Eric Bischoff On Why He Refused To Rehearse Powerbomb From Kevin Nash

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff talked about the famous spot where Kevin Nash jackknife powerbombed him at Great American Bash 1996. Bischoff explained why he refused to rehearse it and how completely he trusted Nash to protect him. You can check out some highlights below:

On the Idea:

“We settled on it early, or maybe I knew even before we got there what we were going to do, I don’t remember. But it wasn’t a big deal to me. This is going to sound like I’m trying to sound like a tough guy. It’s not that at all. it’s just that I’ve always been fairly durable. I wasn’t worried about it, I didn’t have any broken bones or busted-up stuff. There was no pre-existing injuries. I’ve been used to getting thrown around a lot most of my life. And since I didn’t have any pre-existing injuries, I thought, ‘Okay, what’s the worst that can happen?’

“And I really believe that if I would have tried to rehearse it, I would have made myself more nervous. And that’s just a personal thing. Sometimes I’m better if I’m just in the moment. Tell me what I need to do and let me do it, because if you give me four hours to think about it, I’ll overthink it and screw it up. That’s kinda my pattern… They wanted me to rehearse it, they wanted me to walk through it. I just didn’t want to walk through it. I saw it in my head. Kevin told me what I needed to do, how to position myself once he gets me up there. And the only thing I had to remember is to tuck my chin. It’s all I had to remember.”

On the Spot:

“I just had a lot of confidence in Kevin. I’m a buck 80, buck 90 at the time. And Kevin’s Kevin — he could pick me up, put me anywhere he wanted. So I didn’t have a lot of concern. If it would have been somebody smaller than Kevin, I probably would have been, ‘Maybe, maybe not.’ But with Kevin, as big and as strong as he was, I had zero concern. I knew he’d protect me, and all I had to do was tuck my chin.

“And when I took it… I do remember going, “Okay, does everything still work?” And I knew right away everything still worked. Fingers and toes were moving, my neck was fine. I’m good. And I just laid there and smiled — in my mind. I didn’t want to sell it, I didn’t want to show the camera, but I was lying there thinking, ‘This is just freaking awesome, I want to do this some more.’ It was addictive, because of the adrenaline rush and the dopamine hit you get from something like that, for a guy who’d never done it before? It’s freaking amazing.”

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