The latest episode of former WCW President Eric Bischoff’s podcast Bischoff on Wrestling was released earlier tonight. It features Eric’s over hour long interview with his former RAW GM Assistant and current ESPN personality Jonathan Coachman.
Some of Eric’s answers to questions from the #BischoffOnWrestling mail bag segment at the end of the show have been transcribed below.
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On when the decision to end Goldberg’s WCW undefeated streak was made:
EB: We had been talking about it, from what I can recall, for a couple of months. As I have touched on in previous shows… we were just running out of guys for Goldberg to go through. Once we got to point of whatever it was 173-0 or whatever it was (laughs). It was that point where we had to start telling stories. We had to expand the storytelling process with Bill. We knew it had to be done. It was probably a couple of months previously that we started discussing it and getting serious about it. In terms of, “Was it always going to be Nash?” No. We were exploring a lot of different opportunities. Because of what was going on and the shear size of Kevin Nash he was the most believable and credible to tell that story.
On whether he thinks Smackdown would have existed had WCW Thunder not launched:
EB: Oh yeah. WWE, just like WCW, at the time had the motivation for that decision that was exactly the same. It’s an economy of scale kind of decision. Wrestling has always worked for television because relatively speaking it’s very inexpensive programming to produce. Relatively speaking. When you look at the infrastructure that it takes to produce RAW it’s just not that big of an effort to produce a secondary show. Particularly when that secondary show. I guess in this case Smackdown isn’t a secondary show it’s just another show. That second show is producing numbers and ratings. I am sure the motivation was the same. The situation was different. I absolutely think Smackdown would have been created. I don’t think it was an idea that was ripped off or taken advantage of by WWE.
On whether it’s true he negotiated with Mike Tyson while Tyson was with WWE and was looking for a better deal:
EB: Bullshit. It’s bullshit. It never happened. I never had a conversation with Mike Tyson. I never had a conversation with anyone associated with Mike Tyson that I can recall. The first time I ever heard that story was reading it in a dirt sheet.
Please cite WZ as the source if you use any of the above transcriptions. Thanks!
This week’s episode of Bischoff on Wrestling starts with Eric talking to Nick about their weird arm wrestling connection before telling Nick the story of how he broke his forearm.
Eric also takes a moment at the top of the show to comment on the recent sale of TNA to Anthem. He also offers an update on his current lawsuit with TNA.
Eric then welcomes his guest for the week his former WWE RAW GM Assistant and current ESPN personality Jonathan Coachman! Coachman speaks candidly to Eric about:
- What his dream job was when he was a child
- Growing up in a diverse family
- His parents reaction to him working for WWE
- Wanting to be an actor when he was in college
- His brief job as a “Boyfriend In A Box”
- What it was like covering Owen Hart’s passing while working as a local reporter in Kansas City
- Who at WWE was the person that hired him
- What his first few years with WWE were like
- Learning to wrestle because he was getting so much heat
- Why he was nervous to do his first physical thing ever in the ring
- Tajiri’s tendency to mess with people
- The effect The Rock leaving WWE had on his Hollywood career
- Why he left WWE for ESPN and what that transition was like
- The stigma of being a “wrestling guy” on ESPN
- Ronda Rousey’s most recent loss
- Who his “One Bad Cat” is
- What’s something about him that we don’t know
- More…
Eric then closes the show by answering some fan questions from the #BischoffOnWrestling mailbag.
You can listen to the full archives from Bischoff on Wrestling in the embedded audio player below:
