83 Weeks - Eric Becomes EVP [Show Notes] (Patreon)

EVP is a popular phrase now in the lexicon of professional wrestling fans when AEW was founded and many of the wrestlers - Cody Rhodes, the Young Bucks & Kenny Omega were named Executive Vice Presidents…and once upon a time…you were named an EVP.

You would write in your book that Bill Shaw would hold a meeting at CNN Center where he said that WCW was a television company - not a wrestling company. Why did that trigger your brain?

What’s the difference - in your mind - between a wrestling company and a television company?

You came from the AWA so you had a wrestling background - but what was different about you compared to say - Jim Ross or Tony Schiavone?

You wrote in your book that Bill’s speech made you second guess whether you wanted to leave WCW. What were your main reasons for leaving?

Were you already looking at that point to get out of professional wrestling or just looking for other avenues in the space?

Any consideration to reaching back out to the WWF at that point?

When Shaw said he wanted an executive producer who understood wrestling and had a vision for the product - and considering what Bill Watts did to the company - you could see where he was coming from, right?

Jim Ross would write this in his book about you: “Eric was a “wrestling guy” who came from the AWA, but very smartly sold himself as the exact opposite. After having Ole and Watts at the helm, Turner had no appetite for another old school, headstrong type leading the charge. So Eric pitched himself as a brand builder; a businessman with an overall vision for consistency after all the changes to the company. He was young, handsome, and just the type of antidote to Watts that the brass wanted. He had served his time in WCW as an announcer who mostly worked on the lower shows, but when the time came to make his case for the head of the department, he positioned himself brilliantly. Eric had street smarts and amazing ambition.”

We all know the differences you two had when this all took place - but I’d say that’s a pretty damn good way to describe you at the time wouldn’t you?

You wrote that if you hadn’t replaced Bill you were still going to stick it out. Was there anyone - and I mean anyone - that would’ve replaced Bill that you would’ve said - nevermind - I’m out?

Was there a backup plan if the transition or move into this role didn’t work?

You took the ballsy move to reach out to Bill Shaw and put yourself on the list to be executive producer. Did you ever expect to get the call back from him?

At the time - in your mind - what were the strengths and weaknesses of WCW coming out of the Bill Watts era?

Did the company need a drastic shift or just minor tweaks?

When Shaw calls you to come up to his office - what was your game plan?

Tell me about the kids’ game show you pitched…

So the meeting ends - what was your feeling about it?

What did you tell Loree about it?

Supposedly there were a couple people up for the spot, Tony Schiavone, David Crockett, Keith Mitchell - anybody else that you know of?

Do you think you had an advantage considering you weren’t from the JCP era?

Would any of them had been successful in your mind if given the spot?

You wrote that you never expected to get the job - but one day Bill called you in and said - Congratulations, Eric. You’re the new executive producer.

What runs through your head?

How excited were you to tell your wife?

What did you think the other people in the CNN Center were going to think?

How about some of the talent?

Here’s what some of the talent have said they thought when it all went down:

Mick Foley would write in his book that DDP is the one who called him to tell him that it was “Bisch” who took over…

Bisch was Eric Bischoff, who had been until that time an announcer and not a very good one. What I didn’t know was that Bischoff had been impressing the Turner brass with his reasonable ideas and his smooth personality-in a sense he had been impressing them by being everything that Bill Watts was not.

I actually thought for a while that the whole Bischoff hiring was going to work out well for me. As an announcer, Eric had not exactly been the most respected guy among the wrestlers, and I was one of the few guys who hadn’t treated him like a peon. I actually considered the guy a friend, and hey, there are worse things in the world than having a friend for your boss. Unfortunately, something happened that I hadn’t counted on; once in power Eric made new friends, and dirty, unkempt Cactus Jack wasn’t on the new list. Actually, I can’t say Bischoff was ever bad to me, and maybe I wasn’t completely off the list, but I had been pushed down it.”

Were you friends with Mick? Was he one of the few guys that didn’t treat you like a low level announcer?

How did your relationship with him change - and what do you say to what he wrote way back when?

Steve Austin:

“I don’t know how he got the job from announcer to running the whole ship over there, but it’s quite impressive. He’s a charismatic guy with a lot of vision, a lot of determination, and obviously he can sell ice to an eskimo. It surprised me, but he figured this guy must know what he’s doing or just real smart or real sneaky”

How important was your sales capability in gaining the job?

David Crockett:

On Eric Bischoff: “I made a pitch to Bill (Shaw) about being the, I guess the Executive Vice President. He told me, he said, ‘David, I cannot let a Crockett be there. I can not do it.’ He said, ‘But I’m going to hire this young man.’ He said, ‘Eric Bischoff. I feel that he will be good. And I want you to guard his back and to help him in every way.’ And so that’s what I did. Every week, I’d have lunch with Bill and, you know, we taught things and, you know, ‘How’s it going?’ I said, ‘He’s learning, he’s learning.’ And a lot of times Eric would go over to Jack’s and Jill’s and, and to say, you know, ‘I, I can’t do this. I can’t do this.’ ‘Yes, you can. Yes, you can.’ And then look at him now.”

How instrumental was David during this process for you?

Did you run into a lot of things you were trying to do that you weren’t able to - and was he someone you leaned on?

One of your first moves is to take JR off the air is that correct?

Now before we go any further - there’s another part of JR’s book I want to bring up to you. In it he wrote that before Watts was reassigned - and as you were thinking of leaving WCW - Watts instructed JR to let you go and JR wrote that he wouldn’t do it just because Bill thought you were an asshole. Did you ever hear that story?

If you had known that story - would things had been different when you took over regarding JR’s role?

How quickly did you get involved and start changing things?

Were there things you did immediately that you knew you had to - or was it a case by case basis?

What was one of the early tough decisions you made?

Eric - you’re only 38 at this time. Were you ready for this role, pressure, etc?

Now we all know what the Nature Boy has said about you - and his role in you getting the job…but let’s put it into context of what he’s actually said:

Bob Dhue asked if I could make myself readily available to help him, and I had to tell him the truth. “Look, Bob,” I said, “I can’t be an executive and a wrestler. I don’t want to spread myself that thin.” He then followed up with a question that would live in infamy: “What do you think of Eric Bischoff?”

Bischoff was a wrestling announcer who seemed to have a lot of knowledge about the entertainment business and was constantly pitching ideas. “I like Bischoff,” I replied. “I think he’s aggressive and smart.”

I had the same discussion with Bill Shaw. He was torn between Bischoff and Ole Anderson. I know that this is going to hurt some feelings, but I honestly wasn’t impressed with Ole at this point. Yes, he had the history, booking the old Georgia territory and working at the Omni, but he was a gruff, rough-and-tough guy. His mind was rooted in the past. When he booked WCW for a while, it was a disaster. Eric seemed much more contemporary.”

Did Ric really even know you at this point?

Now it’s not all true - I believe you were named the Executive Producer and Ole Anderson was named the Vice President of Wrestling Operations - is that how it went?

You wrote in your book that you were in charge of everything you saw on television with the exception of the wrestlers. Why was it important to separate that in the beginning?

Bob Dhue also came in as EVP - overseeing the creative & business side of WCW. That would mean accounting, live events, talent - what was your relationship with Bob like?

Flair takes credit in his book in his role of Dhue leaving the company…

“At first, Bischoff and Bob Dhue were a team, but almost immediately, Eric started maneuvering to get rid of Bob. Something I still feel guilty about is that I unwittingly helped Bischoff with his scheme. “How’s Bob doing?” Shaw asked one day.

“He’s struggling,” I admitted. “Does Bischoff seem like the kind of guy who can make decisions?” “Definitely.” In reality, I did Bob a favor. He still had his job with Turner’s corporation, so he just went back over to the Omni. And when WCW started falling apart, Bob Dhue was nowhere in sight.”

Do you think when Flair puts you over as someone who can handle everything - the company listens to that right?

You would write that you & Dhue would butt heads almost immediately. Dhue’s idea to increase revenues was to run more live events…when in reality if you’re not scaling properly you could lose more money isn’t that right?

Was your proposal of cutting live events met with shock & horror?

Who was more worried - the boys, or the office?

How much money do you think saved WCW by just doing TV shows instead of live events?

You were still doing various TV shows - and you even hosted a few shows with your old friend Greg Gagne. Well Greg didn’t have the best things to say about you:

“My first reaction was.. “Eric got the job?? He’s my new boss??”

Eric has been calling me all the time, asking what can we do to make things work down here, and I was telling him what I thought like a dipshit, and he presented all that in his presentation for the EP position and he got the job.”

What ideas did you take from Greg Gagne to get the job?

Why do you think Greg has said these things to you over the years?

From the reports in the Observer - yes were this far into an 83 Weeks and it’s the first time we bring it up…

Sharon Sidello was heading up pay-per-view. What was it like working with Sharon?

Also Rob Garner would head the syndication department - what can you tell us about Rob?

It didn’t take long for you to impress at Turner did it? Why do you think it was so easy for you to - or was it compared to everyone else working at the company?

You wrote a lot in your book about your issues with Bob Dhue….and how what you would say to Bill Shaw would strain your relationship with Bob. What would go on in these meetings?

What was your biggest impact on the television side of things? Was it Disney?

Why was that the right move in the long run for the company?

With how quickly you were able to right the ship in television - was it not a surprise to see you be elevated again?

As creative & live events continued to be a mess and your meetings with Shaw would lead to Bob Dhue leaving WCW - did you ever think you’d be running a majority of the company?

How did your pay change as you rose through the ranks?

Did you enjoy the power?

From the Observer

After much discussion and speculation over the past week, World Championship Wrestling has reverted back to a booking committee composed of those already involved on the previous booking team (Dusty Rhodes, Ole Anderson, Eric Bischoff, Greg Gagne, Mike Graham, etc.).

It appears the final decision-making power rests with Bischoff, who seems to be the most influential individual in the WCW organization since Bill Shaw is crediting the Disney tapings as a major success and Bischoff is getting the lion's share of credit for the shows. Both Terry Funk and Jerry Jarrett were spoken with by Shaw and/or Bob Dhue over the past few weeks about a spot in the organization, but to the best of my knowledge, neither were actually given a firm offer of a specific spot. Among many things, Funk felt coming in with Bischoff having the final decision-making power wasn't an environment he wanted to be part of.

So much to unpack here - when did you first get involved in creative?

What was it like working with Dusty, Ole, Gagne & Mike Graham?

Was there a moment that you were handed the keys to the company for everything and told - fix the rest?

Do you ever think Terry Funk & Jerry Jarrett were discussed with regarding the company at the time?

You were promoted to Senior Vice President coming off the success of Clash of the Champions 24 according to the Observer. The show posted a 3.8 rating with 2.32 million homes watching. With your promotion David Crockett was also promoted to Executive in charge of all television production. Eric - within 8 months - you’re now running the show…crazy to look back at that isn’t it?

Arn Anderson had this to say about you:

“It was one of those things he was going to be a hands-on guy from how it was explained to us. And, yeah, I was along for the ride. When you talked to Eric, he sold himself as a guy who understood the business. Now, there had been executives, Jim Herd, and different guys that were the boss, but you never saw the boss. You know, he was in the tower, we were out running the deal, and whoever was the interim contact, very seldom would you talk to the executive in charge of the company. Eric was kind of the first executive that was always on TV. And he was hands-on and more part of the process than anybody before him. In those days, if there was political stuff to be handled, Ric Flair did it more than more so than anybody. He was a very political guy. I remember him saying, “Bischoff is the guy for the job; he’s gonna do a good job.”

Is that what separated you from the rest?

How does that make you feel to see what Arn said about you?

Your goal at the end of the day was to get the promotion out of debt and get as close to profitable as possible. Do you know when WCW first turned a profit?

What was first - improving the on-screen product or the debt aspect? Or do you think in the long run they went hand in hand?

What were the one of the things that during this 8-12 month period you would change if you could?

With getting the ship righted - it gave you the ability to go after the Hulk Hogans, Randy Savages, and eventually the Outsiders and the rest is history, right?

Do you think you don’t get enough credit for how you turned the company around - and that it was the steps and processes you put into place to get your hands on Hogan 18 months in to your run that really catapulted things?

Is that why you get so hot & bothered when people bring up Ted Turner and his unlimited checkbook?