Eric Bischoff Says Glacier Debuted a Few Years Too Late To Work

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff revisited the August 26, 1996 edition of Nitro as part of the NWO’s 30th anniversary, including the Glacier vignettes that were airing while the NWO angle was taking off. Bischoff explained why the character arrived at the wrong moment and how WCW’s shift toward reality-based storytelling left it behind. You can check out his comments below:

On Glacier Debuting At the Wrong Time:

“Horrible timing. Horrible timing. It would have been a great idea in ’93, ’94. It was a horrible idea in ’96. I mean, you look at, the NWO was the obvious thing, but the shift from teen and preteen characters that WCW was doing.”

On WWE Excelling At It:

“By the way, WCW was nothing but a cheap imitation derivative, if you will, of WWE. We just didn’t have the budget or the expertise to develop characters the same way that WWE did. They did a great job. They were a factory. That’s why so many people got over so quickly back in the early ’80s and even into the late ’80s and ’90s, because WWE was a character building machine and they were able to get people over.

“Unfortunately, the overly animated teen and preteen cartoonish type characters that dominated the scene, both in WWE and in WCW — because we were trying to do what they were doing. Not we, not me, those before me. When I made the decision to go after the 18 to 49 year old demo instead of the teen and preteen demo, and shift towards a more reality-based storyline, that was right smack dab in the middle. Not even in the middle.”

On the Timing

“It was the end of the Glacier character development. I mean, the vignettes were all done, staging was done, the lighting had been done. I mean, we had done all of the work for three, four, five, six months leading up to the debut. So by the time it debuted, it was already a year too late. I think, like you said, if the timing would have been different, if it would have come out a year, maybe two years sooner, I think there was a chance it could have gotten over at least better than it did, and it ran head on into kind of a cultural brick wall, if you will, creatively.”

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