10 Things You Learned From Eric Bischoff's 1998 Interview On Off The Record

He was controversial, he created cash, he was for a time incredibly successful. "Easy E" Eric Bischoff's story in professional wrestling is a rather remarkable journey, going from announcer to President of World Championship Wrestling, spearheading the ratings crusade against Vince McMahon and WWE.

In 1998, Canadian television sports talk show program TSN's Off The Record with Michael Landsberg began to feature wrestlers. One of the first wrestling guests was Vince McMahon who challenged Bischoff to appear on the same show. One month later in the midst of WCW's 83-week ratings winning streak, Bischoff accepted.

10 He Saw Vince McMahon As 'Fortunate' And A Credit Thief

Immediately Michael brought up Vince McMahon and stated that he is a creative genius. Without hesitation, Eric Bischoff disagreed and began to take his shots, "I think Vince McMahon has been very fortunate to work with a lot of very creative people. I think Vince McMahon fails to give talent the kind of credit that the talent deserves for creating their personas."

Eric also gave some specific examples, "Scott Hall. When he was the 'Razor Ramon' character. Vince McMahon likes to take credit for creating that character. That was a character that was created by Scott Hall. Vince McMahon wanted Scott Hall to be a 'G.I. Joe' character and Scott didn't want to do it. Scott came to Vince McMahon with that character, but Vince McMahon is very quick to take credit for it."

9 He Accused Vince McMahon Of Lying On His OTR Appearance

As noted, Bischoff appeared on OTR through a challenge laid out by Vince McMahon when he made his first appearance. Michael still tried to pick at Eric that WWE was the industry leader which began a snowballing of smoke blowing for Bischoff, "If you look at the facts, facts being the figures (the numbers) because numbers don't lie, wrestling promoters do from time to time but numbers don't and if you look at the numbers, no, they don't rule."

Bischoff would then go on to take a shot at McMahon's interview, "WCW has eclipsed the WWF in every category. I looked at the transcript from Vince McMahon's interview that he did here, and it's fabrication. In almost every category that I can think of...He said 'we do much better in arenas than they do.' They don't. Last year in 1997 he averaged 5,800 people per arena. We averaged 5,400. So far in 1998, we're ahead of them."

8 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin Would've Stayed A Mid-Carder In WCW

One of the pillars in WWE's eventual victory over WCW was the popularity and success of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, helping to significantly increase television and merchandise numbers. Before the beers and Stunners, "Stunning" Steve Austin was a strong mid-card talent in WCW during the early reign of Eric Bischoff. Bischoff would release Austin from WCW but he would find his way to WWE and mega-stardom.

Landsberg said to Eric that Austin said that he and WCW did not know what to do with him and Bischoff responded, "If Steve Austin was in the WCW right now he would be a mid-card player. If Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Lex Luger, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Sting, all of the above were working in the WWF, right now today, Steve Austin would be a mid-card player. The fact is Steve Austin is a big fish in a relatively small pond when it comes to a talent roster...But he's doing it in an environment that he can be at the top. He couldn't be at the top in WCW and he knew that."

7 He Chose To Be And Stay An On-Camera Personality

Although Vince McMahon spent a good portion of time on-camera as the villainous owner, his presence helped to enhance storylines and the payoffs, mostly from Steve Austin, as they were excellent every time. McMahon has said that he did not want to be an on-screen personality but has ended up doing so anyway. That being said, Vince did take his on-screen hiatuses.

Bischoff on the other hand solidified himself as an on-screen personality especially when he joined the nWo. Landsberg said why not replace himself with someone who may be better and Eric replied, "I started with WCW in an on-camera role. The fact that I've kind of maintained an on-camera presence is by design, it's by choice I don't have to do it. But to be really honest about it, I enjoy it. I have fun doing it."

6 Lex Luger Was Originally Considered To Be "The Third Man"

Hulk Hogan signing with WCW in 1994 was a major deal but the turning point for WCW came in 1996 when Scott Hall and Kevin Nash debuted with the company after leaving WWE. The two teased for weeks that a third man would be joining them, who would turn out to be Hulk Hogan, and thus the nWo was born at the 1996 Great American Bash.

It was felt at the event that Sting was going to be the man before Hogan shocked the world. Michael addressed the rumor saying consideration was given to Lex Luger before Hogan stepped in and Eric corrected him, "Luger was going to be, at one point he was considered to be the surprise third person in the nWo but that was a little predictable. And truth be known, until about four days before the event, it was going to be Sting. That was the choice."

5 He Labelled Hulk Hogan As More Professional And Less Selfish Than Most People

Michael said to Eric that one of the problems Vince McMahon had was controlling his talent with Shawn Michaels being a specific example, calling him a 'trouble maker.' Michaels had his bad attitude while reigning as WWE Champion and the focus was put on WCW's top champion Hulk Hogan and the rumored politicking he does.

Landsberg claimed Hogan wouldn't lose to Sting unless he was given a motorcycle and would not lose unless it was to a friend.

Eric refuted those claims, "That's absolutely ridiculous. That's ridiculous. Right now I think Hulk Hogan is probably more professional, as professional as anybody I know, and more professional than most. Probably cares about the business more than most people that I know and he's one of the least selfish people that I work with. That perception of him is totally false."

4 He Did Not See Bret Hart As An nWo Member

This interview was conducted in March of 1998, three months after Bret "The Hitman" Hart left WWE for WCW. Hart did not get off to the hottest of starts in WCW but there was fan intrigue as to if Bret was going to join the nWo which was mostly comprised of former WWE talent. Hart would eventually become a nWo member and leader in December of 1999.

Almost two years before joining, Bischoff was asked through a fan question why Hart was not part of the faction, "Bret Hart is a nice guy. Bret Hart cares about this business. Bret Hart is not the kind of guy--I don't think his personality would fit in the nWo...There's a certain personality that fits and although I have a tremendous amount of respect for Bret, his personality doesn't fit."

3 He Would Not Have Used The WWE Championship If Bret Hart Brought It

A major shot at WWE was taken by WCW in December of 1995 on Nitro when the former Alundra Blayze showed up with the WWE Women's Championship and dropped it in a trash bin. This was not the first time a wrestler left a company with one of their championship titles and showed up to another promotion with said title. With WWE Champion Bret Hart planning to leave WWE for WCW in November 1997, there were worries that Hart would do the same.

Landsberg asked Bischoff if he would have put the WWE Championship on WCW TV if Hart had brought it over,

"No, absolutely not." Landsberg followed by bringing up the Alundra Blayze incident and Eric replied, "Different situation, different time, and I wasn't in the midst of a lawsuit...I think it would've tainted Bret Hart to do that, it would cheapen him...For him to pull a cheap stunt like that I think would've diminished him in his own fans' eyes. I wouldn't have taken that risk with him."

2 Who And What He Saw As The Future Of WCW

WCW was criticized by fans, and WWE, for having a roster that was a bit more focused on veterans and aging talent. Though younger faces would appear in the early and supplements segments on WCW television, the main events and headlines still featured older names such as Hulk Hogan, Sting, Bret Hart, who were nearing their 40s. Eric would be asked about the future of WCW where he said he considered fan interest.

"The Giant is only 24-years-old. You look at guys like Rey Mysterio Jr., and Eddie Guerrero, and Dean Malenko, and Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and Diamond Dallas Page...We're mixing some of the smaller guys in with the bigger guys because the audience wants athletic ability, they want a very dynamic show. They don't want just big guys lumbering around slugging each other...You're gonna see more and more and more personalities that fit into that cruiserweight category."

1 Rough Thoughts Of Jeff Jarrett

The very last segment of the interview was a round of comment association, stating one comment to a given subject. One of the subjects given to Eric was Marc Mero who received the first-ever guaranteed contract in professional wrestling with WCW but go to WWE afterward. Eric would say that Mero was a talented guy but very frustrated at that point in his career.

The Undertaker was next and Eric said that he does not know him [Mark Calaway] but praised the character as being very successful. Arn Anderson was the next name where Eric said that he was a heck of a guy who he was proud to know and work with. When asked about Ted Turner, Eric said with a big smile that he was a real nice guy and that he was really happy to work with 'Uncle Ted.' The first name however that was given to Eric was Jeff Jarrett and the only words to say were, "Highly overrated." Ironically Jarrett would return to WCW a year and a half later under "The Chosen One" persona.