Eric Bischoff On Taking Lead Announce Spot For WCW Nitro, Why Ric Flair Wasn’t a Good Choice for Creative

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff talked about a wide range of topics, including why he was the play-by-play man for WCW Nitro instead of Tony Schiavone, and more while covering WCW Bash at the Beach 1995. You can check out some highlights below:

Eric Bischoff on being a play-by-play guy instead of Tony Schiavone: “It was my thinking [‘I know what I’m looking for and I know how to sell it]. And Tony was, and obviously still is. But then, Tony was a better play-by-play announcer than I was. No question about it. He was more established with the WCW audience, absolutely, no question about it. But you were right on the money as usual. There were two reasons for me to put myself out in front of it. One is, I felt like we had to get away from — new show, new opportunity, it had to feel different than everything else we were doing. Much like we were just getting done discussing Collision and AEW. The same situation existed, right? ‘How do I make this feel so much different than WCW Saturday Night,’ which was our #1 show at the time? And it required a different announcement team. You know, unfortunately Jim Ross thought that I fired him because he sounded Southern. I didn’t fire him. Bill Shaw gave him an opportunity to leave because Jim Ross requested that. But the plan was to take JR off the broadcas team before Jim requested his release. And that wasn’t because I didn’t think Jim was a good announcer. Quite the contrary, I knew that Jim was a great announcer. It was because I felt we needed a change. And so I checked the change box. Even though I had been associated with WCW and people recognized me as a B or C squad announcer, I wasn’t the face of anything. So check that box.

“But the biggest reason I did it is because I’m not really good — and you may have noticed this in a lot of our other conversations about things non-wrestling related. If I have an idea in my head, I see it very clearly, almost three-dimensionally, right? I can move it around inside of my head and look at an idea from different angles, and I see it. But I’m not that good at articulating it. I have a hard time communicating with someone to help them see what I see in my head. And sometimes I get frustrated with myself. Not because — you know, it happens with my wife, three or four times a day sometimes. But I knew the feel, and that’s the part where it gets difficult for me to articulate. Feeling is different than, ‘Okay, you’ve gotta hit this at this point in time. You’ve gotta get this talent over because here’s the story we’ve gotta tell.’ Those are the basic mechanics of play-by-play. But the feeling, the energy that I knew we had to create with it, it was something that I couldn’t articulate to Tony. And I didn’t want to drag Tony through the process of sitting down after every episode and saying, ‘No, that was all good, but here, this is what I’m looking for.’ I could have and probably should have in some respects done that. But things were moving too fast, and I didn’t feel like I could get that part of my job done. So it would just become natural for me ’cause I knew what I saw in my head. I knew that I could generate that same level of energy and help the audience see what I was seeing if I was doing it instead of explaining it.”

Eric Bischoff on Ric Flair being part of creative at the time: “Let me be as honest as I can be about my perspective. So Meltzer is reporting that we didn’t see eye to eye, and Ric wasn’t in charge? In control? It’s not true. I didn’t want to be involved in creative. I was insecure. I was aware of my lack of experience and feel for that aspect of the business. I wanted Ric to have as much control as he needed to feel comfortable and to execute a vision. But that’s a full-time job, and that’s a full-time job that requires a lot of grinding in the office with a team. It’s not fun. I mean, it is fun if you are the type of person who enjoys that process. That wasn’t Ric’s strength. It didn’t mean he didn’t have the knowledge and the ability. But sitting in a — look, he’s your father-in-law. You know what I’m talking about? This is not being in that… you cannot do this, you know, at the Marriott, out by the pool. You gotta do it as a team. It’s just the only way it works. And that wasn’t Ric’s thing, and he was uncomfortable with it.

“And I’ll tell you the other thing that made Ric not a good choice to be the head of creative. Certainly he had the experience, knowledge, and respect of many — not all, but many of the people working for us at the time. But Ric — being in that position, you will get so much heat. Particularly when you’re one of them meaning, to go from being in the locker room and a well-respected performer and people looking up to you and you’re the guy. Ric Flair was the guy from such a large part of his career. But once you leave that room, and then you go into the room where people wear ties and control other people’s lives? You’re no longer one of them. Now, it doesn’t mean that the whole roster felt that way. But over time, people aren’t getting what they want, when they’re not getting the push they hope they’ll get, when they don’t like the finish of their match. And the guy that they used to hang out with in the locker room is the booker? That’s a different kind of pressure. Ric didn’t want that kind. Ric loved being a heel out in the ring. He did not love being a heel when it came to being in the office. And that’s the reason why Ric would’ve never, unless Ric was willing to acknowledge that and change that and take on a different view of life. Meaning, ‘I gotta be to work at 10 o’ clock in the morning and leave by eight o’clock at night five or six days a week. It would’ve never worked out. It just wasn’t. And again, not because he didn’t have the experience. I’m working hard here to give credit to Ric for what Ric was good at, deserved credit for. But just because you’re an amazing performer in the ring, doesn’t mean you can be an amazing executive in the office. They’re two different worlds.”

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