Eric Bischoff On Why He Thinks Hulk Hogan Left WWE for WCW, Hogan Getting Booed During 1994 Feud With Ric Flair

In a new edition of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff discussed Hulk Hogan jumping to WCW in 1994, why he thinks Hogan left WWE, Hogan getting booed during his feud with Ric Flair, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Eric Bischoff on why he thinks Hulk Hogan left WWE for WCW: “Right from the very beginning, from the earliest part of the negotiations, it was made clear by Hulk through Henry Holmes that he wanted a limited agreement. He didn’t wanna be on 6 or 8 or 12 pay per views per year. I’m certainly not speaking for him, and we did talk years later about why he was so adamant about that. Hulk knew early on he was an attraction. He wasn’t a day player – not that WCW was on the road 300 days a year and at the time we weren’t, we were probably out 150 or 180 days a year and losing money every time we went out the door. And Hulk didn’t want to be a part of that. First, he didn’t want the grind. He left WWE when he did in large part involving the issues surrounding the steroid trial and all that controversy and then there were creative issues – the whole Ultimate Warrior thing and creative and political issues. But I think the primary thing that caused Hulk to leave was the schedule. He wanted to pursue movies and television. And you can do neither while you’re working the kind of schedule Hulk worked in WWE, and he didn’t want to end up in the same type of schedule in WCW.”

On fans booing Hogan during his feud with Ric Flair in 1994: “I think it’s fair to say that there was a segment of the fans that were booing Hulk not only because he was their guy vs. our guy, but there was a genuine blowback from the whole steroid thing. That didn’t come without a cost. Obviously, it hurt WWF at the time and Vince and it took a big chunk out of Hulk too. So, I think it’s fair to say that there was a percentage of the audience that was like angry because of the whole steroid thing and the disillusion of it – they weren’t angry, but they were angry at being disillusioned. So you got a percentage of the negative heel reaction was part of that. How much? I don’t know. But I think the largest portion was because it was their guy vs. our guy. And by the way, that was one of the things I was most excited about because that’s a storytelling opportunity. Fuck, give me that all day long. But yeah there was a portion that was our guy vs. their guy and there was a portion of that audience that was like ‘Fuck you’ after the steroid trial. There was some residual heat there, no doubt about it.

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