Eric Bischoff On If Vince McMahon Tries to Kill Off WCW Ideas in WWE, the nWo Being a Big Part of WWE’s Merchandise

– On the latest 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff discussed the perception that Vince McMahon tries to destroy ideas that came out of WCW such as the nWo. Bischoff was asked the question by a fan and talked about how, while WCW stuff like the nWo and Sting’s return will always be secondary to WWE-created content, he doesn’t believe that McMahon chooses to destroy old WCW ideas.

Highlights from the discussion,and the full podcast, are below:

On if McMahon tries to kill off anything WCW-related: “Mmm — no, I don’t think that. I think that’s kind of silly. I understand why people might think that, but I don’t think that’s the case. Look, I honestly believe Vince will take advantage of, exploit, use anything he possibly can to make his business healthier and generate revenue. Including anything that was WCW.”

On non-WWE ideas taking second place to WWE ideas: “But I also do believe that there’s a certain — oh, gosh I don’t know. I’ll call it a culture, a corporate culture whereby WWE — the brand, and all the things that are created as original intellectual property will always be positioned as a priority. And I’m not so sure that that’s not a great idea. Obviously, look at their business model. It’s working for them. It’s unfortunate, I think in some cases.”

On WWE keeping the nWo an important part of their merchandising content: “Look, the nWo to this day is still one of the most successful products in the WWE catalog in terms of merchandise. You look at this crowd shot here from 2015 and there’s nWo merchandise there. You could probably watch Raw this Monday night … and see nWo merchandise in the crowd that they purchased through the WWE. So you know, they’re still making money off of it. They’re not destroying it, they’re keeping the merchandise available. They’re inducting the nWo into the Hall of Fame. So I think the fact that WWE is promoting the nWo as much as they have and are, and the fact that they’re still selling their merchandise kind of contradicts the statement that they’re trying to kill it. I think they’re trying to make money off of it. But I also, at the same time, think that the nWo will always take a backseat to anything — or anything that was a WCW original. Including Sting’s return, and his positioning in WrestleMania against Triple H. It will always be positioned as secondary to anything that’s WWE. But that’s not the same thing as killing it. That’s not the same thing as disrespecting it, it’s just positioning it. And like I said, I don’t think it’s wrong. From the WWE perspective, I don’t think that’s a bad thing, necessarily.”

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