Eric Bischoff Comments On Hiring Virgil In 1996

Michael Jones is known to many wrestling fans by the name Virgil. He’s also wrestled under the names Vincent, Soul Train Jones, and a few other monikers. When Virgil was hired by WCW in 1996, he was placed in the New World Order. Virgil became the 8th person to join the faction on September 23rd, 1996.

Eric Bischoff was recently asked on the 83 Weeks podcast what went into the decision to hire him for the NWO angle.

“It wasn’t my idea to bring him in. I think it was a combination of a couple of different people, I think Hulk Hogan being one of them but it wasn’t his idea. He didn’t originally come to me with the idea. It might have been Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. It was the trifecta, it was that group who came to me and said ‘why don’t we do this? It’ll be fun. He’s a good dude.'”

“There was a diversity issue that was apparent to me, keep in mind this Turner Broadcasting. Turner Broadcasting was way more interested in diversity before diversity became as important as it is today.”

“We had a challenge in terms of diversity within the NWO and he was available.”

“Regardless of whose idea it was, it kind of made sense on paper. He was never brought in to be a big star, he was never brought in as a big damn deal. He was a supporting cast member for crying out loud.”

Virgil appeared as “Soul Train Jones” in a couple of segments with the Inner Circle in AEW last November.

Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below: