ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Seldom does one person affect an entire industry the way Eric Bischoff has. When Ted Turner owned World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the early ‘90s he had a few different old-school bookers in charge like Ole Anderson and Bill Watts.
But when Turner changed things up and tapped a third-string announcer with a sales background as the new executive in charge of WCW, everything changed for the Atlanta-based promotion.
Bischoff’s first major move was asking for a primetime spot to go head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation (today’s WWE). That was unheard of in the industry and quickly Monday Night Nitro was started on TNT. And the “Monday Night Wars” were underway.
But things got really interesting almost 28 years ago exactly when arguably the most famous scene ever in a wrestling ring unfolded when Hulk Hogan turned “heel” (became a bad guy). That move immediately changed the landscape of the industry as Hogan had been the backbone of the industry for more than a decade. His former employer in the WWF was now going head to head with Hogan in a newly formed faction called the New World Order (NWO) and fans couldn’t get enough.
All the while Bischoff was at the forefront starting a ratings war with the competing WWF Monday Night Raw. And Nitro took off, famously beating Raw for 83 weeks. In fact, that’s the title of Bischoff’s current podcast he hosts.
In this interview, we cover a wide variety of topics, including all that drama from WCW, the decision to turn Hogan and today’s wrestling environment. One topic Bischoff discussed is Jacksonville-based All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He has been a frequent critic of the promotion and a lot of his criticisms have been leveled at owner Tony Khan.