Eric Bischoff Says Sting’s Condition Caused WCW Starrcade 1997 Finish To Be Changed

During a recent edition of his 83 Weeks podcast (transcript via Wrestling Inc), Eric Bischoff says Sting returned to WCW unmotivated, untanned, and out of shape, leading to some changes at Starrcade 1997. Below are some highlights from Bischoff addressing the topic during the show and the full audio:

Eric Bischoff on Sting’s Condition at Starrcade 1997: “We knew what the finish was going into this thing, so there was no question about who was going to win and who was going to lose. We’d known that. We’d known that for 12 months. The question was, ‘how do we get there?’, so Sting showed up in my dressing room. Hulk was already there and he walked in, and I don’t want to overdramatize this, and I’m also going to say I’m not going to share everything in this recall because some of the stuff is personal to Steve Borden, a.k.a. Sting. And since he [has] never shared it [publicly], it’s not up to me to do it. I’m just not going to do it, but I will give you as much information as I can. So Sting walks in and [Hogan] and I had the same reaction. We didn’t acknowledge it to each other, but we both had this similar reaction, which was, ‘wow, he doesn’t look very excited about this.’ Before we had one syllable of a conversation, about what the finish was going to be or how we were going to get there, Sting, during Sting’s walkout, he had the same lack of energy, or presence, is an even better way of saying it. It was almost as if he was only half there when he walked in the room. Now, Sting had, I think he has acknowledged in the past that he was going through a lot of personal things in his life at the time.”

Bischoff on Sting Living The CrowGimmick: “I didn’t know as the whole Crow angle began, and the character just kind of showed up in the rafters, he didn’t really talk, and he didn’t really engage with anybody. Well, that wasn’t just the character. That was what was really going on with Steve Borden. He was almost like a ghost. He was very similar to his character, believe it or not. So what we didn’t realize, what a lot of us didn’t know, was just the depth of the personal issues that he was having in his life. It wasn’t apparent to us.”

Eric Bischoff on The Planned Finish: “This is going to piss a lot of people off. The original finish was Sting was going to go over. How he was going to go over, that wasn’t my deal. I didn’t ever get involved, even at this, in the details of the finish. It just wasn’t my strength. I can’t emphasize that enough. And rather than engaging myself and involving myself in things that I knew I didn’t really know enough about, I let the talent have a lot of say, especially someone like Steve and Hulk Hogan. We knew what the finish we wanted was before we even got to the building, before we got on a plane. We knew about it months in advance. We knew we wanted Sting to go over. How he went over, he had to go over strong. We had to end the story exactly the way the audience wanted it to end, on the highest note possible. That was the finish going in. How we were going to get there on a step-by-step basis, I couldn’t tell you because I wasn’t involved.”

Eric Bischoff on Sting’s Mindset: “Now, in terms of the changes in light of really feeling and believing, and as much as I liked Sting as a human being, as a friend, as a performer, as one of the most loyal WCW talents on the roster, he wasn’t up for it. It’s like he… I’m going to try to do an adequate job of explaining this without overstating it… it’s almost like he didn’t believe it was actually going to happen, long, long, long, months ago, maybe when the whole angle first started. I’m not saying he felt this way. I’m saying this is the impression I had. I’ll speak for myself. The impression I had is that through this whole big build up, he never believed it was going to happen. He believed he was going to get screwed out of an opportunity and he quit six months before this event. He quit caring. He quit taking care of himself. He quit preparing. He showed up with no energy with no anticipation, no enthusiasm. It was just like, ‘okay, you guys are going to f–k me, so let’s get it over with.’ That was the vibe I got.”