лип 2023
- On this episode of 83 Weeks, Eric and Conrad explore what lead to the downfall of one of the most influential factions in professional wrestling history...the NWO! Eric shares his thoughts on when he felt the product started to get diluted, how and how the demise could have been avoided, and how he would have liked the story of the NWO to end. All that plus so much more on this incredible edition of 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff.
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#wrestlingpodcast #ericbishcoff #nwo #wcw #wwf #wwe #wrestling #wrestlingnews - Спорт
I like Eric being honest about Hulk/Hall/Nash getting "comfortable" (lazy) a year and a half in to the NWO storyline.
It was obvious. Scott Hall gained like 30 pounds between 96 and 98
The storyline should have ended a year and a half in. Should have ended at Starrcade 1997 with sting winning fairly
I think it should’ve ended @ uncensored 98 with Hall going over Sting with the help of Dusty and Hogan expecting Hall to hand the belt over to him….Hall doesn’t then Bam 💥 Wolf 🐺 PAC split
@@lancewalton8705and not 30 pounds of muscle either 😂
@@bobbyjohnson9409fairly and decisively!
Growing up I didn't like eric, but now I respect this man. I was and am still a huge sting fan. Who else would want to meet eric
Eric Bischoff is coming to my hometown comic con Aug 26th so I might get the chance
I was always a hardcore WWF guy, but I must admit, that first yr or so of the NWO storyline had me flipping channels every couple minutes... Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth all Monday night! Such a fun time in wrestling... When me and my buddies would get to school on Tuesday it was all wrestling talk, 3 out of 7 of us was WCW all the way, and all we heard was how it was over for WWF now that the NWO was hot... They gave it hell, but couldn't put Vinny M in the dirt! Needless to say, by 1999 my buddies were no longer foreseeing the death of the WWF... LOL. Such great memories
Luger beat Hogan on nitro.
Piper beat Hogan at Starrcade.
But Hogan couldnt lose clean to Sting
I have never really had a very high opinion of Eric. When he is being seemingly honest and introspective he’s absolutely riveting. Love this episode.
One of the biggest problems was over-saturation. In 1998 Nitro expanded to 3 hours and Thunder added another 2 hours. The pacing of Nitro suffered, and the addition of another prime-time show stretched creative pretty thin.
Yea! Nitro for 3 hours was way too much!
@HereIsWisdom1318 At the time I freaking loved it!
@HereIsWisdom1318 At the time I freaking loved it!
@@HereIsWisdom1318kind of like Raw now lol
An hour is too much when you have nothing but run-ins and DQs.
This NWO was the Best Faction and Storyline Ever ❤
A storyline that swallowed itself and created literally ZERO stars… yeah, greatest storyline ever. 😂
@@derektwentyone2670 Made DDP a superstar by turning down the NWO in spectacular fashion, set the stage for Goldberg to be shot to the moon and oh yeah, led to Sting's greatest character of all time. But yeah, didn't create any stars
@@derektwentyone2670 Kevin Nash, Scott Hall were not the Mega Stars in the WWE that they became jumping to WCW forming the NWO and don't forget K Dog / Konan got a good rub from joining the NWO and DDP was a Mid Carder before fueding with NWO
@@bgorder34 I’ll concede that DDP was elevated by the NWO, more specifically by way of his feud with Randy Savage. Sting was already a huge star for WCW. Did his feud with Hogan enhance his star power? Sure, but the NWO certainly didn’t “put him on the map”, as Flair had done that several years prior. As for Goldberg? Can you really claim to have “made” someone if less than 6 months later you completely snuff him out?
Never saw Dennis Rodman in the Bloodline.
I've listened to 83 weeks so much that I can tell 5 minutes in advance when bischoff is going to bring up the Nitro book by Guy Evans, and whenever Conrad rocks in his chair it reminds me of Jesse Ventura
did you read, Nitro? l am currently a little over half-way through.
some of it is great however some gets "too" in-depth, no? what did you think?
@@ivandaniel2596 it’s a thoroughly well researched and well-written book. The book is written for people who want a factual, in-depth business analysis of why WCW failed. Intelligent folk will read it and understand that no single thing killed WCW like WWE’s retcon of history. Instead, a huge multitude of bad ingredients in multiple areas meant that WCW was always doomed to fail one day, but imploded earlier than expected.
If it’s too in depth for your taste, just stick to 83 weeks etc.
@@iTubeYourDadsMinge no way dude... l LOVE a story that tell lots & lots of behind the scene details.
The biggest problem the nWo had was the other channel had Mr. McMahon vs. Steve Austin. The nWo story was the same old thing while WWE felt fresh every week.
No way NWO was always fresh the best ever your nuts Wwe sucked NWO was unreal I still. Miss it it was the greatest storyline ever Invasion was awesome Nwo 4life
I agree, I loved Watching WCW-NWO, but the Austin vs McMahon Story line was something new and fresh to pay attention to.
No the biggest problem was that McMahon had final say in booking, but execs were always interfering in Bischoff being able to run WCW.
That would be true...2 years into it. When it started, the nwo was untouchable
I always liked wcw better because it was a cleaner show
The biggest problem was Hogan having to come out of promos, segments, matches (even the ones he lost), looking better than everyone.
It seemed like it started going downhill when Bret came over. Maybe not because of Bret but it definitely started to get crunchy.
Nah you nailed it. It was Bret moving and had to make room for him. Guessing Hogan wanted him in the neo but Bret had enough creative control so he ended up in some stupid consultant role as a compromise. Bret's poison
Scott Hall & Kevin Nash's invasion was epic, and the perfectly executed invasion angle. The Main Event of WrestleMania V (Hulk Hogan & Macho Man Randy Savage) executing the Hulk Hogan heel turn made it even more epic. Many of us fans couldn't wait for next week's Nitro to see who the nWo brought in next. So, while this was discussed with such a negative tone during the discussion, many of us enjoyed & looked forward to the next nWo member reveal. The WCW Nitro era was a lot of fun.
Another intricate detail that happened in that turn that is very overlooked was Heenan on commentary for it. Because Hogan's turn in that moment did a wrestling lore script flip and made Andre and Heenan the faces of Wrestlemania 3 as Heenan was right about Hogan all along in the narrative of wrestling story. Heenan in promos in WWF always called Hogan a snake or something like that. And then in WCW when he turned it made Brain right and made Hogan the biggest heel in wrestling history equaled only by the Mr Mcmahon character and possibly prime heel Triple H. It was story telling done to perfection whether it was done on purpose or not with the Brain part of it.
The end of the NWO should have been Hogan turning face again.
No way Hogan is wayyyyy better as a Heel He stinks as a face I don't like Babyface anyway I never Root for them I'm for the Bad Guy's
I enjoyed the original version it felt fresh and cool especially when the group was smaller,then it was like everyone was was a part of the story.
Great episode. Souled Out wasnt that bad, and agree with building a brand. I caught it on accident one night on my girlfriends parents chipped cable box late night and was hooked. The looks, style, throwing of the trash, everything just screamed....new. I never missed an episode of Nitro or Thunder until the end because of that PPV.
Souled Out was a total disaster. 1 good, but slightly overrated match (Guerrero - Waltman) and otherwise just crap. The biggest disappointment was definitely Chono once again having no interest in actually working a match. Atrocious main event as usual and some of the worst matches WCW presented in 1997 (Morrus vs. Rogers and Jarrett vs Wallstreet especially) and everything around it was just absurd. The "Miss nWo" thing was so weird. Why did they hire fat, middle-aged trailer park trash instead of good looking women? It's as if they were ribbing themselves.
@@ShadowAngel-lt8nwbecause they were...
Love stories like this. Must’ve been some fun times
@@ShadowAngel-lt8nw they should have had their sexiest chick awards with maxim and playboy chicks. Should have entered with hot rides instead of on garbage trucks. Shit was lame
Its so interesting and cool to be able to listen to all these legends of wrestling talk about the past days.
Dx didnt have an endgame either. hunter turn on them and rejion him 99 and he told hbk 2009 dx is about selling merch
But everything didn’t have to revolve around dx. That is the huge difference. The nwo was literally a road block to anything & everyone. It beyond tiresome by 98..
They jumped the shark when Hornswoggle became a member 😂
I’ll say this as a fan before I listen, the only problem with the nWo story was that at a certain point nothing changed. Like, are they going to win, lose, get their own show?? What? Other than that nothing was wrong. It needed a lot of members, it was a company not a faction. Bret needed way better booking also.
I clicked in when it said 83 seconds ago. Awesome.
Because Eric Bischoff is a reluctant participant in fantasy booking, he won't be too much in love with an idea to lose it. That means he's focused on cooking the best story he can... And I like it.
The 98 nWo wasn’t a bad angle. The finger poke of doom was the only thing that caused me to change the channel. I was mad. Kevin vs Hogan was built longer than Sting vs Hogan. A PPV match that was blown and could’ve been huge. We all wanted it! The build was bigger than ever.
Did you ever think of using Hart, his brother-in-law's, and Jericho, as a new faction to take on the NWO?
And benoit the hart dungeon
They could've easily created the Hart Foundation in WCW, and it would've given Benoit and Jericho a push. And it would've given Bret's character some direction.
Davey boy Smith got badly injured, I don't know why Jim Niedhart left. Jericho went to WWE and so did Benoit.
They were not allowed to make a Har Foundation
CWO - Canadian World Order? Lol
Goldberg Vs Hollywood was one of the biggest nights..... EVERYONE was talking about that short build up...what a night
Still remember it to this day
@@TobeyStarburst the best line of the night was in the Goldberg vs Hall match when Goldberg had him up for the jackhammer and I think it was Schiavone who said "I think we all smell Hulk Hogan" and the Brain counters with "if you're close to him you do". The Brain was just a treasure
This is such an important episode
Facts
Faster than firing the Honkey Tonk Man. L0L0L0L0L0L0L0L! That intro ad was epic!
Eric called it here . retuning to a campy cheesy storylines took the focus off of reality based content to something back to the 80s. Itoved them back 6 years. 😊
I had given up on wrestling for several years until someone said that Hogan had turned heel in wcw. That's when i came back and i was in for years...at least to 99 - 2000. I have wwe on peacock and I watch the Monday night wars documentary all the time...and the bash at the beach 3rd man reveal etc. The best time for wrestling and nwo was the spark. Good job Eric. You definitely gave Vince a run for the money. Good shit :)
I liked the idea of nWo Nitro. The pilot was even fun with Sting crashing the party, and spoiling the nWo's fun at the end. It really was the tear down, and set up that felt WAY too long. Just a question, but why not nWo Thunder? Take a less risky risk. Make Thunder must see, with a prominent title as the focal point of the first few months?
I think the thing is, they kept dominating instead of building a lot of people up, making it even on both playing fields.
I agree.....they were n every main event and were at the top of every card (tv and ppv)...how long could we have them shoved down our throats.
I’m about to wrap up WCW but I wish nWo 2000 went on longer because I genuinely enjoyed Jeff Jarrett’s push around that era. Also wish there was more of a conclusion to OG nWo but at least Hulk went back to Hollywood before he left
I always felt like I was the only one who enjoyed ol Double J in WCW. Glad I'm not the only one who did.
I'm guilty too I was always down with Double J
Idk why people flake on him. He was the spotlight of late 99-mid 00 and he deserved it imo. I’m glad he got to hold the belt and get his main event push. He played his heel character perfectly and when came back and struck Buff Bagwell with a guitar and asked who had the stroke, I personally thought that was a big deal haha
I actually enjoyed nwo 2000 also.
I can’t remember a single thing nWo 2000 did of any significance.
I feel like the changes taking place, in the area of entertainment between 1998 and 2001 do not get talked about enough in regards to the decline in viewers.
People my age who were devoted wcw fans were getting jobs and heading to college, video games were becoming way better and more abundant the internet had become a place to kind of hang out in itself.
It was so easy to get distracted by new hobbies or activities at that time.
I am not saying that bad decisions were not a big factor, but o do think that wrestling in general was destined to lose fans attention.
You are right on point. I never thought of that. Same thing for me. I kinda lost interest in wrestling all together.
How does that explain WWF being way hotter than WCW during that 98-2001 time period?
@MarsKidd27 oh I don't think there is any debate over who was hotter for sure it was wwf. I was just addressing what I believe to be a large factor in the decline of wcw in general.
But why would all the things you mentioned only affect wcw fans and not wwf fans? Why did they stay, and even grow?
@baconatorrodriguez4651 I actually thought wrestling in general began to decline in viewership in the following 4 to 5 year. Idk maybe I'm wrong
Best wrestling podcast on UA-cam
Good day gentleman. Did the idea of Bret Hart replacing Hogan in a coup ever cross your mind?
58:05 poor Eric he must have said this a millions times yet Conrad continues to ask him a million and one more times in a different way what boils down to the same question 😅 and everytime Eric says the same thing AOL/TIME WARNER KILLED TURNER & WCW!
That is the #1 reason but it’s not like they wouldn’t have gotten stale anyway. Nwo, Goldberg, cruiserweights were fresh ideas. By 1999, eric didn’t have anymore no matter what he says
I always feel like there's an undercurrent of Conrad telling Eric off because WCW's downfall ruined his childhood or something. Perhaps there'll be a big final reveal episode where Conrad is behind an army of ex-WCW crowd sign wavers who were completely forlorn when the promotion was sold.
Wrestling is a dialectic: Good vs. Evil, and everything in between. nWo got nuclear amounts of heat and, as antagonists in the story, they helped make the super-babyfaces like Sting, DDP, Goldberg, etc. They also helped create and make heels cool (e.g. Hall, Nash, Steiner, WolfPac, etc.). It was a good idea and initial narrative. However, the plot progression, resolution, and eventual transition to something else were not adequately prepared. As such they overdid it and it got stale.
Edit: Bischoff was/is a mark for Hogan and allowed the latter to ruin finishes and the general storyline.
Vince should have wrestled Eric at slamboree 1998
did Conrad just say Gimmick Meat? definitely using that term
The beginning of the nWo split was brilliantly done, with the Mega Powers splitting, and Kevin Nash/Scott Hall breaking away (in the aftermath of Syxx being ostracized). Konnan aligning with Nash/Hall/Savage was natural.
It wasn't until that summer, when Hall turned and Luger/Sting joined, that things got muddied. Sting and Savage getting injured, Hall being unreliable, and Hogan "running for President" by War Games basically stuck a fork in the blowoff.
I’ve like the last few episodes of more esoteric topics where it’s more free form for Eric
Great change up to the format
Also Eric fantasy booking may not be your thing but we as fans don’t get to hear the literal creative process very much
We always hear about it afterwards. Very few examples of getting to see it in action so fantasy booking is as close as it gets
Wolfpac /Hollywood was so disappointing
I just got to the beginnings of it in my rewatch and it started great. Hollywood being the heel group being sell outs sticking with hogan for movie parts, merch money etc. hogan/bishcoff had gotten to focused on making it a brand in storyline and nash/savage we’re about the brotherhood of the nWo.
The split was great. If they’d really committed to it and made Wolfpack look strong it could’ve carried them through 98
The Giant,Chris Jericho,Rey Mysterio,Eddy Guerrero,Booker T, Dean Makenko,Raven,DDP, ETC were alot of unknowns...the nWo put those guys on the map...... whole roster really.... perfect example how big NITRO was...was when Jericho debuted on RAW and got that HUGE reaction coming off of WCW TV ( never hear about that )
Rey Mysterio wrestling Kevin Nash early 1999 was damn cool
WCW & the NWO storyline introduced a lot of talent, but by no means created ANY stars.
Goldberg is a legend. Jericho was a made man by the time he left for the WWF. DDP was a breakout star from the Rodman/Malone matches alone. Are you dumb?
I think the real issue with NWO was less is more--meaning if you had kept it to a core 4-5 members it would've been great. More people to feud with vs NWO. No need for bringing in a bunch of mid card guys or splitting it into 2 factions.
And they flubbed the sting story line big tine
Yes!!!
Seems like those guys made a great career decision but a devastating personal decision. Going over to wcw.
The only thing keeping them from going over the deep end with ego and drugs was having to maintain a road life. The responsibility of it kept them from getting to comfortable and spiraling out of control.
Loved how he said "talked to God" I do to Eric.
Wow his hair grew back fast!!
No sir, the horsemen stole that idea from the Bible. Per Double A
And they were organically put together by accident. Not some marketed faction put together by design. I can't stand Eric's irrational hatred for the Four Horsemen.
Never would’ve thought about EA giving them that money and that being a reason why they couldn’t shift when it would’ve been best for the story. That makes sense and helps me understand a big reason why they allowed the story to run itself into the ground. Crazy the things that go on that unless you’re there and dealing with it you’d never think about.
The fingerpoke of doom was a wrong-turn, but not so much for the fingerpoke - basically they should have turned Hogan baby and had him unite with Goldberg to take down the heel Wolfpac. Ok, Goldberg still may have got injured but this would still have been a better angle.
The other really bad turn was having DDP turn heel when Goldberg came back, & find himself in the Jersey Triad 2-3 months later. I mean if you really wanted him heel, you could have had him join the heel Wolfpac. Not what I would have done, but it was better than what they did.
So if anything, I think the nWo should have properly gone into '99 instead of just weirdly petering out. Something like: Goldberg, Hogan, Sting, DDP, Flair & Rick Steiner vs Nash, Hall, Luger, Dusty, Buff & Scott Steiner.
Prime NWO will always be the glory days of professional wrestling
Nope. It’s Prime Austin vs Mr. McMahon
@CommonSense8421
Wrong
@@michaeljwarker2225 Austin vs Mr. McMahon was like weekly pay per view stuff they were doing. SCSA drives a beer truck in, Has a monster truck, destroys the Rock’s car, blows up DX Express Bus, chases Vince on a 4 wheeler, destroys Vince’s convertible with cement, etc
Conrad brought up the free birds and Michael hayes Saying leave while you're on top but back in WCCW David, a free bird's versus the von Erichs So long. Even after Michael Hayes left they kept adding new members to the freebirds to beat up the von erichs that it became very watered down.
The problem with mapping the nwo out was that it wasn’t a true storyline…it was more like an attitude and vibe that Hall/Nash/Hogan/EazyE embodied.
Splitting into two brands, even if it was a good idea (which it wasn't), wouldn't have been satisfying storytelling, which is what made the nWo so good until it fizzled out. My idea for giving it extra legs would have been to splinter it not into black & white vs. Wolfpac, but rather Hogan, Hall, and Nash as faces against the rest of them as heels. Then you get a face run out of them and then eventually you get to reset the original members as heels without the bloat and run through another cycle.
1:14:29 For the record when I asked my question here, I wasn't even referring to whatever "he stole from Japan" you're talking about or being critical or anything.
My question was about the nWo Japan stable they started on WCW TV with Chono & Muta later on Norton who was wrestling on Nitro with the IWGP title. But way to twist simple words into Dave Meltzer b.s.
Yeah that was disappointing to see it misinterpreted
The nWo japan story is a great story
Thing is, when the fans you were referring to in your question bring up Bischoff stealing the nWo invasion angle from Japan, those fans are referring to what Eric and Conrad were talking about, not the nWo Japan stable with Norton, Chono, Muta, fake Sting etc
@@chico1680 Again I wasn't referring to any fans, opinion or anything of that nature with the simple way I asked my question but Conrad set it up for it to be interpreted that way but he at least answered it after the rant.
@@dp4681Did you not mention how whenever you would see criticism of Bischoff online, folks would say Eric stole one idea from Japan and thats all hes known for? Or was that Conrad addlibbing?
@@chico1680 "Did Eric have any involvement or even aware of how the Japanese version of the nWo ended? #AskEric"
That's all I said. Since the subject was the end of the nWo, I asked about the nWo Japan group ending. Not the group or storyline that he "stole" the idea from cause clearly Bischoff had nothing to do with that one & that wasn't the nWo.
Eric was such a good general manager WWE just abandoned the GM bit for so long man I'm re watching 2002-4 .an just like back than really enjoy Eric when he's not terrorizing my favourites anyway 🤣🤣🤣🤣
As good as the NWO storyline was I always feel like it still could've been that much better
The too many versions didn't help. Like Eric said by mid 98 or so it wasn't the same. By 99 it was dead i would say
100% agree with you
Also I gotta say it because I just rewatched it recently. Macho joining the NWO still made no sense to me lol
@@Caesarishome84 bret in wcw was like the biggest mistake lol. Savage didn't belong in there either but still was booked better than bret i feel like.
There is no proper end baby!!! Nwo for life. The extras should've been trimmed down and core members continue as members except on their respective career paths.They Hogan Hall and Nash should've clashed over the title several times. Breakup and make up. Sometimes we help each other sometimes we hang a guy out to dry. Come together over serious threats. Each doing their own thing just doin it w nwo on their ring gear.
Even 100k in ppv sales would generate 3 million in revenue. The typical split would be 10% to the PPV company, 45% to the televisión network which in this case is TBS and 45% to the promoter, WCW. This is one reason or was a great business model because Ted Turner owned the network and the promoter so he received 2.7 million with 1.35 on the books for TBS and 1.35 for WCW. WCW would get all the money for the live event tickets as the merchandice and other miscellaneous streams of income. 15,000 seats sold would generate another 300k so easily a total of 3 million for the night where as WWE would've made roughly 1.7 million with the same numbers. This is a big reason WCW had a real shot at winning at one point because they're owner owned the network which allowed them to make more money than Vince. But then they merged with AOL and imo nothing would save them. I honestly think that played a roll inwhy the shows got so bad bc their parents company did not want them to succeed and everyone started to go to crazy booking angles to try and fix something that was really unfixable.
Jack "Jungle Boy" Perry, currently indefinitely suspended from AEW?
That's an issue. Tony Khan pretty much put Jack Perry and CM Punk on the same level lol.
When Hogan threw on that black and red it was toast and long overdue but anybody can say anytime before that, just at that point it was all the same for me..
WCW never got any of TBS/TNT ad dollars except for PPV etc. =How they ever ran the TV shows without the advertising money is a mystery to me. -It is shocking it lasted as long as it did.
Also it's been said that people who worked in other Turner broadcasting departments who were afraid to report their losses had actually moved their losses into WCW. So it made it look like WCW was losing more money than they were.
Bret Hart should have versed Hollywood Hogan for the World Heavyweight Championship
Im not boss man anymore y'all , I'm Ray Trailer....
Golden moment for the NWO😂
I agree with Eric with ddp, Goldberg, sting
Man look at this cool guy with a motorcycle and tattoo… I know I’m impressed
Look at the cool guy who came here to comment that! Save some pussy for the rest of us, dude!
I font agree with Eric as much as I like him.I think NWO storyline is way better than the bloodline storyline iits not evrn close .Im surprised he said that a few times cause Nwo was his idea n storyline
I think Conrad should get Sullivan and Eric together to rebook the invasion.
NWO was the best no regrets from me as a fan!!
Eric needed a bunch of B listers in the NWO because his main guys would only wrestle (somewhat) at the PPV's.
& would normally stink up those matches. Especially hogan during 98. It was just terrible ppv showing after terrible ppv showing
Hall and Nash were regulars on Nitro.
@@TheKevinNewsomYes, but they were mostly short main events full of stalling and rest holds until a DQ. Especially in 97/98.
@@TheKevinNewsom yeah, talking om Nitro
@@jamminjohn I can tell you weren't a regular viewer. Namely because Nitros were usually better than PPVs lol.
No one cared when Shawn Michaels laid down for Triple H, but OMG! The Finger Poke of Doom! That killed the business!
WWE literally rewrites history more than Soviet Russia did 😂
It was less about the fingerpoke, and more the lack of follow-through, afterwards.
Did anyone in WCW believe Vince McMahon was going to show up to Slamboree 1998? Not a Nwo question sorry
Apparently Hogan was cautioning Eric that Vince may indeed turn up. Black belt Bisch would've taken care of him though.
@namikstudios Vince isn't going down without a fight, he's crazy not to mention he could have brought his 3 time, THREE TIME, karate black belt hall of fame member Bruce Prichard with him for backup. 😅
Vince McMahon was seriously considering taking Eric Bischoff up on his challenge.
SOURCE: Vince Russo
Truth With Consequences
If the NWO was disbanded after Starrcade '97, what would or could have replaced it? An NWO civil war in '98 was perfectly logical. The problem was the stars involved and how it was executed.
Agreed. From February-June, the split made perfect sense. The Wolfpac continued to be OVER, but it got silly when Bret, Luger, Sting, and Hall aligned with Hogan, robbing both WCW and Wolfpac of key members that would have "helped lead those respective rosters."
I think the problem was there simply weren't enough people in NWO and it wasn't split into enough subgroups. Every single wrestler should have been in NWO, in their own, exclusive one person subgroup. Watching 'who killed WCW' right now . . . you can blame the budget cuts, etc., but the sorriest booking on earth had a lot to do with it.
EZ E is crazy. Giving away the Goldber/Hogan match on free tv did cost WCW millions of dollars. That is a fact.
In the beginning of 1998 I actually liked the idea of thunder because back then we didn’t have streaming networks no on demand services no Peacock so this was extra wrestling for us at the time because now we didn’t have to wait a whole week we could watch wrestling on Thursday and a year before that in 1997 during the summer I was staying to my grandparents and they had no cable but there was a loophole renting wrestling videos at Blockbuster and other video stores this was the late 90s so video stores were everywhere
I always thought Bret should have been the reason that the nWo finally disbanded. I thought it would have been good to do the figure 4 leglock on the ring post to a couple of the key members & he face down Hogan in the middle of the ring and after injuring those guys, Hogan lays down the shirt.
Good thing you aren't booking anything then, huh? Who cares what you always thought 😂
@@christo9120 who cares what you think about what I thought?🤣🤣🤣
I always thought that if you kept it ex wwf guys and ecw guys and people not known as much like Norton as the splinter group as the tough guys it would have worked out better than with buff disco giant and the other wcw guys
Dammit....I could have swore I heard Bischoff talk about how he got the idea from New japan....but maybe I'm mistaken...but for the last 5 years I've thought that.
After watching this podcast for the upteenth time. Im convinced that AOL/Time Warner didnt want rid of wrestling. I think they wanted rid of Eric B. If they wanted rid of wrestling AEW wouldnt have two shows on TBS/TNT. I think that is some of the criticism Eric B has. Its personal for him.
1:33:05 How about the angle in January, 1984 when former heel Hulk Hogan returned from AWA where he'd nearly won their world title back to WWF where he tagged with Bob Backlund for one match and then beat The Iron Shiek to win the WWF title and start Hulkamania? You're going to ask "What's the storyline there?" Well, Vince plucked the AWA's top contender by far and ushered him into the WWF to put their belt on him almost immediately. You could also look to Hogan being a heel in WWF just a few years prior managed by Freddie Blassie and returning as the long-running greatest super-hero character of all time in wrestling. You could say that Hulkamania brought about Wrestlemania and popularized pro wrestling for the mainstream. Maybe you can dicker about whether that's an angle, just like someone could dicker about whether a lot of what the NWO did was storyline, but I think Hulkamania had a bigger impact on wrestling than did the NWO. Of course, nods to Hogan to being the key guy in both.
Hulk Hogan fan for life……
Eric Bischoff talking about forcing WWE into the Attitude Era ignores that Austin 3:16 began in June, 1996.
Honestly. I as a fan of WCW (formerly nwa wrestling) since I was kid in the very early 80's i would have to say that Eric,Scott and Kevin brought a gift to WCW that transformed everything and made it the big company that Turner always wanted it to be and so did the fans want it to be. it was that finally. made us proud. so i fault nothing Eric did while running the show. he did very well in my opinion. i as a fan knew back in the day when that merger began between turner and time warner aol...that wcw would not survive. the time warner aol people had made many statements about wcw during that time that made it clear eventually they would shed themselves of the company and that is what they eventually did. and they did it when they knew vince wanted it most as a victory trophy. thats when it was sold. they got paid and the fans of wcw was left without the brand that meant a lot to them. most of us never transitioned over to wwe and i quit watching wrestling after the last nitro.
The part about Turner wanting Thunder on TBS but no one willing to pay for it doesn't make sense. To my knowledge, isn't all programming on television paid for by the station that's airing it? Why didn't this come up when Turner wanted to launch Nitro in 1995? Not to mention WCW was in a far better place before the launch of Thunder than they were before the launch of Nitro. Something doesn't seem right. For instance, I'm pretty sure USA and Fox pay WWE a pretty penny to run Raw and Smackdown.
They wouldn't pay production costs for Thunder. Since WCW was banking in 97 (and ended up making even more money in 98), Time Warner told Bischoff to pay for the production costs of Thunder from WCW's revenue. Since TW owned WCW, they didn't have to pay WCW anything to produce more programming. USA and FOX don't own WWE; they pay money to WWE to broadcast their shows.
Turner owned WCW and was airing it own their own networks. Nobody was paying a rights fee.
@@DR.64A9 Ok I got it. Didn't realize the rights fee issue was involved (and Bischoff has actually mentioned this before.) I guess my only other question would be how come this wasn't an issue with Nitro in '95?
They Should have kept the NWO just the original three then once it got Stale Let Hall and Nash Turn on Hogan.
The nWo should have just been ex-WWF guys. I remember talking about which WWF guy was coming to join the nWo next. There were rumors about Sean Micheals, the Undertaker coming over to join. That was the whole excitement about the nWo storyline. Things started becoming stale when the nWo Wolfpac entered the show. Plus the WWF started the Attitude Era.
I think people are overstating The Bloodline's success. That story was suffering before Sami joined, and it's been terrible ever since Wrestlemania.
Nwo got stupid by early 97 when everyone joined. Should’ve always stayed hulk, Nash, hall and xpac
Whoever Wrote Hollywood Hogans Promos is a Genius
I always felt that the perfect blowoff would've been 1998 in a winner-take-all War Games. Hogan/Hall/Nash/? vs Goldberg/Sting/DDP/?...would have selling point of NWO winning the prior 2 to highlight their confidence. Plus could've spun off storylines of NWO guys having to 'earn their way' back into WCW, Bischoff setting up to protect certain guys (creating dissent/feuds later w/ the guys who weren't protected), even dissent/feuds after among Team WCW guys (jealousy toward the guy who scores deciding fall).
Nwo had two many people in it
In 1998 every wrestler was in some sort of group. The nWo and Wolfpac music played thirteen times every Monday. So the music became less special. And the groups themselves became less special. There was too much group switching and it was hard to keep up with. I was disappointed when Big Bubba and Scott Norton joined. That made it really uncool.
We almost put them out of business-Eric Bischoff LMAO
The nWo was not a failure. From No Way Out thru the raw after wmx8, it was gold. The Hogan vs Rock and Austin vs Outsiders feuds were great TV. After Hogan lost and turned face, the heat was gone. You had the big Rock & Hogan vs Outsiders match, and there was no where left to go with the nwo angle in wwf. It was good for what it was, a short angle to make a classic wrestlemania.
The nwo in wwf*
Man star cade 97 brought in over 700,000 buys the rest with hogan and another star didn’t even touch it. I feel like sting doesn’t get his just do. He’s always shorted some kinda why when we talk about him or the goats of wrestling not saying he was the best cuz I give the goat title to Flair. But ppl need to put more respect on stings name man
1998 was the best year ever !
Can someone interpret what was said around 1 hr 9 min ..."Sting or possibly who/what??" It seemed edited out
I Hav 2 Disagree Wit Eric Bout One Thing He Said And That Was Tha NWO Storyline/ Angle Was Tha #1 Biggest Game Changer In Wrestling Business I Say Yea Of Course NWO Storyline Is Everything Bischoff Said It Was Game Changin History But In My Opinion It's Tha #2 Spot On That List Cuz In My Personal Opinion Tha Most Impactful Game Changer In Tha History Of Wrestling Biz 4 Eva Is Tha Long Runnin Huge Epic At #1 : Austin / McMahon Rivals Storyline Angle Was Bigger & Betta Impact , Importance Or Influence For Tha Long Term Wrestling Business Continuing To Still Be So Successful ✊🦏
1996 through 1999 were the best years with NWO……
I thought it sucked When they created NWO Red and black wolfpack so I like it from 96 to early 98 The original Nwo black and white they ruined it with splitting into 2 NWO But it lasted technically into 2002 in WWE that's around 7 years unreal
Eric is a lot of things, but he's not an idiot. If he had actually tried to steal the invasion storyline, the Japanese market would have quickly noticed when he brought the show to them. Not only would it have been disrespectful, but it could have also failed to resonate with the fans, potentially damaging the relationship with leadership. It wouldn't have added to the storyline if the fans exclaimed, "Hey, this looks familiar!" Personally, I have never believed anything that David Meltzer has written, both now and when I was a kid.
I think if the NWO's whole run only included Hogan, Nash, Hall, Syxx, Bagwell, Norton, Macho, Steiner, Curt Hennig, and Konnan it could've stayed hot. To me, that was the nucleus. Everyone else were either boring AF (Vincent, Bubba, IRS, Bryan Adams, Horace etc) or just better on team WCW (Stevie Ray, Lex Luger, Sting, Big Show). idk my opinion