Eric Bischoff Reveals the Exact DAY He Knew WCW Was DOOMED
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Eric Bischoff Reveals the Exact Day He Knew WCW Was DOOMED
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James I know the whole interview isn’t out yet but I’m just disappointed that you didn’t call this mark out his bullshit … I thought of all the podcasters/interviewers at least you would be the one that would have the balls to do it smh 🤦🏾 …I hope im not wrong tho
@@Cobane823 What is Bischoff's bullshit?
The only "bullshit" comes from clueless marks, or people who were in WCW and still have a grudge against Bischoff.
@@danielburger1775 Gee Dan, you didn't catch any of his BS? Some of his prior interviews conflict with this one. How about starting with his "big" meeting in August of 1998 when he said they were still ahead of the WWF. In past interviews he lauds the WWF for bringing in Mike Tyson earlier in 1998 and says they were in trouble because of it. Eric didn't say one word about it. He says his budget was cut in half in 1998 yet he still handed out lavish contracts in 1999. I could talk all day about how WCW was pissing away money under Bischoff in the second half of 1998 and 1999. There were alot of lower card guys sitting at home, not wrestling and collecting a nice check. You remember the deal with Kiss? Eric kissed alot of that money away. How about Master P and his group? I could go on and on.
@@curthennig9448 And everything you think you "know" is Meltzerian bs...
I find it funny that Bischoff and Russo dislike each other so much , because one thing they both have in common is the failure of the companies they've been in charge of has always been the fault of somebody else. Did the Turner execs make Bischoff have well over 100 wrestlers on the roster , with many of them not even being used for example? Did they make him sign lower and midcard guys to quarter million a year contracts? Did they make him water down the NWO by having 20 damn members? I mean that's just a few examples of stuff that's completely on Bischoff.
This is basically what Kevin Nash said as well. That standards and practices came in and gave them a list of what had to be changed, what it had to be changed to, and what was still allowed, but it all HAD to be kid friendly.
He then said that they were being forced to make the show more for kids, while WWF had Val Venus getting into a shower with Jenna Jamison, and right then, he knew it was over.
Nash’s contract also contributed to it. Bischoff gave out huge contracts to aging stars. WWE went the other direction lower priced talent but younger guys. Saturday night live does mass cast exits for the same reason. The older stars cost more and they can do new material with different people.
@@blankname6629 While that is a factor, I've found when people come in that don't know shit about the industry and tell those who do what to do, its a bad result. And those same fools who didn't know jack shit will blame those who did for screwing things up.
Nash just uses this as an excuse because his booking decisions weren't very good. It's been shown that WCW wasn't exactly kid friendly even after the warnings.
@@curthennig9448 not accurate.
@@BenTIStudios Which part isn't accurate?
Now that I am 34 and think about it... this dude made my childhood absolutely amazing.
That he did!!! I said the same thing. Him and Vince!
He literally ruined wrestling
@@Rigamus11 At that point I was too old to care. Had other hobbies.
Same here. I'm 34 & I grew up on ECW, WCW & WWF
I'm 36. I grew up in a poor household. My poor family said WCW was for poor people. WWF was not as low class. I now have a good amount of wealth. I think being a WWF kid and never watching WCW was a life lesson.
It was when The Rattlesnake Stone Cold Steve Austin was born in WWF and changed the game for everyone
I feel extremely blessed to see the height of the wrestling wars in the late 90's. They were some WILD times.
Things so outrageous by both companies, on TV, that it def made you wonder what was gonna go down next.
Absolutely love hearing the stories behind the scenes about what really went down during those days, and how one collapsed and the other took over the whole damn world.
You sound like a dipshit
We’re never gonna see that again
100%. Wrestling can never capture that again.
Right. Dark Side of the Ring is great for that, I think.
True. Monday Night wars was the best period in wrestling. Also the best there ever will be.
Unlike TNT, USA network stood by Vince when wwf was on a decline for years during 95-97 when they were averaging 2.0 ratings. They didnt 'sack' Vince and supported him when he was down. Eric on the other hand was sacked when he was drawing 4.2 rating on his last day in Sept 99. The AOL time warner merger killed wcw, they simply want wrestling out.
Until TNN (before becoming spike tv) came calling to wwe offering more money for raw.
Not entirely accurate. The USA network wrote Vince a letter in early 98 to stop the things they were doing, Vince had to call in hunter and Shawn and show them the letter, and told them that they were gonna be the reason wwf was kicked off the air. DX asked Vince if they could use the letter for a promo. And the rest is history
@@frankbarbera8562 that was just smokescreen to please the censors. It actually went the opposite, Their contents became more x rated in 99 and only toned down in 01 once when wcw was bought.
Really they only person in tuner who even supported wcw was red turner himself, as soon as he lost power wcw was doomed to die.
Add to the fact that the Jarrett’s (mainly Jerry) offered up millions (I’ve heard numbers upwards of $50 million) to buy WCW but Turner declined & eventually let it go for pennies on the dollar; Stevie Ray said it best: “They virtually gave it away.”
I've always been a wwf guy, but even I tuned in around 97 and 98 to see Goldberg plow over another opponent, or sting descend from the rafters or ddp deliver a diamond cutter. Mid to late 90s wcw was good television
I remember one night raw wasn't on because of some dog show. So I looked to see what else was there. There was Monday Nitro. Watched it almost religiously side by side raw ever since until its demise.
And the NWO
It honestly was a great watch! I miss legit wcw
@@mikesaintjulesmusicI'm sorry some dog show??? 😭💀
@@ruevaleska2477yes I also remember that stupid dog show ..
It's an important lesson that somehow same mistake still happen today in various company. The "Stop being ourselves and try to be or be something we're not" led to their doom and no one seems to get it.
1996-1998 was absolute must watch wrestling. My younger brother and I would always watch WCW Nitro or Thunder and then tape WWF to see if there was anything awesome that we may have missed. By 1998 we had flipped it and were watching WWF and taping WCW. By 1999 we weren't even watching WCW but every now and then.
Bro it was the exact same thing for us haha. By 1999 it was all WCW. I think I stopped overall right after John Cena joined because I dont remember any of his stuff.
Cool story
Accurate
That's how I've become with the WWE AEW debate.
You can thank stone cold and ‘Mr’ McMahon for that
Bischoff was such a great heel...he was tremendous...
He is 67 years old?!?! Looking incredible!!
You ain't lying,plus I would never think he would have a tattoo sleeve also on his arm😁
I hope I look that good at 67 but shoot me if I get a tattoo
For real?
His brain lives 25 years ago so it makes sense that he looks the same too. Dude has done nothing but talk about the "good old days" that happened FOREVER AGO now.
Yeah,he aged 25 years. But I say he sounds and looks healthy. And instantly recognizable to anyone who remembers 1999.
In the Wrestlecrap book “Death of WCW”, (released in 2004) Bryan Alvarez argues this exact same point. He goes through the PPVs and story lines etc etc. But he also takes time to walk through the business happenings behind the scenes. At the end of the book, he argues quite plainly that WCW was killed by a bunch of suits who had no idea and no interest about the wrestling business. And that it’s downfall happened on the day Time Warner and Turner merged. It was always going to be doomed from that day forward.
Alvarez is a moron who doesn't know shit from clay. WCW was *not* "always doomed." If the company had still been making good money, instead of *losing* money by the million, trust me, someone other than Vince would've bought it. Yet even Vince knew that WCW wasn't worth shit at that point, he merely purchased the name and the tape library. One of the best things that happened to WCW was Time/AOL no longer having an interest in it. The worst thing was that Vince bought it, he was the only one with both the interest and the money to do it.
sorry but those suits backed bischoff when they were making money. the suits would have kept wcw on if they made money. The storylines were a joke and had nothing to do with being kid friendly. Bischoff and Russo putting themselves on the air; Russo giving himself the belt and Bischoff going with that and giving Arquette the belt. Everyone and their mother being in the NWO, ending goldbergs streak especially with Nash. The horrible production value; only wrestling company I know that missed dumping blood on not one but two wrestlers on different shows. the list goes on and on. This had NOTHING to do with being kid friendly.
@@jamesm7281Clown. Time/AOL knew they were going to get rid of "that wrestling show" from the get go. They just didn't want the franchise at all. It had zero to do with any stupid ass storyline. They couldn't sell it off when the merger happened because no one could afford to buy it. So they slashed the budget lowered the quality and dumped as soon as they could.
"The Death of WCW" and "Nitro" are two must-read books.
@@Skorpio420 Nitro is the better book than The Death of WCW. The sources used by Alvarez and Reynolds for The Death of WCW are questionable at best and adds in a lot of personal speculation and opinions masquerading as fact.
This is the dark side of when an idea catches fire. Everyone wants a piece of what the creator created, and before long, they want to own the thing they didn't have a hand in making.
Man, this sounds like rap.
@@rcole718 just business in general smh
@@rcole718 yea..the way he put it together
You sir just explained everything wrong with modern media.
You are killing it James. Well done for getting another top guest.
Agreed but It’s not like he’s actually going to tell the truth about anything lmao
@@Cobane823 Very little for sure.
"Top guest"
@@sentientcardboarddumpster7900 He does create controversy.
Top guest huh?
Fml. I aint neva heard of em.
So ill give the credit catch phrase pulled me ..wcw doomed.
Good on that.
I understand how frustrating that must have been. I know what it's like to have to take orders from people who don't understand the business that they're in.
Eric has a strong point: the main reason why the Monday night wars was so hype between the two companies was because both WCW and WWF/E back then was rated T for Teen and geared towards a rated R programming which made for more exciting content and better storylines and action
Bischoff is my favorite wrestling interview. He's honest, gives immense detail to paint the bigger picture, and tells wrestling from the business side.
And he made 1 hell of a dbag character back than, especially I'm the NWO. Played the part a little too good. 😆
@@rietzhu then not than.
@@grunt-sw8si ok Grammar nazi. -Salutes- are you an English major with a masters or what? 🤔...No? THAN stfu THEN.
"He's honest"
Found one who doesn't know it's fake
@@rietzhu Bischoff is TRULY a COOL Guy.
The irony is, in 1999, my family ran into some financial issues and our cable was let go for about 'all' of 99 and damn near all of 2000 as well honestly. I got an after-school job taking out the mail for this office building that my friend's dad was the president of. I was making 150.53 a week and saved 100.53 a week. My mom also found a better job working at an old folks home. One day I come home from work and 'boom' the cable was back on! A little surprise to me from mom. I was catching up with everything! MTV. Cinemax. HBO. Everything! And all I could think about was WCW. I watch it..... Vampiro is now a top guy?! So is Norman Smiley? So is Ernest Miller? And Jeff Jarrett was now 'the guy' of the company?! I thought I woke up in the damn Twilight Zone! All that time I thought I was missing some great stuff, but in reality, I was missing the slow death of WCW. I was glad to see it go in 01.
My favorite time as a wrestling fan was WCW from like 96 to early 99. When Nitro was on point IMO it was the best wrestling show ever.
I couldn't have imagined what you were going through at that moment, I missed out on late 1996-1997, I began watching around the tail end of 1997, what really surprised me was how popular Steve Austin had become in WWE.
You missed out on a lot of great stuff
@Andre Calouro Honestly, the Benoit Tragedy had a lot to do with the big shift in the product overall.
Vampiro being a top guy was not surprising. He was the top guy in Mexico for the most part of the 90s. So getting the top guy from one of the big 3 wrestling countries and making them a star shouldn’t be surprising
I’ve had this happen to me personally. When money people interfere in the processes that other people know. It ruins moral and functionality.
Vince was a private company, he controlled everything.
I remember watching every episode of Nitro and when they said that cactus jack was going to win the title i switched channels and never went back to WCW. True story my brother would watch it with me every Monday night and now that hes passed i always tell people the story
Nice one James I’m so glad Eric has agreed to be interviewed by you looking forward to the rest of the interview
By the way this is easily the BEST shoot interview channel on UA-cam. I haven't picked up on your name yet, Mr Host, but you do such a fantastic job letting the wrestlers do the talking and you always ask just the right questions to get them rolling. They all obviously enjoy your hosting approach. Beautiful job.
His name's James :)
Don't you love how he says he didn't have any control and Ted didn't have any control and he wasn't happy with the direction, but then when the audience was also questioning the direction he classifies the audience as children.
Bischoff loves to take credit for things he had nothing to do with, and deny responsibility for things he absolutely had control over. NWO being a perfect example. It was never his idea. Thinking he could end Vince McMahon and WWF shows what a delusional jackass he has always been.
That’s bc most these little dorks on here are children that weren’t even old enough to have watched wrestling in the 90’s giving these opinions. And blaming Hogan etc….. funny, Hogan went on to have one of the biggest WrestleMania moments with the Rock.
I respect I am not privy to what happened in back rooms and meetings. This man is a gem I hated him as a kid but I love listening to this man talk about the business now as an adult. I was a child but grew up with a love for the business and performed in backyard events it was fun and we always had safety first.
James, I got 2 words for ya..TOTAL PRO. Keep up the incredible work.
What about BG James? Just kidding!
@@curthennig9448 no doubt he'll be a guest maybe around the summer.. James interviewing James lol
I never cease to be amazed at your guest list. Bischoff is a huge get
Bischoff does nothing but talk about what happened 25 years ago. Not like he's busy lmao. Living in the past is literally the only thing that gives him purpose, of course he did the interview.
@@boknowsbaseball all shoot interviews are talking about 25 years ago… bischoff is the only VP of a major wrestling company WSI has had
I agree with Eric when he talks about the behind the scenes problems in the Turner corporation. But it always seems to me he brushes off the faulty creative decisions that were also happening. Crappy creative was a HUGE problem for wcw during the second half of 98 into 99.
WCW lost $50 million in it's final year and were only drawing 1000-2000 fans to house shows. The Turner execs wouldn't have killed a successful business off.
From 1993 to 1999, I have alot of different memories, but you bet your ass if it was Monday night, I was bouncing back and forth between wwf and wcw. It was almost like Christmas every single week. It was the only night of the week I was allowed to watch TV before bed. This man don't know how much him and all the others impacted my life.
It was the day he got the job and said: “I’m way in over my head here.” I really would love to see the financial books for WCW from 94-01 and see every year how much money they lost. I don’t think they ever had one profitable year under Turner and Time Warner.
Such a shame that WCW went out of business. The industry was a lot better place for workers, fans, talent etc when there was 2 major companies. Only person competition wasn't good for was McMahon. Hearing this story is sad how Ted Turner couldn't have any input in WCW anymore. AOL got there's tho, they fell hard and it was beautiful
Dude Ted never did anything but own the company Eric is who ran it and they didn't make money nitro was king of wrestling for 2 years and it was only cuz nwo once that stuff got old they kept changing the nwo and never push new stars and go watch a match that doesn't have interference in it their match always ends in DQ cuz interference wcw was good but not that good has people think and the nwo storyline came from Eric going to Japan and seeing a new company using a group of people of other company and having them claim that they are taking control over the company Eric actually had chance to buy it but the last nitro AOL sold it to Vincent of the wwf AOL did want anything of wrestling on the network Eric just need a network to air the show but AOL fuck Eric right over but wcw death was actually cuz management was stupid
I was a wwf fan and I also agree with this. As soon as wcw died, wwf started a slow decline as well. I wish I knew back then that I was watching the greatest era of wrestling
@Randy Hartford Yeah Management helped kill it as well. Had WCW been hot still like 96-98 another network like TNN(nice throwback before Spike TV) for example would've lined up for it. Around 99 or 2000 they should've cut the Creative Control guys as most of their contracts were up for renewal, stay away from Russo etc. The industry was always more fun and healthy with 2 main companies and not 1 monopoly.
@Nalaka It's true. WCW was keeping the WWF on top of their game to be the better show. Once there was no more competition, then they got complacent and started saving money.
@@nalaka3488 I can't entirely agree. WWF continued to rise. We got Ruthless Aggression. SmackDown became the better show. The in-ring portion was more prominent. John Cena’s Doctor of Thuganomcs was a catalyst that eventually led WWE into an international powerhouse. There was also the rise of Indy-darlings that came later Daniel Bryant and CM Punk!
I'm 40 years old now and I've been watching wrestling ever since I was 7 years old... And I always said and always will that Eric bischoff even though he made mistakes like anyone else that he's considered in my opinion one of the greatest minds in wrestling history he made what wrestling is today he was a part of that by pushing WWE to be at their best
Absolutely love Eric Bishoff, his business mind, his mind set when it comes to practices and moralities when it comes to the business, his awareness of what is important. Amazing guy and will always wish for the best for him.
He talks . He fired stone cold , he let go of eddie, benoit , jericho , malenko
great interview and totally makes sense on how WCW ultimately failed.
Success and failure of a company always starts at the top.
WCW failed for the same reason TNA ultimately failed (yes they still exist but on a much smaller level). It's because Hogan, Nash, and those folks ruined it to put themselves over
@@Dr.Frankensteen
FFS, you losers will never learn. Without Hogan and the NWO, WCW would have been dead before the AE ever began.
@@CompelledUsername Firstly, loser, no one said the NWO didn't have a positive effect on WCW. But the fact also remains that Nash and Hogan also were running things behind the scenes, pushing themselves ahead of the competition. Why do you think it was Nash to ended Goldberg's streak and not some good younger star? Then the infamous Fingerpoke of Doom incident occurred. NWO killed the brand just as much as they saved it.
@@Dr.Frankensteen
Younger star? What younger?...
Oh, my God, the vanilla midgets
@@CompelledUsername Jericho was still with them in 98. Instead of burying him in the Cruiserweight division they should have promoted him in the upper echelon but didn't.
By far the best wrestling interviewer out there. James is so good at what he does and always does his homework. I really enjoy WSI. Keep it up fella 😃
I believe it 100%. One of the things the WWE (then WWF) used to tout all the time was that it was the #1 Marketer to Men in the entire U35 demographic. They did. From Slim Jim to Stacker II to Sony & Playstation games - you name it, things that GUYS like were THERE. When you look back, and then at today, it's CRAZY how in some ways, marketing to men has nearly disappeared. Not with wrestling specifically but I mean in general.
s5 episode 10 of RAW was March 10, 1997....this was the first recorded introduction of the titantron aka the ramp with the giant screen. once this was introduced WWF reimagined the entire genre of professional wrestling. you can watch the recording and feel the energy of the arena.....after that all of the personalities blew up and had more time to dramatize their characters/introductions in a way that wasnt possible before. its an very fascinating piece of wrestling history that you dont hear talked about often enough
As an adult with life experience, I totally believe Bischoff's claim about WCW's death being the result of corporate dealings rather than creative mistakes. With that said, it's not like WCW's creative was really kicking. Or that Bischoff tried his best to show the corporate higher ups the real value of that property.
Definitely corporate dealings was the end all be all but the on screen product and just the creative choices would of eventually caught up cause it was bad
The company was finished when Time Warner bought Turner, but that was just a formality, the funeral. Creative still killed it to start with. Had Sting won at Starrcade and they kept running a wrestling show like they should have they could have been easily convinced to leave WCW alone because they would have still been making money.
That’s crazy At one time Eric Bischoff was the most powerful man in wrestling now Vince McMahon went back to claim the throne! But with all jokes aside, thank you, Eric Bishoff for all the fun times in wow when you were on top of the world God bless you look great!
I respect Eric very much. He is a decent man!
Ultimately, the AOL Time Warner merger killed WCW. It put in charge of Turner TV a whole bunch of people with disdain for wrestling, with no knowledge of wrestling and who were passively, even actively, wanting to kill WCW.
Really cool you did an interview with Bischoff James! I know he's a polarising character for some people, but I really enjoy his podcast.
*Bitchoff
He's only polarizing because when he tells things the way they really went down, it contradicts Meltzer's horseshit narrative.
@@danielburger1775 I agree with his Meltzer bashing I cannot stand that clown.
@@DaveMoth But Dave meltzer is always accurate with his reporting pal 😅
One of my favourite wrestling podcasts of all time keep up the good work James
James does his homework and is always prepared. Great to watch all the time.
First time I found this channel. What a great interview/clip. Busch off is always a great interview.
Wrestlecrap used to have these really cool what-if scenarios where they explored what would happen if key moments in wrestling history didn't play out the way they did. Hearing this interview makes me wonder what would happen if Bischoff walked out of WCW after that meeting.
Great to see you get this interview James! You are my favorite interview out of all the podcasts. You have great knowledge and don't just read Dave Meltzer, Thanks for the interview!
Lol like a certain mr Thompson who loves quoting meltzer
@@Hakeem990 Conrad gets his Observers for free obviously!
@@curthennig9448 That could be rumour and innuendo pal
@@Hakeem990 Certainly could be.
Brilliant guest, a real wrestling personality and character, Eric must have so much to say and tell, really interesting to hear Eric and the WCW era.
In my opinion he is the reason wrestling WAS great...he made WCW abd forced wwf to compete. He's on par with Sting, taker, Goldberg, stone cold ect.
I was relieved as a manager a year ago. I watched this later that day and this video inspired me to leave my last job so if I had a chance to say Thank you to Eric Bischoff I would. Cause this inspired me to leave my last job.
Terry Tingle's name does make me wonder 🤔😂. I miss WCW even though I always favored WWF. I miss having one TV on WWF and the other TV on WCW. And I miss playing the video games. I'll never forget my brother getting WCW vs NWO world tour for christmas we wore that game out. Great interview 👍👍
James man you're moving up, your interviewing style is awesome. Don't forget us little people when you make it big as a wrestling interviewer and podcaster.
if it wasn't for Eric Bischoff the revolution and mainstream America acceptance wouldn't of happened. We all owe him a big thankyou.
James let Eric talk and finish his points and thoughts. Conrad interrupts Eric every 3 words. 😂
“Hopefully this sells us some books” 😂
Love your stuff, man. Keep grinding!
I remember the "finger poke of doom'. I literally turned off the TV and never turned on WCW ever again. So yeah, that did have an effect.
That late 90s WCW era is the greatest ever
Yes sir
So glad you got eric on, his podcast is a great listen and, for me unlike Conrad's other podcasts hasnt gotten stale, jumped the shark or a whine fest...congrats keep going man!
Part of my job back then was to edit the "Thursday Night Thunder" show every week and I had to sit with someone from TNT S&P in my edit suite every Thursday morning and look for people in the audience who were "flipping the bird" or had inappropriate signs and blur them out. this took forever!
I now have respect for you Eric. You removed the fog and its eerily clear now. Thanks for your time
1988 Ted calls Vince.... "Guess what, Vince, I'm now in the wrasslin business", to which Vince replied... "I'm very happy for you, Ted, but I'm in the entertainment business"
Bischoff is very similar to Nash, always quick to take plaudits for the positives but anything not a positive it wasn't him. On a side note I really enjoyed the Shane Douglas interview.
His book should be next to Hogan & Prince Harry's books in the fiction aisle.
Bingo
@@daveborder7751 😂😂😂😂😂 definitely.
@@daveborder7751 will give you a quick summary of his book, wcw was ok, I took charge wcw was phenomenal, I created the nwo, nwo revolutionised the wrestling industry, I revolutionised the wrestling business because I created the nwo, wcw beat wwe, Russo to wcw, wcw died but had nothing to do with me, wcw stuff I don't wana talk about, Hulk Hogan is gods gift, do not say anything other than positive things about my best friend Hogan, aew is shit, TK is an idiot, Dixie Carter is an idiot, I don't want to talk about tna. End.
That’s was devastating because I loved WCW and it was crushing WWF 💯
“Next up to the stage, get your dollar bills ready folks…Terryyyyy Tingle”
“It wasn’t one thing, it was a combination of things.” Yes, and the finger-poke of doom and other bad booking decisions are part of that “combination of things.” We children know nothing about the business side, but we know a thing or two about bad tv.
i love hearing eric speak. he has great stories.
Are they all truthful though?
Damn. This actually makes me respect Eric . Great interview
No, it doesn't like at all. It was already falling apart before his meeting
Since at least the mid-80’s, whenever a property owned or produced by “warner” (before AOL, after AOL, etc) that was successful but ended up collapsing, 90% chance it was due to Warner execs meddling. See: Richard Donner’s Superman, Tim Burton’s Batman, Babylon 5’s attempts to spinoff, DCEU’s constant direction changes, WCW. List could go longer.
Dope interview..... 1st time watching the channel.... Good work
Now if you can get Grandpa Corny, that'd be great. Well done, James.
Thing is, even the Business and politics had a huge part in the death of WCW and the merger with AOL was a huge blow, he tells the story like it was the only reason and the horrible booking and the creative pit of 1999-2001 had nothing to do with it.
Well during the merger wcw lost like $18 million in a single year. Russo was spending like crazy. So AOL wanted nothing to do with a company that just lost all that money so that’s why they sold it quickly. Had they been careful with the money perhaps AOL would’ve given the OK to keep it going.
Like Eric said you're a clown in the circus.
Yeah I like Eric but he always blames this invisible boogeyman as the sole reason when the reality is much murkier. He rarely takes accountability for his involvement in the demise as well.
@@alexwhite3232 It was also Losses being dumped on WCW's books from other divisions. Their losses looked worse than they were.
Glad someone gets it. A lot of Russo did wasn’t kid friendly.
Growing up I was never into wrestling, in fact my brothers and I would always make fun of it.... until '97. It was WCW that hooked my attention.
Thank you Bischoff for everything you've done for this great sport. I believe if you didn't have restrictions in WCW it would have thrived even more. I'll always be traumatized though because I got to watch Thunder, Raw & ECW regularly but my very first Nitro was the night it was bought by McMahon. Sad times.
Are you smoking crack? Wcw failed BECAUSE the hired fucking idiots like Bischoff
The only restriction he has was the leash that Hulk Hogan had him on. Everything he says is just an excuse.
@@60BloodyChamp60 facts
I live in Panama City FL & religiously watched WCW & went to shows at Club La Vela. That night was an embarrassment to my city
@@ModernDayRenaissanceMan I live in Tallahassee and work at The Moon up here 😂😂😂. I don’t remember the last Nitro being from the club. Was it in PC from somewhere else? Sting coming in from the helicopter was a GOAT moment and Raven and Saturn vs Benoit and Malenko was 1 of the best TV matches
He never stops blaming others. The rating didn't kill WCW, the trash booking did
Yes guy on the internet keep believing you know the most of a situation you watched.
@@vibangigan5336 I don't know most of the situation, but it's pretty easy to tell when someone is dodging accountability
@@Rucker1980 that's doesn't make sense. Trashy booking kills ratings. In terms goes out of business
@@giogomez3657 I was talking about rating like PG
@@Rucker1980 what does pg have to do with what Eric is talking about? Dude, you're trying to sound smart and it's not working. WWF won bc it was just simply better
The Day when Dewey won The WCW belt from DDP, that’s when it was doomed.
Yes that was horrible
Who’s Dewey?
@@kar5431 he's referring to David Arquette who played the dim witted cop named Dewey in the horror movie Scream franchise
@@jonbourgoin182 oh ok. That was sad. All that to promote his wrestling movie.
The End Was Near,On The Horizon Not To Long After.
The fact that Russo was hired AFTER this meeting shows how disjointed things were. The guy was basically the WWF Jerry Springer.
Much respect to you Eric Bischoff
I guess that whole "subject too complicated to get into" was the fact that they were letting suicidal Nash run the company into the ground like he did to WWF right before he left lol.
That's on top of Hogan doing Hogan things.
Yep. That he was still pushing his buddy Hogan over Goldberg as the top star-even when Goldberg was champion & clearly the top guy. That he was still pushing Piper & Savage to the moon when they were totally washed up. That he let Nash beat Goldberg & then have the NWO cuck him on that January 4th show. The Goldberg heel turn in 2000 etc. Meltzer told him multiple times in 1998 he needed to build for the future, but because they were making huge money then he ignored it & stayed with the same guys in their mid to late forties. WCW failed because of his & Russo's incompetence & those he surrounded himself with.
Correction Bischoff: the reason WCW failed was that the clowns in the circus - Hogan, Hall and Nash - were RUNNING the circus and you weren't man enough to keep them in line.
Truth. The whole show would basically stop once they would come out and clown for 15 minutes instead of having a match. It got ridiculous and boring.
@@philipscott3241 Doing SNL skits in the ring because the "stars" were too old to wrestle and too selfish to share the stage and Bischoff was too weak to stop them.
Exactly right
@@killerjoe7596 I would say Hall was still willing to work and not be so selfish. Hogan and Nash are another story at that time.
@@philipscott3241 hogan and the outsiders were the reason they beat wwf.
I remember scott hall cutting promo and saying with a smirk ...." can we say... "butt" on TBS?!"
Im from Germany and im watched Wrestling since 1995. I remember that i can watch WCW and WWF at the Same time in television. My favorite was Always WCW. I still watching and wearing my WCW s videos and shirts. WCW Fan for life. Thank you Eric.
The shift towards kid-friendly content may have been why Bischoff, Nash, and others gave up. But the fingerpoke (Jan 4th 1999) was when it became undeniable to the fans that something was disastrously wrong at WCW. So both things can be the nail in the coffin, the moment that key people at the company gave up, and then the moment a few months later when fans realized it was over and they gave up too.
What about David Arquette as WCW World Heavyweight Champion...??
Yeah it became evident to fans but it wasn't the nail in the coffin. Things are often gone by the time you realize. Wcw had died before that even happened.
I loved the Finger-Poke of Doom, it was a great swerve. And they had great ratings. So it was not disastrous.
Fingerpoke?
When Mike Tyson came to the WWF and my dad’s country club friends were talking about it, that’s when I knew WCW was doomed.
David Arquette would love to have a word with you.
Thats what nash said to was when tyson did his thing he said he knew it was bout over
@@ericradford2142who ?
@@jacksmith-mu3ee he won the WCW heavyweight championship in April of 2000.
@@ericradford2142 yeah who is he ?
*Ironically Vince McMahon is in the same boat* 🤔
I think Bish tries to be honest, but I don't believe that all the way back in August of 1998 he thought WCW was doomed, lol!
He just said the reason why. The executives wanted him to change the formula that was the reason WCW was on top. Why is that so hard to understand?
There was no way in hell he was going to resign after that meeting. He was making great money with stock shares included. He was probably in the $750,000 range at least in 1998.
@@SuperHyphyOne to say "doomed" at that time is kind of silly. Trouble brewing on the horizon, maybe. I think NOW he can say he knew it was Doomed. But, at the time this was happening? No.
@@iwanttoseemrshowhis is him saying at this point he sees the power shift, not shifting cuz if you see that you can always try to defend against a coup, that the ppl who know the current business and the audience aren't making the calls anymore.
Best he can do is make sure he has a life raft on this sinking ship, keep the massive paycheck till either it stops or a better deal comes along
Great interview so far James. You do awesome work.....now see if you can get lex luger!!!!
When I first heard Eric say this in an interview in the 2000s, from that day on, I have never been fully confident about anything. I try to prepare for if it's over, what's my next move.
Bischoff may be right about the Fingerpoke of Doom or whatever not being the cause of WCW's downfall, but he did seem to think that Hogan's farts smelled like fresh-cut grass.
Air freshener indeed up Eric's nostrils.
AOL merger is what killed them. They were still not going to recover in the ratings even if the FPOD never happened, at least not anytime soon.
WWF had caught lightning in a bottle from the top of their card, all the way down to the jobbers being more over than 90% of WCW's roster at the time.
Billionaire Ted would have absolutely kept it going though, and maybe they recover enough to eventually beat WWF in the ratings occasionally by the time Austin was forced into retirement, and The Rock goes to Hollywood, and Foley goes into retirement too.
But keep in mind, sober, physically, and mentally healthy, Christian version of HBK comes back during that same time period. Eddie, JBL, Cena, Orton go into the main event scene. And Kane and Undertaker are as over as ever, and don't need to be involved in the championship belt scene to get as loud, or louder pops as the champions.
Bret Hart believes his farts don't stink. Why does this narcissist get a free pass?
@@filmbuff2777 The same could be said for several wrestlers back then. The only one whose farts smelled good is probably Stacy Keibler.
@@filmbuff2777 Bret does go overboard at times when talking about how great he was.
giving hulk hogan creative control didnt help WCW either. He was main eventing every PPV, having 30-40 boring headlock/submission matches.
Damn Eric!! 😅😅 you could've chosen another analogy!! LMAOOOOO
"Hey, you're doing great and making a ton of money. Now please change everything about your business."
Brilliant executives right there.
Eric bischoff gave ridiculous contracts to wrestlers some of them where not even wrestling
Brilliant Eric bischoff right there😂😂😂what a joke
@@user-qr9dn5ge1q I'm not saying there wasn't a problem with Eric. But when a merger happens and all the executives Want you to go back in time to the early 90's when Norman the Lunatic and Yacht captain Mike Rotunda were there being cartoons, it kinda hurts your edgy adult oriented product.
I had the same feeling when my old boss sold 90 percent of her company. A few months later the “new guys” gave me the axe.
This is especially interesting considering WWE's trajectory once their competition was gone. The phrase "JBL is Poopy" leaps to mind. If you want legions of parents bringing their kids to a show, it needs to include innuendo and other such grown up content so the parents aren't staring at their watch waiting for it to end.
i know that 'JBL is poopy' is such a dumb line for John Cena to write but,
lets be honest, even when he sang about sex and calling people retarded, his character was still pretty immature.
it still.. felt liek John Cena
Yup.
If we wanted to see The Wiggles, we would take our kids to The Wiggles.
Give us Aladdin.
Methaphorically speaking.
@@killwalker The Wiggles sounds like a play produced by Norman Smiley. 😂
Yo I remember in the early days of the John Cebna/JBL feud. He sprayed “JBL SUCKS” on his limo.
😆 jbl is poopy lmaoo
Making an actor the world champion...
That is part of it lol
The day Eric Bischoff was hired was the day that WCW was doomed.
This brings back so many memories. I am 45 years old, and I was always a WCW fan over WWF/WWE ever since its inception in the late 80s. I even preferred WCW over WWE during the Attitude Era, and it broke my heart when WCW fell on hard times and ended up getting purchased by Vince McMahon and he fucked it all up. Some of my best memories from my childhood was watching WCW talent such as Ric flair and The V Horsemen, The Legion of Doom, Sting, Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, Nikita Koloff, etc. Right now I hate WWE and I can't watch that trash except the Blloodline storyline. I watched AEW faithfully for a year-and-a-half until I got bored with it when Cody left. I still think AEW is a great wrestling product but I need WCW because in it's heyday I feel it was the best wrestling company around and the only company that came close was WCCW back in the day with the Free Biirds vs the Von Erichs.
Same here
NWA !!!!
Same
AEW sucks. It will never be close to WCW.
I met Mr. Bischoff one time and thanked him for his contributions to the business. Funny, funny dude. But the product on the screen had just as much to do with WCW's fall as the backstage did. People got tired of the NWO, B.S. finishes, sloppy booking, reluctance to change soon enough, and then it's reluctance to accept it's own changes and formulate steady pushes and storylines.
Yet people are tired of the lack luster crap the WWE has been doing in the years following the "Invasion" angle, Ruthless Aggression Era. Yet they didnt wind up with nowhere to go like WCW and ECW and die.
Considering the shit WWE has put out and still managed to stay, if the back end wasn't a mess and Bischoff has consistent support, WCW would still be here despite the shtick happening with NWO.
@@MiketheNerdRanger exactly, and if Bischoff had gained became the owner of WCW on top of that they could very will still be around today.
@@the.real.novatic1 dumbass mark
@@the.real.novatic1legally they couldn’t sell it to WCW, in 1996 to stop a lawsuit Turner agreed that if WCW ever went up for sale WWF would get first choice. If Turner had sold to Bischoff instead of offering to WWF first they would have been sued for breach of contract.
The WWF had celebrities, it made an album, it had a show on NBC when it was the most popular network in America. Hogan was guest starring on the A Team, and wrestled with Mister T. Vince McMahon was playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers. The RockNWrestling gimmick was pure genius. It made fans out of millions of people who thought wrestling for losers. They crossed over into pop culture, something the NWA never did.
So what? You had the cartoon WWF and the realistic NWA. If you were a true wrestling fan, you could find joy in their differences.
It was also because Turner wasn’t willing to take time to let the ratings get better. They wanted instant gratification and an instant fix and that wasnt going to happen immediately.
I really wanna watch this whole interview so I'm not gonna ruin it by watching it piece by piece. Love at James. You are a relentless advertiser.
I'm trying to think of a workaround to get the full interviews out quicker where it won't negatively effect the clip views... but I don't want to charge money for the full interviews with Patreon or YT membership either... ideas welcome, seriously!
@@WSI just release the whole interview and shoot separate stuff for clips dude shoot an extra 15 mins ....like b roll....theres no way doing it like this doesn't hurt your views of the full interviews....
the one thing I've learned about interviews with such awesome polarizing figures like Bischoff and Cornette is that: you can never watch them just once.
@@WSI 100% make a small $5 paid subscription for it. That would be sweet, don't feel like a sell out etc. Sure you know it's the formula of all the big interview channels
I prefer the clips.
It's crazy how many awesome companies ended because of mergers, especially in the late 90s and early 2000s. Hell I worked for a company that's was number 1 in the world in It's field merged with another company and the first thing they change is the head of operation second and probably the most important head of HR. That company is in the top 20 at best now.
Globalization.... Ironically Wrestling was destroyed by the real NWO
Level of excuses
Eric let go of jericho , mysterio, malenko , benoit , Eddie , stone cold . Injuring bret hart and ignoring greenberg
Out of all the books I’ve read….I thoroughly enjoyed Controversy Creates Cash! I felt like I was in those board room meetings. I could empathize with Bischoff.