Eric Bischoff on Convincing Hulk Hogan to Drop WCW Title on 100th Nitro, How He Got Hogan to Do Big Storylines

– During the latest 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff discussed Hulk Hogan dropping the WCW World Heavyweight Title on the 100th episode of WCW Monday Nitro. Hogan lost the championship to Lex Luger on the show, and Bischoff said that despite Hogan’s reputation, he did not have difficulty convincing Hogan to lose. This led into a discussion about how Bischoff found working with Hogan and convincing him to do big storylines. Highlights are below:

On if it was difficult to convince Hogan to drop the title: “No, he was — you know, I don’t remember the conversation, but let me put it this way. If there was an issue with it, I would remember the conversation. I know the perception and the rumor and the innuendo — which I refer to as just bulls**t, because that’s what is is — is somewhat different than the reality.”

On convincing Hogan do go along with storylines: “Here was my experience with Hulk. If you wanted something big to happen, whether it was him winning the belt, losing the belt, whatever the case may be. If there was a great story and it made sense, and you could answer one question. This is where — I’m not even going to mention his name, but this is where certain people absolutely fell apart and wet themselves — is, he’ll look you in the eye and say, ‘Hmm, cool. Where does that go?’ Or, ‘Hmm, cool. What’s next?’ Now, if you could answer ‘Where does that go’ or ‘what’s next,’ you’d get his attention. And if it was a good story and it really did go somewhere, and there really was something next that mattered, he was the easiest guy in the world to work with. Where he became difficult to work with is when you come to him with this big ‘We’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do this and you’re gonna drop the belt!’ And he’d stroke his Fu Manchu and go, ‘Hmm, cool. Where does that go?’ And if you looked in a f**king deer in headlights and you started to wet your pants, that was the end of the conversation. And unfortunately, a lot of the bad rap that Hulk got, or the rumor and innuendo was for the most part generated by people who would pitch him ideas and never went anywhere, or didn’t really make any sense other than it was a hot idea in the moment. Well, that’s easy. Anybody can come up with a hot show. Coming up with one hot show is not that hard. Coming up with 52 of them becomes a challenge. And coming up with those big moments that actually lead to a bigger moment, or another big moment, that is a challenge.”

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