Eric Bischoff SHOOTS On Hulk Hogan Initially REJECTING nWo!

you've told the story a million times about getting Scott Hall getting Kevin Nash talk to us kind of in detail about convincing Hulk to be the third guy because maybe in some ways he knew that that was maybe the way out of this predicament that he was in that's really it's fascinating I didn't convince Hulk of anything Hulk convinced me that he wanted to be the third guy and let me tell you this story because it's really fascinating Hulk like I told you earlier Hulk only owed us four pay-per-views a year we done two I don't remember probably Super Brawl and another one whatever it was so we didn't have any more pay-per-views on our schedule for Hulk Hogan until probably Fall Brawl and starcade so there was going to be a period throughout the Summer where we weren't going to use Hulk and part of the reason for that is summertime for us in WCW at that time was the worst time of year to do a pay-per-view people are on summer vacation they're try traveling you know they're busy doing things it's not a great time of the year for for high power pay-per-views so we structured his four pay-per-views to do one two of them in the winter in the spring and then two of them in the fall and win winter so summer basically had Hulk was off so at Hulk was off let me back up so Scott Hall shows up May 27th 1996 I know it may 27th because it was my birthday and I had to pick him up at the airport and drive him down to mon Georgia and we had a nice chat on the way down to mon because I had heard about Scott's reputation and I was a little concerned but anyway we get down to make it Georgia Scott Hulk comes down he does his thing Hulk Hogan is off doing a movie called Santa with muscles raise your hand if you've ever seen Santa with muscle are you sh me how the did you find that so he's off doing his movie called Santa with muscles right Scott Hall comes in in May comes down through the crowd does this thing following week I think it was Kevin Nash comes down and says we got a third guy well by that time I had the idea it was a rough idea too I don't want anybody to think that I had it all laid out I just had a basically a sketch on a piece of paper of the idea for the NWO wasn't even on paper was in my head to be honest I knew I wanted that Invasion angle and that feeling and I wanted something I wanted a story with mystery I wanted the who's the third man going to be I really wanted that mystery because I knew if I could get people talking about it I could create a buzz and if I could create a buzz I could create interest and if I create interest I could create C cash much like controversy so we did the whole who's the third man thing now that story played out over the course of about four weeks three to four weeks who's the third band who's the third band I had convinced sting Steve bordon to turn heel and be be the third man because a year before I know I'm taking you guys all over this timeline I apologize if I confuse you but a year before the NWO and a year before Scott Hall came came down a year before Kevin NES you know teased who's the third man I had flown to Hulk Hogan's house and because as we were talking about we all knew it the Hulk coken red and yellow it wasn't working he knew it I knew it everybody knew it somebody had to say something that was my job so I flew myself down to hul's went to his house remember was during the week it was like a Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday afternoon got to his house about 1:30 sat down he had a case of beer waiting for me we both lik to drink beer at the time excuse me so I I got to Hulk's house and he takes me into his office he's a big beautiful 15,000 foot home sit down in his office and we start talking and I I pitched him I said Hulk I got this idea it wasn't even a it really wasn't an idea it was a half-ass idea but I said what what if we turn you heel Hulk sits back in his chair he got that big ass fum Manu and when you see him do this when he curls those lips up like he just ate something that tastes like and he Strokes that flu man Fu Manu you don't want to you don't want to be around for what's next he stroking him he's nodding his head leans forward looks at his watch said brother you'll never understand until you walk up Mile in my red and yellow boots and I got to go pick my kids up from school so thanks for coming down let's go and literally as elegantly as I've ever been thrown out of anything or anywhere elegantly invited me to leave told me I could take the beer with me by the way which I did just so you know and uh I was gone that was it he did not want to have a conversation not a syllable of a conversation about turning heel that was one year earlier one year prior to Scott Hall coming down okay backtrack again Scott Hall comes out Kevin Nash's up Hulk Hogan's up doing a horrible freaking movie called Santa with muscles had a budget of about 84 $85,000 whatever it was it's horrible but anyway he's and he's it's it's a movie that's being filmed in California and it's way up in the mountains so it look like the North Pole or some like giant pine trees and stuff supposed to look like a forest so hul calls me up this is after Kevin Nash showed up now we've teased the third guy I've convinced sting which it was not easy by the way it took me maybe a month or so of convincing selling um but Sting's in he's ready to go I've got my idea everything's in place I got a game plan I get a phone call from hul Hey brother any chance you could come out to California so we can talk about where I'm going to go for the rest of the year I said sure not a problem so I jumped out a plate flew out to California got in a town car headed up the mountain took about eight hours to get there it's midnight by the time I get to his movie set I get to his because he was locked out he couldn't leave and it was really it was very very isolated so I get to his trailer and I'm beat I flew from Atlanta to LA and drove for three or four hours whatever it was to get to the movie Set I get to his trailer and he's sitting back in his trailer and he's got a case of beer on ice and he's got a big he's got a box of Cuban cigars and he's smoking one of them I walk in Hey Brother good to see you we hug you know whatever here's a beer and now we shoot for a few minutes then he leans forward starts stroking that Fu man shoe I'm thinking now what so who's the third man huh is not what I expected I didn't want to tell him not it's it's not that I didn't trust him well let me be clear I didn't think he would maliciously or intentionally Spill the Beans divulge anything but Hulk is he's like any of us he gets excited about something he can't wait to talk about it and sometimes his judg like he'll talk about something because he'll think he's in a room full of people he can trust and chances are you can't somebody's going to say something either because they're stupid and they don't know any better or because they're just excited and he can't wait to share it that's human nature I've done that myself a lot of times by the way I'm guilty of what I'm suggesting I was afraid Hulk might do which is why I didn't want to tell him but I can't say sorry Hulk I'm not telling you it's a secret not telling you I couldn't do that so I'm thinking on my feet actually on my ass drinking a beer but I said who do you think it should be excuse him moah so I did what most politicians do when they're confronted with a question they don't want to answer they answer with a question and I said who do you think it should be oh and he leaned forward again he said you're looking at him no that'll work you know and it was really I I'm having fun with it a little bit but I'm about 70% right on the money with the way I just described that scene to you might have been a little different might have taken a little bit longer but that was essentially the conversation Hulk had been Jimmy Hart had been sending Hulk VHS tapes if you can believe it that's what we had back then but every every every Monday night Jimmy would FedEx these tapes to Hulk and he would get them and he'd watch them so he could keep track of what was going on in the shows and when he s when he saw Scott Hall come down that that got his attention then he saw Kevin Nash come down then it's you know confronting me and we got a third guy it's like he convinced me I didn't have to convince him keep in mind that I had spent a month convincing Steve BN AKA sting to make this dramatic move and how great it was going to be for his career and how much confidence I had in and we were pretty good friends at that point in time anyway and we stayed close Steve Steve is a great guy but I had worked really hard to con convince sting to to turn heel and be that third man and now I got Hulk saying I think I'm going to do that and I'm all excited about it until I sobered up the next morning and got on a plane he went now I got to call sting and say sorry deals off uh but he he handled it well

Channel: Inside The Ropes

Views: 155,417

Keywords: eric bischoff, eric, bischoff, eric bischoff nwo, hulk hogan, hulk, hogan, terry bollea, nwo, new world order, wcw, world championship wrestling, wwe, wwe news, aew, aew news, world wrestling entertainment, wrestling bios, eric bischoff podcast, what happened when, ted turner wcw, conrad thompson podcast, scott hall, kevin nash, wrestling, pro wrestling, wrestling shoot, backstage stories, shoot interview, inside the ropes, kenny mcintosh, #ericbischoff, #hulkhogan, #nwo

Id: v9pplr_MHj0

Length: 11min 26sec (686 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 24 2023