Bruce Prichard Explains Why WCW Should’ve Saved Hulk Hogan vs. Goldberg for PPV Instead of Nitro, Thoughts on Rumor of Hogan Agreeing to Job in Exchange for Getting Win Back Later

– During this week’s edition of Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard looked back at the WCW Monday Nitro that featured Goldberg vs. Hollywood Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which was given away on free TV. Prichard shared his thoughts on why he thinks WCW should’ve saved such a big matchup for pay-per-view instead of Nitro (note that Eric Bischoff has said that WCW was a television company more than a PPV company, which is why they prioritized ratings so much) and the rumor from Dave Meltzer and The Wrestling Observer that Hogan allegedly agreed to job clean to Goldberg for the title in exchange for being the first man to get beat Goldberg and get the win back later on. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below.

Bruce Prichard on if he thinks WCW should’ve saved Goldberg vs. Hogan for PPV: “I do. If the idea is to make money, I think that that was a money match that they could’ve saved for pay-per-view to bring that revenue up, somehow, someway and build to it instead of giving it away. I also understand the television company because the business at this point in time, it’s changing. It is all about the ratings, and it is all about the advertising revenue and things of that nature. The rights fees and all that, that wasn’t as much of a big deal at this point. It’s always going to be a big deal, but it was different. And I think that for WCW, yeah, they were a television company. We were an overall entertainment company. We did live events, we did pay-per-views, and we made money on all of those and we had to make money on all of those. If Nitro didn’t draw and they gave away 50,000 tickets, they didn’t care because that gate didn’t mean as much to them. The gate still meant as much to us.”

Prichard on if WCW booked the match properly compared to Hogan vs. Sting: “Well, I think that as far as you’re going to do it the first time with Goldberg, yes. To me, that’s the only finish that you go with, and that’s the only way with here after everything you’ve done to build this guy up and after everything you’ve done to get to that point, yeah, that’s absolutely logic 101. But all the time — WCW at the time — wasn’t interested in logic. So, kind of surprising that they actually did that.”

Prichard on WCW taking a ratings win for the match over a huge blockbuster pay-per-view buy: “I would agree with that, maybe even more, because it was such a big match that the audience was clamoring for, and it was one of those pick ’em. You really couldn’t call it. You wanted to call it. You wanted to know that your guy was going to win, but you just couldn’t call it. So yeah, I think that that would’ve been great on pay-per-view to get everyone involved in that. And they could’ve done an angle, they could’ve done something more to get to that moment.”

Prichard on the rumor that Hogan only agreed to do the job in exchange for getting the win back on Goldberg, which Eric Bischoff has denied: “I’m gonna say something here, and I will not go into detail. But very recently, I read something on one of these sites that was all attributed and all from Dave Meltzer, who detailed a story about something, and it was a long, drawn out thing. And it was 100 percent, with the exception of names that were correctly spelled, fiction. Just total, complete fiction. So, do I believe that that conversation happened? If Eric says it didn’t, then I doubt it did because there are so many things that Meltzer reports, and he would report them, and this happened, this happened. And they’re just out and out fictional lies that he just makes up because no one else will debate and no one else will call him on his bull**** because it’s confidential information. But because he’s saying it, and his audience looks at him as this guru that knows everything, and he just doesn’t. He is a fictional writer. He is a Stephen King. He writes fiction. And so, I think that he just puts s*** together, and people say, ‘You know what? I can see that happening. Yeah. That must be what happened.’ And then it becomes fact because enough people say it over and over again. So to answer your question, do I think that the conversation happened? Maybe it did, and maybe it didn’t. Who knows? But I doubt very seriously that Dave Meltzer knew.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Something to Wrestle, with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.