Eric Bischoff Addresses Reports He Banned Scott Steiner From Doing Interviews Over His Language

– During the latest 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff discussed a report claiming that he banned Scott Steiner from doing interviews until Steiner could tone down his language. Bischoff was asked by Conrad Thompson about a report in the Wrestling Observer that he had banned Steiner, who was volatile on the mic, from doing live interviews over the risque promos that he would cut. Bischoff wasn’t sure about it at first until he remembered what year it is, then affirmed the likely truth of the story because of the heavy weight that the new Standards and Practices team at the time had enforced on them.

“You know, I’m not saying it’s not true, because I can certainly see it,” he said. “What year was it? [1999] Oh, then for sure. Because then I had Terry Tingle from Standards and Practices … by this time in 1999, what we would have been able to get away with in ’96, 97, even ’98, wouldn’t have been an issue. But by 1999, we had Standards and Practices and Terry Tingle breathing down our backs. I’d say that it was probably true.”

Bischoff’s struggle with Turner brass over the content of the show in 1999 was pretty open at the time. Bischoff even took shots at the Standards and Practices team in 2000 by turning Lodi and Lenny Lane, the The West Hollywood Blondes, into a team called “Standards and Practices” paired with Stacy Kiebler (Miss Hancock) who railed against the “adult themes” in WCW. You can listen to the full podcast below.

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