Eric Bischoff Interview

Here's a phone interview I conducted with former professional wrestling personality Eric Bischoff on Thursday afternoon. We talked about Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling, which debuts this Saturday on CMT (2 p.m. and 8 p.m. here in our area, with several repeats).

Q: How was this impressive cast assembled?

A: "It was a culmination of a bunch of efforts." Eric said business partner Jason Hervey brought in Danny Bonaduce and Todd Bridges, while Hulk and himself (knowing Rodman from wrestling) brought in Rodman. "Everyone else was brought in through casting -- a casting agency that specializes in this type of things.''

Q: Anything you can let us in on to watch for?

A: "We as producers were surprised. It was a tricky, balancing card -- producing a reality show. The ones that work have a formula that works really well. That tells a story. We wanted to produce a good reality show -- you have to give wrestling fans something special. It was a big challenge. It takes a lot of time to get good in the ring. We were surprised how quickly they came along. The level of committment they had."

Q: Were there any injuries?

A: "Yes. It's hard to get into the ring without getting injured."

Q: Did you create this show based on certain things from other reality shows?

A: "There's nothing specific. We looked at competition/elimination format-type shows."

Q: Since I'm calling you from Daytona Beach, the birthplace of the NWO, is there a Hulk-Rodman NWO moment on the show?

A: "There were a lot of those moments. I like Dennis. He has a long history of being Dennis Rodman. There were concerns -- it takes a lot of focus and effort, and it's not much fun and it's hard work. Dennis was one of the celebrities that surprised me the most.''

Q: How many episodes are there, and will they run continuously without repeats?

A: "There are eight episodes, straight-through."

Q: Will there be a second season?

A: "Of course, we are hoping for one. We want to build a franchise. We just retained international broadcast rights to the show. The show will now be international (world-wide)."

Q: Considering the show has already been taped, show spoilers are still hard to come by. How did you accomplish that with such impressive publicity (on Raw and TNA Wrestling shows)?

A: "There is only so much you can do. It was a point of contention. It's critical to play things out in front of a live audience, as crowd reaction is a key part to performance (in wrestling). You have to be able to connect with the audience (to be successful). So, it's hard to measure that in a closed studio. We did take the risk and said, 'Go for it.'" Eric said they monitored signs, used security guards and watched for illegal taping. "The show isn't going to live or die by whether people know who the winner is."

Q: How is Hulk doing?

A: "Terry's outlook, demeanor and perspective on life is probably better now than anytime in the last 10 years. He's faced challenges none of us would want to have to face. He took a real beating the last six-to-eight months. He's come out of it a stronger person."


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