During the latest edition of his “83 Weeks” podcast, Eric Bischoff commented on the creative tension in WCW in the build to Road Wild 1998, Hulk Hogan carrying a knife in his fanny pack, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Kevin Nash being unhappy and creative tension in WCW in the summer of 1998: “It was probably as bad as it had ever gotten at that point. There were a lot of details I don’t remember because quite frankly some of them were childish and some of them were silly. Some were bad communication, miscommunication, or no communication. But nonetheless, there was a moment – I think we had an hour before the show was supposed to go live. And I remember exactly where we were standing backstage. It was me, Hulk, Scott, and Kevin. I’m all of 5-10, 190 pounds and I’m surrounded by these guys. I didn’t have a lot of success as mediator, but I did the best I could.”
On looking down and seeing a knife in Hogan’s fanny pack: “It got really, really tense. Hulk is not a violent guy – he will avoid conflict usually. Hulk is a hippie deep down in his heart. And I’d never seen him as pissed as he was that afternoon before the show. And I don’t know what the issue was – I don’t know if anybody did, everybody was just pissed off at each other. I remember standing in the middle of it, and I look down and Hulk’s fanny pack is open. And I see a knife in there and I’m thinking ‘What the fuck.’ I’ve heard of this happening and I’ve heard these kind of stories, but nah, this can’t possibly be happening. And of all people, not Hulk. But I think there was enough tension, anxiety, and enough threats happening that Hogan came half expecting there to be shit go down. I was saying this can’t be happening, and fortunately, it never did. But I’ve never seen Hulk more ready to go to war as he was on that afternoon. Never seen it before, and never seen it since.”
On if Hogan had intentions to go after Nash: “I didn’t say that. I’m telling you exactly what I saw. I saw a Hulk Hogan that was uncharacteristically aggressive and appearing to me that he was ready to throw down in a real way. Not in a wrestling way, in a real way. I grew up in Detroit and know when it’s real and when it’s posturing. I had seen all the posturing before, but in that moment, I was standing next to a guy who was ready to go because he believed he didn’t have a choice. And when I looked down and saw him in a fanny pack with a blade in there, I thought ‘Oh fuck, this is gonna be bad.’ This can’t possibly be getting to this level. Can I tell you what was going through Hulk’s mind? No. Can I tell that he never carried a knife before until that night? I can’t tell you that either. Maybe a coincidence but it didn’t feel like one at the moment.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
