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Eric Bischoff On Pitching Stories As RAW GM, Bret Hart vs. Hulk Hogan In WCW

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Eric Bischoff was answering fan questions on a recent episode of his 83 Weeks podcast. Bischoff was asked if he ever pitched stories during his time as the General Manager of Monday Night RAW, if he ever underestimated a story, and why fans never got Bret Hart vs. Hulk Hogan in WCW.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

Pitching creative ideas while RAW GM: “When I was general manger of RAW, my role was to pretend I was the general manager of RAW. It was strictly an on-camera opportunity for me. It’s one that I’m really grateful for because I had a blast doing it. It was the best decision, probably one of the best decisions, I’ve made in my wrestling career, to be honest. But I was not involved in any creative process, pitch meetings. I showed up about 11 o’clock in the morning. About two o’clock in the afternoon, I’d get a list of the segments that I was in or the dialogue that went along with it, and then I would just wait til about the end of the day, usually about 530 or 6, before I would start thinking about it because I knew it would change. I didn’t want to kind of get myself ready for a scene and dialogue that I knew was going to change anyway because I wanted to keep my head clear so that once I focused on what I was doing, I didn’t get myself confused once I got out there live. So, I’d wait till about 530 in the afternoon and then I’d get my final, supposedly final, draft of what we were going to do script-wise. But, once it got to that point, the scene was pretty well set. There may be some minor variations in the dialogue, but once I got that, I would go find a corner to hide in where I wouldn’t be distracted, kind of put myself into that scene and into that dialogue, and kind of visualize it in my head and go do it, and then I’d go home. That was it.”

If he ever underestimated how well a story would do: “The NWO idea. When that idea started taking shape in my head a couple of years before we actually did it, and when I say taking shape in my head, I mean there were fragments of ideas that were kind of floating around in the back of my mind. Whenever I was on a treadmill, or away from the business, or out doing something physical, I would start thinking about some some of those random fragmented ideas and that was the case with the NWO. And then when Scott Hall became available, Kevin Nash became available all of a sudden it was kind of like  desperate fragments of ideas started coming together and forming a picture. Now, I thought it was a pretty good idea. I thought when Scott came in and Kevin came in, I went ‘a-ha here’s my opportunity.’ Again, not knowing at the time that Hulk would be the third man and all that. I understood it was going to be Sting, we all know that. I knew it was a good idea. I didn’t have a clue, not a clue, what it would ultimately end up being.”

Why fans never got Bret Hart vs. Hulk Hogan in WCW: “I’ve mentioned before – and with all due respect to Bret, because I try really hard not to be negative – look, Bret Hart: amazing performer. In a class all of his own when it comes to in-ring performance and his technical abilities. I loved watching Bret Hart matches. I still do because of the level of almost perfection that he had in some ways in the ring. But when Bret got to WCW, he had gone through a lot. The Montreal Screwjob thing had much more of an impact on him than most people know, and maybe even more than he’s willing to admit at this point in time. But there was no rush. It wasn’t that. I don’t want to suggest it’s because of that, I didn’t book Hogan right away with Bret. No. It’s because when I brought Bret in, it was because of Thunder. It was because Ted Turner was determined to bring in Thunder. I knew to avoid the dilution of the product that I could see coming. I had to separate the rosters so that you didn’t have talent crossing over constantly. Because now you’ve got five hours of prime time wrestling on a week. It’s just no way to sustain that from a creative perspective.”

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