Eric Bischoff Reflects On ‘Horrible’ Yeti Creative

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff talked about the 1995 Dungeon of Doom and “The Yeti” storyline. The Yeti was the creation of Hulk Hogan and Kevin Sullivan and featured the character as played by Ron Reis as an “insurance policy” for The Giant’s match with Hogan at Halloween Havoc. The segment flopped and the character was quickly changed; the character was gone by January of 1996.

Bischoff spoke about the hilarity of the character and his creation. You can check out some highlights below:

On the Angle:

“[joking] It was a far more successful angle creatively than people give it credit for. Because they did name a cooler after him… I got to be careful, because I love Hulk. He was one of my best friends. But that doesn’t take away the fact that sometimes he came up with some really ridiculous s**t. As did I. As do all of us who are in the business of coming up with good ideas. You can’t spend a career coming up with good ideas and getting paid for it without coming up with some bad ones along the way. This was one of those.”

On How Bad It Was:

“The reason I couldn’t stop laughing is I’m imagining Hulk and Kevin Sullivan in a room, laying this stuff out and bouncing ideas off each other. Because as goofy as this idea was in 1995 — and believe me, it was still goofy in 1995… This was the epitome of goofiness, even in ’95. This is like Memphis kind of stuff, right? But both Hulk and Kevin had a lot of Memphis in them.”

On Not Stopping:

“I could have stopped it, or at least tried to. And I didn’t, so it’s not like I’m blaming anybody else. I’m not putting it on Hulk, I’m not putting it on Kevin. Because ultimately I could have stopped it. And I should have, because it was downright horrible. But it’s funny now. We can go back and get a chuckle out of it.”

On If It Was Targeted At a Younger Audience For Merchandising:

“Well, it’s generous, number one. That’s a very generous take on your part. Meaning you’re ascribing some strategic or tactical plan to creative. And I’d like to think that that was the case… But I can assure you that was not part of any conversation. This was solely a Kevin/Hulk — they were in their creative groove, and they both loved this idea. And they fed off of each other.”

On Sullivan Saying It Was To Separate Hogan’s Stuff From the More Serious Stuff:

“If that was part of the thought process — and I wasn’t there next to Kevin or Hulk for this. I certainly don’t know. But that makes sense to me. So it’s certainly plausible. Kevin was a very tactical person, so this kind of feels like a Kevin thought process. So yeah, I’ll buy that. And look, here’s the part that I really buy about Kevin’s explanation. When evidently, he said to you he had to serve Hulk — absolutely right. You know, you got the biggest star in the company who has got his own ideas. Whether you think they’re good or they’re bad, the guy who’s sharing this idea with you has made more money in the industry than anybody you’ve ever met in your life. So you’ve got to kind of listen.

“And sometimes — and I still do this to this day, I’ll get into it with somebody, and I may see things completely differently, creatively or even business-wise, strategically. And I’ll fight and I’ll fight to the point where my head’s going to come off. And then I remind myself, ‘I’m not right all the time. What if I’m wrong? What if this idea is a better idea, that just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean it won’t work?’ And Kevin was faced with a lot of that with Hulk. Not a lot of it, I shouldn’t say that.”

On Sullivan Loving the Idea:

“Kevin Sullivan loved this idea. He loved this idea. I was with him when we first met King Curtis [Iaukea] over in Hawaii. It was the most bizarre, surreal experience in my life. There was a connection between Curtis and Hulk, but mostly Kevin, that must have gone way back to something important. Because there was just a ton of genuine affection and respect between them. And I know that Kevin was excited as hell to work with Curtis in this role. And so was Hulk, because he dug Curtis.

“So I don’t think anybody dragged Kevin kicking and screaming into this. But I do see how he would have thought, “Okay, got an opportunity to work with King Curtis.’ And Kevin believed in him. Had worked with him in the past, had success with him. So it’s not like you’re just hiring a buddy. There was a reason, right? And I think he looked at it and went, ‘Hey, I can achieve all things if we move forward with this.’ It doesn’t really matter at this point. I think it’s great to go back and look at it, especially now. And it puts a smile on my face. It should embarrass me; it doesn’t. Maybe I’ve gotten over it. Maybe I’ve seen enough Yeti clips on my social media feed that I’ve become numb to them. But it is pretty funny.”

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