Eric Bischoff explains how he didn't "take away" top WWE Superstars from Vince McMahon
In his latest interview with Lucha Libre Online's Michael Morales Torres, Eric Bischoff opened up on the notion that he snatched WWE Superstars and brought them to WCW.
Back in the mid to late 90s, WWE and WCW were engaged in a heated rating battle, dubbed famously as The Monday Night Wars. Throughout this period, fans saw WWE Superstars jumping ship to WCW, and vice versa.
Eric Bischoff was asked how he managed to take away major WWE Superstars like Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan, and Scott Hall from Vince McMahon. Here's what Biscoff had to say in response:
"Well, Hulk Hogan had already left the WWF when I hired him. He resigned from WWF six months or a year before I started talking to him. So Hulk at that point thought he was done with the WWF. So I didn't really take him from WWF. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash came up because they were dissatisfied with the way things were in WWF and were looking for a different opportunity."
Eric Bischoff was very close to winning the Monday Night Wars
There was a time-frame of 84 straight weeks during The Monday Night Wars, which saw WCW dominating WWE in the ratings war. WWE was in a terrible state at the time and was trying its best to improve the product and cater to the new generation that had gotten tired of its stale presentation.
The introduction of the Attitude Era was the biggest step towards making sure that fans would tune in to WWE TV on a regular basis again. Characters and storylines were closer to reality now, and fans began showing interest again.
Eric Bischoff had hit the jackpot with the nWo storyline, and the trio of Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Nash had instantly become WCW's top stars. WCW couldn't keep fans engaged for long, though, as the nWo storyline only went downhill as time passed. By the time 2001 came around, WCW had become almost unwatchable and was finally bought out by Vince McMahon.