Eric Bischoff Interview - Talks about new book, internet bio's, Bret Hart

Here is a transcript of an interview on Epicenter.

Show: The Piledriver
Guest(s): Eric Bischoff & Kurt Angle
Date: October 20, 2006
Your Hosts: Patrick Kelley, Chad Perry, & James Walsh
Produced By: Chris Furguson & James Walsh
Recap By: Patrick Kelley & James Walsh

The Piledriver, formerly the Weekend Warriors of Wrestling, are back in business again! This week, you can catch the archived audio of this week's show where the Piledriver crew welcome two big names in the wrestling industry.

First, he was the Executive Vice President of World Championship Wrestling. He was the creative genius behind the creation of the original New World Order and is the only man on this or any other planet that can claim to have defeated Vince McMahon for any period of time. He is Mr. Eric Bischoff! Mr. Bischoff stops by for over a half hour to discuss a lot of the more controversial things that happened during his time in the professional wrestling business. Some of those controversial issues include Starcade 1997 with some shocking remarks about Steve 'Sting' Borden, the growth of the New World Order, the lack of a splash made by Bret 'The Hitman' Hart in WCW, and even being the punch line in many of Vince McMahon's on camera jokes over the past few years. Speaking of 'controversy', pick up Eric Bischoff's book 'Controversy Creates Cash' right now at WWEShop.com. There is a special package deal where you receive both 'Controversy Creates Cash' and the 'Monday Night Wars' DVD for one low fee!

Also stopping by is the man who shocked the professional wrestling world over the past few months by shockingly departing from the WWE and signing with TNA. He is the 'Olympic Hero' and the man who will be appearing at Sunday's big pay-per-view spectacular as TNA presents Bound for Glory. He is Kurt Angle!

All this plus a special preview of TNA's Bound for Glory card!



ERIC BISCHOFF RECAP:

- The interview opens up with 'I'm Back' followed by the hosts calling up Bischoff on his cell phone as he pulled up near a State Prison! Risky business!

- The book “Controversy Creates Cash” then comes up and Bischoff says that the story is “100% mine” He did have a co-writer, but all of the stories and content of the book is his. When asked about Vince’s input into the book he says that he was given total control and that Vince “didn't censor anything that I had to say”

- He decided to write the book after he typed his name into Google out of curiosity and found all the stories about him on the web. He also came across Wikipedia.org, and many of what was written about him was false, so he decided to disprove all of the myths about WCW and himself.

- When asked about “The Death of WCW” he said that he was told by his lawyer that he could have pursued legal action as most of what was written could be seen as slander. “That book is so far off base it’s not even funny”

- Bischoff then talks about the birth of WCW Monday Nitro, and how it was a big success. When asked how crucial it was to WCW’s survival, he says that Ted Turner loved the WCW Product and would have supported it even if Monday Nitro had failed, but Bischoff’s influence with the company would have diminished.

- He said it was great for WCW to succeed under him because nobody, including Bischoff himself, expected it to happen.

- Bischoff is then asked about whether or not the nWo growing so large hurt the idea behind the creation, but Bischoff says that the original idea was to have WCW and nWo split into two different brands very much like Raw and Smackdown are now, which is why the nWo kept growing larger and larger, but that final step to separate the two brands never happened.

- He says that it was a compliment for his ideas and creations (nWo, Goldberg, Scott Steiner) to be incorporated into the WWE. He says it didn’t work because they operate under a different style and they used the style that works for them to creations that didn’t mesh well.

- The infamous Starrcade 1997 Hogan vs. Sting main event was brought up next. Bischoff agrees that it was disappointing much like most people do. Bischoff said that there were backstage politics involved in what happened, but he also says that he has a “tremendous amount of respect for Steve Borden” but also mentions that when he showed up to Starrcade that night, he looked out of shape and not deserving of the crowning moment that was booked for him: “I was disappointed for him because I didn’t get the impression that he was taking and seizing this moment for what it could have been, and I wasn’t the only one who felt that way”

- He is then asked about Bret Hart coming to WCW and him not working well in that company. Bischoff takes some of the blame for not having a good plan for Bret. He says that Bret is one of the “classiest individuals I’ve ever dealt with”, but also feels that the incident in Montreal left a scar on Bret that hurt his passion towards to business: “I don’t think he was as committed and passionate about being in WCW as he needed to be” Combined with his lack of a plan for Bret, Bischoff felt that both of those problems hurt Bret’s success in WCW.

- Bischoff says that he is proud about his success in WCW, but that he would not want to run another Wrestling Promotion. He doesn’t feel like he could live up to what he did in WCW, and now that he works for WWE he actually likes a lot of the people he works with and it would be hard to have the “take no prisoners” mentality in making legit wrestling competition.

- Eric Bischoff says that his book is sort of a farewell from the wrestling business, and thanks Vince for giving him the chance to be a performer in his last few years with the wrestling business and for letting him end it the way it has.

- He is then asked about his other projects like “Full Throttle” and is asked whether or not he will continue with such projects. He says that he is in “no position to retire” and has many other business ventures like an entertainment company, an energy drink company, and several others.

- Bischoff decided to go to the WWE in 2002 after he had time to get over some of the negative feelings he had towards the business after what happened in WCW. He said that he missed performing, and decided to go and do that with the WWE. He also felt that it was a better way to end his career than with the downfall of WCW.

- He feels that Vince owning all of the WCW footage has already skewed what happened during the Monday Night Wars. He says that there are still a few people at WWE that would “just as soon drive a stake through my heart as look at me” He says that some of them still remember the problems that the WWE had during the time that WCW was dominating. He is also understanding of such feelings, but feels those feelings will prevent the true influence of WCW from being fully acknowledged. When talking about the influence of WCW, he says that “WWE is still benefiting from it”

- When asked about the ECW Rebirth and what was said about WCW during that time, he says that he was only playing a character and didn’t really mind. He says that when he is taking the paychecks he gives “100% of my time effort and energy and support 100% of what they want to do” When asked if WWE was surprised about him doing some of the things he did, Bischoff tells a story about how when he first signed with Vince and how Vince asked him if there was anything that he was uncomfortable about doing. He says that “I’m not comfortable moving to Connecticut, but other than that I’m wide open”

- He then talks about how the book is less cutthroat than people may expect. He feels that all the wrestling books he’s read are the same in that its basically just wrestlers taking shots at other wrestlers that they worked with. He wanted to write a book about the complexity of the wrestling business, which has never been done before.

- Bischoff then tells a story about a friend of his (who he keeps anonymous) who called him up after reading the book and was asked about something that Bischoff said a bout him: “Couldn’t you have said that a little nicer?” Bischoff feels that the book needed to be honest and that’s what he did.

Word Associations

Verne Gange: “Classy guy I have a tremendous amount of respect and affection for him”
Ted Turner: “I would cut off a finger on my left hand to work for him again”
Missy Hyatt: “A disgusting waste of humanity”
Honky Tonk Man: “A loser”
Goldberg: “Very very intense. Almost too intense for his own good”
Vince Russo: “A fraud”

- The interview then ends with another plug of his book “Controversy Creates Cash” and he tells the fans to keep enjoying the WWE.