Eric Bischoff On Being Surprised By Goldberg’s Rise In WCW, What Led To The nWo’s Downfall

In a recent edition of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff discussed being surprised by Goldberg’s rise in WCW, the turning point for the nWo’s downfall, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Eric Bischoff on being surprised by Goldberg’s rise in WCW: “Nobody expected Bill to get over that way. None of us. Keep in mind, Goldberg came out in dark matches just so we could kind of get an idea of how he’d react to a crowd. We had no idea the type of reaction he was going to get coming out in dark matches. This was like three weeks after he’d been at the Power Plant. We said, ‘OK, he’s big, he has some great athletic ability. Maybe we can send him out in a dark match and see how he does.’ Holy shit. And I know that sounds weird because one would assume, ‘Well obviously, he’s Bill Goldberg. You would expect him to get over.’ No you wouldn’t. Nobody else had ever gotten over like that that fast. So, it would be unrealistic to say that you would’ve expected it. That was a freaky situation. Has there been anybody like Bill since Bill? I don’t think so. Has there anybody come out of the chute and had as much impact on the wrestling business as early in their career as Goldberg? I don’t think so. Maybe I’m wrong.”

On whether the nWo adding too many members was the turning point for the faction’s downfall: “That’s the prevailing opinion of people who were watching Nitro back in the day. It wasn’t because the nWo got too big, it was because the nWo got big because there was a plan for the nWo to have its own show and for the WCW brand to have its own show. And if the nWo was gonna have its own show, guess what the nWo needed? More people on the roster. Where things went awry and where the whole plan really began to collapse was when it became apparent to me that it was almost impossible to achieve what we set out to do. That’s when all of a sudden we wake up one day and say, ‘We’re not gonna be able to do that. Now what do we do?’ By that point, the nWo had way more people on the roster that it needed. It’s not an excuse. It is what it is. Again, the nWo was supposed to have to Nitro, WCW was supposed to have Thunder. Had plans gone the way we had hoped they would have gone, the way I wanted them to go, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit 83 Weeks with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.