Eric Bischoff On Vince Russo’s Dark Side of the Ring Claims, Talks WWE SummerSlam Women’s Title Match

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff discussed the Dark Side of the Ring episode from the 2000 WCW Bash at the Beach event where Vince Russo double-crossed Hulk Hogan, the flat Women’s Title match at this year’s WWE SummerSlam, and more. You can check out some highlights below:

On the Dark Side of the Ring episode about Bash at the Beach: “I had a hard time watching it. I got up early in the morning when I thought we were gonna cover it. I started watching it, I had to turn it off. I couldn’t stand it. You know, Vince Russo’s voice and his staccato New York delivery, and just trying to force people to understand what he’s saying just drove me bats**t crazy. And I watched about eight or 10 minutes and listened to his bulls&*t and the way he delivers his bulls**t. And I turned it off and walked away from it. And then I came back about an hour later and I forced myself to sit through it, and it was painful. Partly because I can’t stand the sound of Vince Russo’s voice or his delivery. I find him to be one of the most obnoxious human beings I’ve ever listened to, really. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that. And you combine that with his delusion in his bulls**t, and it was one of the most painful video experiences that I’ve had to sit through.

On Russo’s comments in the episode: “I’m quite prepared to break it down, and expose Vince Russo — by using his own words, by the way — whenever we’re ready… I think Russo is — I mean, I’m not a doctor, I’m not a psychiatrist, psychologist, any of that. But from a layman’s point of view, if there’s anything that I would describe as a delusional pathological liar, it would be Vince Russo. He exposed himself right off the bat by coming out and saying, ‘I told Hulk Hogan there’s no way he’s coming out of here with the WCW championship.’ By the way, Vince Russo is the least confrontational pussy that’s a man I’ve ever met in my life. Vince Russo will not, cannot, is emotionally ill-equipped to deal with an actual confrontation. And I promise you, there is no way Vince Russo said anything of the sort to Hulk Hogan. He does not have the balls despite his ‘New York’ hardcore bullshit. He is a pussy. End of conversation. He cries, he goes home, he takes his ball. He quits, he walks away, he has no spine whatsoever.

“Second point in all of that is he had no authority. Vince Russo wasn’t the head of creative. He was a writer. He was on the staff. The reason that Brad Siegel brought me in — by the way, had to pay me close to a million dollars in cash, meaning he paid off the two and a half years that were left on my contract. He had to do that in order to bring me back to oversee Vince Russo, because he no longer trusted Vince Russo’s creative judgment. You don’t write a check to somebody for a million dollars — and oh, by the way, have to write them a new contract. It wasn’t that much, but it was significant. And by the way, guaranteed me at least two movies, what they call a put commitment, which is they either gonna take the movie that I’m pitching them, or they’re gonna have to pay me for it either way. You don’t do that if you have confidence, or you’re giving control and authority to someone like Vince Russo. Vince Russo had no more authority than Ed Ferrara, or Terry Taylor, or anybody else. He was a staff guy. So he didn’t have the authority to make any changes. And we can go on and on and on, but I can point out probably half a dozen examples of how Vince Russo was lying — to himself probably, because when you’re pathological, you believe your own bullshit. And that’s what I think Vince Russo is, he is a pathological liar that’s got some serious issues. Not the least of which is that he confronts anybody, because he doesn’t have the balls to confront anybody. My wife would back him down and make him cry. And I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it face-to-face. I’ve watched him fall apart. And the minute you put a guy like Vince Russo under any kind of pressure and question him, that’s the part that he can’t handle. He can’t handle being questioned because he doesn’t have answers. He just has emotion. No answers, no plan, no what’s next, nowhere it’s going. Just his emotional commitment to whatever’s going through his mind at the moment. He’s one of the flakiest people I’ve ever met.”

On the Women’s Championship match at SummerSlam IYO SKY cashing in Money in the Bank: “I love the finish, because I just did not expect anything like that. It caught me by surprise so much. The match itself, I didn’t enjoy. I don’t know if it was the best match, worst match — definitely wasn’t the best match. But you know, my criticism of the match would be more from a technical perspective, or a producer’s point of view. Way too many spots for the sake of spots. Okay, we get it, these are great athletes. But you don’t need to keep trying to press that and force that down our throats. It was a spotfest for the sake of spots for so much of the match that it — I unplugged from it, I disconnected from it until the finish. I didn’t like it. But let me say this: that’s my point of view. There’s a certain style of wrestling that I enjoy. There’s a certain style of wrestling that a lot of other people enjoy that I just don’t, and nobody’s right and nobody’s wrong here. It’s just, it is what it is.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.