WWE News: Eric Bischoff says he would have let DX into the building had he known of invasion beforehand
What's the story?
D-Generation X's attempted 'Invasion' into the building in which WCW was hosting Nitro is one of the most memorable moments from the Monday Night Wars.
Eric Bischoff, who was in charge of WCW at the time, says that he was unaware that DX would be showing up, and had he known, he would have let them into the building. 411Mania.com carried transcripts of his comments from his 83 Weeks podcast.
In case you didn't know...
The middle to end of the 1990s was defined by the Monday Night Wars between WCW's Nitro and WWF's Monday Night Raw. WCW started out on top, but in the end, WWF came out the victor as WCW closed its doors in 2001.
The heart of the matter
Bischoff and WCW had the upper hand in terms of ratings thanks to the appearance of The Outsiders and the subsequent formation of the NWO.
WWF's response to the NWO was to create their own irreverent group of Superstars in DX. Since Triple H was the leader of the group after Shawn Michaels took time away to deal with a back injury, he led DX to the site of Monday Night Nitro in disguise of soldiers.
They were not able to get into the building at the time, but according to Bischoff, had he been aware of their plans, he would have let them in to 'get them on his program.'
“I heard nothing about it (DX showing up)," said Bischoff. "If I would have known about it, listen. My body of work in that period of time speaks for itself. Had I known that they were coming, I would have had the door open. I would have instructed Doug Dillinger to instruct his security crew to make sure that they could make their way to the ring. Because that would have been amazingly good TV on my network."
The potential to get ratings from the competitors because they decided to 'invade' his show is something that Bischoff would apparently have taken advantage of had he known.
We had no idea they were coming. Had I known they were coming, I would have invited them into the ring. And we would have let the cards fall where they may. Because nothing would have happened! These guys wouldn’t have beat the s**t out of each other. They were all friends! The boys didn’t have a dog in the hunt. They could care less.”
What's next?
Had members of WWF and WCW appeared together in the ring at the same time during the Monday Night Wars, it would have been monumental. For that fact alone, I tend to believe Bischoff.
We always have to take what is said with a grain of salt because looking back, most of those involved in the industry will say whatever paints them in the best light regarding the past.