PoisonedSuperman Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Who was he? I always wondered how he came to be in power in WCW and I was just watching espn the other night and saw that he was apart of the AWA set up. How is/was he connected to the business, who'd he know to get his start, etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CQI13 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I believe he started out as marketing/sales guy for AWA. When they were looking for announcers (as he tells it), he was the stop gap guy while they found someone better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpion Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 although its not the most well written entry on wiki, having read up through the monday night wars, there is nothing i know to be inaccurate in this write up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Bischoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeadCeleb Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Who was he? I always wondered how he came to be in power in WCW and I was just watching espn the other night and saw that he was apart of the AWA set up. How is/was he connected to the business, who'd he know to get his start, etc? He talks a lot about his start in his book, Controversy Creates Cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfRoMaN36 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 He talks a lot about his start in his book, Controversy Creates Cash. I read it, decent read. Yeah, he was a marketer, turned back up announcer and when the Bill Watts era (iirc) didn't go so well the comapny looked for someone new who had no agenda. He became that guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eisen-verse Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I always liked Bischoff. I know that he had some enemies backstage, however, who, in his position, wouldn't? No matter what you're going to piss someone off if you have a roster the size that WCW once had. In some ways, I wish it was Bischoff who would have won the war because then atleast there may be a different tone to Pro Wrestling right now. The WWE is abysmal... TNA is even worse... Someone needs to do something! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stennick Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I'm a huge fan of Bischoff. The things he did with Nitro we still see on RAW today in some aspects. 95-97 Nitro was a blast. I miss it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CQI13 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Some people have said that perhaps the biggest mistake he made was acknowledging WWF on air, though except for the Foley spoiler, whenever he gave the results away it was pretty hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juggaloninjalee Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Giving away the results of the other companies show was not cool at all. I hated that because it took credibility away from wrestling in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlameSnoopy Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Giving away the results of the other companies show was not cool at all. I hated that because it took credibility away from wrestling in general. Yeah that's pretty weak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stennick Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I see nothing wrong with it. Vince was taping two shows in a week anyway. So that wasn't taking the "cred" away when you got an audience there and they here "next week" and then two hours later its going down. Its not like he had an inside guy telling him who was gonna win or lose it was perfectly legit they taped their show a week ago, he found out who won or lost I don't think it had anything to do with the cred of pro wrestling. It made perfect sense "his show is already in the can why not just tell these guys what their gonna see so they don't change the channel" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlameSnoopy Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 It's very disrespectful in my opinion, but isn't that wrestling anyways? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stennick Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Yeah I guess that is wrestling. Another thing I think about is Vince gets this flack for what he did in the eighties shutting down shops all over the place but again isn't that just business? If you have the money to do it, and its going to make you MORE money to do it....the why not. Some people would say that it still isn't right and thats true but the wrestlers never had to take Vince's money. Their just as much at fault as he is if thats the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyde Hill Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 And don't forget Vince started the whole thing with his turner/macho man/hulk hogan old man fight video's. And yeah disrespectfull but smart and as that is the way vince rolls you have to unfortunatly play that way to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CQI13 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Although some things Vince did were a little on the sady side. Luring wrestlers is one thing, and as stated, the wrestlers shoulder some "blame" for taking the money (just like WCW/ECW). However, buying out an arena that had been booked for a year 2 weeks before the show is supposed to take place? I can understand it to book it to prevent subsequent shows, but 2 weeks prior the biggest show of the year....? This I guess would go along the same lines of paying off TV stations to prevent them from showing programming they already had. So things like that aren't "just business". There's ways to compete and win that aren't quite as underhanded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlameSnoopy Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Well I haven't much any wrestling actively prior to 2005, so how should I know anyways? But, I think luring wrestlers is fair and square. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hive Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 IIRC, Vince was as much a bitch to WCW as Bischoff/Turner was to WWF. For instance, I read somewhere that Vince at some point told PPV carriers that if they made a deal with WCW, they wouldn't get WWF PPVs anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CQI13 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 That was early on, for Starrcade (was that the Thanksgiving PPV at the time?) going up against Survivor Series (after WM3). He told them if they were to broadcast the WCW PPV, they wouldn't be able to broadcast future WM's. And with WM3 being as big as it was, only a handful I think kept the WCW PPV. He also ran the first Rumble against a WCW PPV (I think), which obviously cost WCW viewers. However, when WCW did the same with Clash of the Champions (going up against WM), the cable networks told them to never do that again. And the arena/TV bit happened during the time of AWA. So the wrestlers thing, I have no problem with. Some of the other things though, probably not the right thing to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevermore Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I certainly think everything stated is just business... and it's not underhanded or "cheating" unless it's illegal... and you get caught. Big business is shady and always will be and I think it's a tad optimistic to think otherwise. Above all, wrestling is a business. They are trying to take your money. So, in terms of business, I have no problem with anything that happened during the war. Ethically, though, I do and another important part of business is consumer choice. Bischoff raped ECW; I don't blame him from a business persepctive but I never watched his product 'cos I thought he was a bastard. Again, Vince has resurrected the ECW name simply to destroy what made it unique and enjoyable. I don't blame him, it's his property rights but I don't watch WWE anymore. For me, Bischoff is a great businessman and a nasty human being. Sadly, such things tend to go hand in hand very often. Quote The Raven Nevermore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CQI13 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 There are certain inequities in essentially every system. Doesn't make it right do certain things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpion Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 That was early on, for Starrcade (was that the Thanksgiving PPV at the time?) going up against Survivor Series (after WM3). He told them if they were to broadcast the WCW PPV, they wouldn't be able to broadcast future WM's. And with WM3 being as big as it was, only a handful I think kept the WCW PPV. He also ran the first Rumble against a WCW PPV (I think), which obviously cost WCW viewers. However, when WCW did the same with Clash of the Champions (going up against WM), the cable networks told them to never do that again. And the arena/TV bit happened during the time of AWA. So the wrestlers thing, I have no problem with. Some of the other things though, probably not the right thing to do. Are you sure about that? i'm pretty sure that clash drew a huge rating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CQI13 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I meant the PPV carriers, not cable companies. So the Clash probably did have high ratings, and the PPV had lower than expected (of course blamed on the Clash, not the quality). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpion Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I meant the PPV carriers, not cable companies. So the Clash probably did have high ratings, and the PPV had lower than expected (of course blamed on the Clash, not the quality). I looked it up, the first one did well, but when they went against mania 5 it did terrible, and thats when they stopped going head to head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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