Cranjis McBasketball
Crow T. Robot
Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
Peace Love and Nothing But
Posts: 41,975
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on May 19, 2018 14:19:45 GMT -5
Hogan .... When Eric took time off, Bret became Champion you don’t think that was a coincidence 🤔 Yeah, Eric was completely out of the picture when Bret became champion. Russo was writing the show. Eric said he wouldn't have signed Bret in 1997 if it wasn't for Thunder's upcoming debut. Given the way Bret was used, I can believe that. With the way he was used, or not used, it seemed like they just wanted to be able to have Bret Hart on the roster. He also says Bret wasn’t a draw. Odd he wanted a guy to be his lead for Thunder that he thought wasn’t a draw.
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Post by Jokaine on May 19, 2018 14:49:54 GMT -5
Booking in 60 seconds. Comes in as the "undefeated world champion". Takes apart the nWo one by one. Faces Hogan at the Georgia Dome. Wins WCW title. Done. Bring in Bret, have him spend six months wrecking your roster and then give him the belt. Along the way, take away the defining moment from a guy (Goldberg) who had probably popped more crowds, been at least partially responsible for higher TV ratings and moved more merchandise during those six months that Bret had done in the previous six years. For some reason that just doesn't sound like all that good of a plan.
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cjh
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 6,627
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Post by cjh on May 19, 2018 14:56:06 GMT -5
Yeah, Eric was completely out of the picture when Bret became champion. Russo was writing the show. Eric said he wouldn't have signed Bret in 1997 if it wasn't for Thunder's upcoming debut. Given the way Bret was used, I can believe that. With the way he was used, or not used, it seemed like they just wanted to be able to have Bret Hart on the roster. He also says Bret wasn’t a draw. Odd he wanted a guy to be his lead for Thunder that he thought wasn’t a draw. Was there anyone else? Bischoff wanted a well known name not already in WCW. Bret, Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels fit that description, but Bret was the only one available.
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Post by Jokaine on May 19, 2018 15:11:08 GMT -5
Yeah, Eric was completely out of the picture when Bret became champion. Russo was writing the show. Eric said he wouldn't have signed Bret in 1997 if it wasn't for Thunder's upcoming debut. Given the way Bret was used, I can believe that. With the way he was used, or not used, it seemed like they just wanted to be able to have Bret Hart on the roster. He also says Bret wasn’t a draw. Odd he wanted a guy to be his lead for Thunder that he thought wasn’t a draw. Bischoff has a pretty strict definition of draw. Apparently he called a meeting and told the room that the only ones in there to draw money were Hogan and Piper. Savage and Flair were in the room at the time. I've always heard and seen Hart be recognized as a big draw in Canada and the UK. If that was the claim to fame for a non-IWC favorite he would be bashed for not being able to draw except in places that always draw regardless of who happens to be on top of the card.
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cjh
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 6,627
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Post by cjh on May 19, 2018 15:15:09 GMT -5
He also says Bret wasn’t a draw. Odd he wanted a guy to be his lead for Thunder that he thought wasn’t a draw. Bischoff has a pretty strict definition of draw. Apparently he called a meeting and told the room that the only ones in there to draw money were Hogan and Piper. Savage and Flair were in the room at the time. I've always heard and seen Hart be recognized as a big draw in Canada and the UK. If that was the claim to fame for a non-IWC favorite he would be bashed for not being able to draw except in places that always draw regardless of who happens to be on top of the card. Also, he based his claim about Bret not drawing on the fact Vince McMahon went to Bret and basically asked him to leave for financial reasons.
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Post by Jokaine on May 19, 2018 15:18:58 GMT -5
Bischoff has a pretty strict definition of draw. Apparently he called a meeting and told the room that the only ones in there to draw money were Hogan and Piper. Savage and Flair were in the room at the time. I've always heard and seen Hart be recognized as a big draw in Canada and the UK. If that was the claim to fame for a non-IWC favorite he would be bashed for not being able to draw except in places that always draw regardless of who happens to be on top of the card. Also, he based his claim about Bret not drawing on the fact Vince McMahon went to Bret and basically asked him to leave for financial reasons. That was a pretty good point both Conrad and Bischoff made. Telling Bret he couldn't afford the contract was Vince's way of telling Bret he wasn't worth the money he was being paid. Its doubtful Vince would have told Austin that in 1997 if he and Hart had identical deals.
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Post by mauled on May 19, 2018 15:32:21 GMT -5
Also, he based his claim about Bret not drawing on the fact Vince McMahon went to Bret and basically asked him to leave for financial reasons. That was a pretty good point both Conrad and Bischoff made. Telling Bret he couldn't afford the contract was Vince's way of telling Bret he wasn't worth the money he was being paid. Its doubtful Vince would have told Austin that in 1997 if he and Hart had identical deals. Difference is Austin was being groomed to be the Top guy during the Attitude Era, Bret was not a fan of the Attitude Era and the new direction the WWF was going with the Adult content. He also couldn’t afford to pay him. Hence why Vince let him go. Btw regardless it doesn’t explain why if Eric thought he was worthless he made Bret an offer in 1996 that 2018 Eric said he didn’t but April 1997 Eric said he did 🤷‍♂️ Btw what do you expect Bret to do when his character is being turned heel and then face every other week and he’s being put in with Eddie Van Hammer 🤔
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Post by mauled on May 19, 2018 15:35:32 GMT -5
Booking in 60 seconds. Comes in as the "undefeated world champion". Takes apart the nWo one by one. Faces Hogan at the Georgia Dome. Wins WCW title. Done. Bring in Bret, have him spend six months wrecking your roster and then give him the belt. Along the way, take away the defining moment from a guy (Goldberg) who had probably popped more crowds, been at least partially responsible for higher TV ratings and moved more merchandise during those six months that Bret had done in the previous six years. For some reason that just doesn't sound like all that good of a plan. Again you don’t need to have him do that but a Hogan feud was an obvious one as was a Sting one
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Post by mauled on May 19, 2018 15:37:08 GMT -5
Booking in 60 seconds. Comes in as the "undefeated world champion". Takes apart the nWo one by one. Faces Hogan at the Georgia Dome. Wins WCW title. Done. That Don’t work for me Brother - Which is probably what actually happened
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on May 19, 2018 16:55:27 GMT -5
Bischoff has a pretty strict definition of draw. Apparently he called a meeting and told the room that the only ones in there to draw money were Hogan and Piper. Savage and Flair were in the room at the time. Which is hilarious considering WCW's turnaround began while Flair and Savage were on top and Hogan was off filming a crappy TV project, looking like his WCW run was going to end in failure because the entire audience had turned on him. The booking team under Bischoff repeatedly booked expensive top tier talent in a way that stopped them being draws, but none of that was ever his fault, nothing was ever his fault.
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Cranjis McBasketball
Crow T. Robot
Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
Peace Love and Nothing But
Posts: 41,975
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on May 19, 2018 18:03:38 GMT -5
He also says Bret wasn’t a draw. Odd he wanted a guy to be his lead for Thunder that he thought wasn’t a draw. Was there anyone else? Bischoff wanted a well known name not already in WCW. Bret, Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels fit that description, but Bret was the only one available. Yeah but you don’t launch a new show with a guy meant to be the centrepiece you don’t think is a draw. Then who’s gonna watch? Eric is talking out both sides of his mouth on this issue.
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Post by sfvega on May 19, 2018 21:30:06 GMT -5
Bret came in as the most sympathetic character in wrestling. So they debut him as a special referee. Then it took them like all of 8 months or so for him to become this maybe/maybe not NWO member who is telling wveryone how great Hulk Hogan is. Then the Halloween Havoc match with Sting, which is a dream match at the end of 97 goes on before Hogan/Warrior and DDP/Goldberg. So while a loaded card, doesn’t really give them a platform or chance to draw. He was given shitty knockoff music annd just generally never presented as a big deal. So you could say he came in with his spirit broken and whatever, but at the end of the day the booking and obviously the politicking of WCW were both gigantic failures regardless of whether or not Bret was putting his best foot forward. Also, Nash was as apathetic as can be in WCW, so I don’t think a lackadaisical effort precluded someone from being booked as a real star in WCW.
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Post by Final Countdown Jones on May 19, 2018 21:48:13 GMT -5
I knew Bischoff's podcast was likely to be a real shitshow but oh my god this sounds so much worse than I could have imagined.
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Post by somsta on May 19, 2018 22:31:42 GMT -5
To be fair Bischoff and WCW didn’t really know how to use anyone. They blew it and got completely lost with their own hottest acts - Sting, the nWo, Goldberg, Flair and the Horsemen, DDP...the list goes on and on. It’s a miracle Bret got the handful of memorable matches and moments that he did.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on May 19, 2018 23:57:39 GMT -5
I knew Bischoff's podcast was likely to be a real shitshow but oh my god this sounds so much worse than I could have imagined. Yeah, I haven't listened to it since Bischoff is one of those guys who tends to go onto the "Oh I never made any mistake ever"
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2018 0:02:02 GMT -5
I knew Bischoff's podcast was likely to be a real shitshow but oh my god this sounds so much worse than I could have imagined. Yeah, I haven't listened to it since Bischoff is one of those guys who tends to go onto the "Oh I never made any mistake ever" Which doesn't make sense. He said in his entrance music that he was back and better than ever. That implies that he left and, in that time of absence, improved. One cannot improve if one is free from mistakes in the first place.
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Post by Natural Born Farmer on May 20, 2018 0:06:54 GMT -5
Hogan .... When Eric took time off, Bret became Champion you don’t think that was a coincidence 🤔 Yeah, Eric was completely out of the picture when Bret became champion. Russo was writing the show. Eric said he wouldn't have signed Bret in 1997 if it wasn't for Thunder's upcoming debut. Given the way Bret was used, I can believe that. With the way he was used, or not used, it seemed like they just wanted to be able to have Bret Hart on the roster. But they paid dude a f***ing fortune when they were already on the downward spiral. No competent businessman would make an investment like that without at least an idea of how they would make in back. In this case a surefire money making story that would have justified every f***ing dollar was handed to them and was pissed away because Hogan felt threatened. That’s absolutely inexcusable and for Bish to try and wash his hands with “But What About Bret” is asinine.
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Post by Tiger Millionaire on May 20, 2018 1:21:03 GMT -5
Bret takes it personally, but look how many white hot wrestlers that they butchered with awful disjointed booking. I mean did Bret have it worse than Sting, who went from the hottest act in wrestling to an afterthought in 3 months? Or Luger? Or Giant? Or Flair? They booked nWo, and anything besides that, or Goldberg was an afterthought.
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Post by Jedi-El of Tomorrow on May 20, 2018 1:31:15 GMT -5
To be fair Bischoff and WCW didn’t really know how to use anyone. They blew it and got completely lost with their own hottest acts - Sting, the nWo, Goldberg, Flair and the Horsemen, DDP...the list goes on and on. It’s a miracle Bret got the handful of memorable matches and moments that he did. They unmasked Rey Mysterio, because they didn't think a masked wrestler would bring in much money. Yeah, because there's no money that can be made from an incredibly popular masked wrestler. There's not something of theirs that fans would buy to wear during their matches.
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Post by RedSmile on May 20, 2018 10:33:54 GMT -5
I'm kinda tired of hearing the thoughts and opinions of Eric Bischoff.
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