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Bruce Prichard on His Reaction to Eric Bischoff Giving Away Raw Results on WCW Nitro in 1995

September 16, 2019 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
Hulk Hogan Eric Bischoff nwo Image Credit: WCW

– On the latest edition of Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard discussed what he thought at the time when Eric Bischoff started giving away Monday Night Raw results on WCW Monday Nitro after the show first debuted in 1995. Below are some highlights.

Prichard on how he reacted to Bischoff giving away Raw results on the air: “What a chicken s*** little piece of s***. That’s what we thought. You know, it was unheard of to do that, even in a wrestling war. But if you go back and look at wrestling wars, even in the old Kentucky territories where Angelo Poffo was warring with the Jarretts and what have you, they had all of their guys shoot these interviews where they exposed the business. All of their top guys got on and said, ‘Hello. My name is whatever Ronnie Garvin’s real name is. I go by the name Ron Garvin, and I play this character on television. But what we do — look folks. We don’t hurt each other. We all travel together. We have families. We’re this. We’re that.’ Bob Orton Jr. did it. Bob Roop did it. The Poffos. It was to battle Memphis and Nashville, the guys that dominated in Tennessee, and to hurt their business and say, ‘Hey, folks. We’re not lying to you. We’re the good guys here. We’re being straight with ya.'”

“It’s always funny when people talk about exposing the business and all the blame goes to Vince McMahon. You go back to the shooters, guys like Ronnie Garvin and Bob Roop, guys who were legit badasses in their own right, that were the ones that came out [and exposed it]. Vern Gagne, years ago, went to the state athletic commission and told them, ‘Hey. This is a work guys,’ just so he wouldn’t have to pay taxes in Colorado and Nevada. So, Verne did it long before Vince did. And smart promoters, I give Verne a thumbs up, man, a good smart move. So anyway, Eric doing this, it was unheard of, and this was a new tactic, and one that we really didn’t see coming. And what Eric was doing was extolling the virtues of, ‘Hey, folks. Over here on Nitro, we’re live. Anything can happen, and I’m going to promise you that it will happen. The guys on the other [show]? They taped their s*** weeks ago. Let me tell you what’s gonna happen tonight. And the f***er was right.”

Prichard on not seeing the tactic coming: “That was a new tactic, man. That was a new one, and I’ll tell ya, I didn’t see it coming. I really didn’t. I was pissed off when it happened. However, in a war, and you’re fighting for your life and you want to take over, I guess — [that’s how it works].”

Prichard on realizing WCW and Eric Bischoff wanted a war: “Well, it probably took a little longer. This is how I’ll describe it bet. It’s John [Bradshaw] Layfield tells the story of getting in a fight with Steve Blackman at baggage claim. And he said, ‘Mr. Prichard! He hit me eight times before I realized I was in a fight!’ It’s kind of what happened with Nitro because we looked at them and said, ‘OK. They’re going to do their thing and try and stake out some real estate here on Monday night. We were beating ’em.’ It wasn’t that big of an issue. We thought that, ‘Alright. We’ll see what happens.’ And kudos to Eric Bischoff for having the balls to do what he did. And he went a completely different route than what was traditional. And I there were people even in his own organization that were, ‘Oh. I don’t know about that, Eric.’ And he did it anyway. He went out and said, ‘OK. Let’s go.’ So, the gloves came off, but it wasn’t like we were in a war. At this time, it wasn’t a war. It was a nuisance. It was an annoyance. This little p****. This little John Davidson lookalike mother-****er. His jet-black hair and all that s***.”

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

article topics :

Eric Bischoff, WCW, WWE, Jeffrey Harris