Eric Bischoff Explains Why He Never Reached Out for Shawn Michaels or The Undertaker to Join WCW

– In the latest 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff viewed a famous September 1997 edition of Monday Night Raw. He was asked by Conrad Thompson if he ever had talks with top WWF Superstars at the time, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker about, possibly joining WCW. According to Bischoff, he never reached out to either man about possibly joining WCW during the Monday Night Wars era and explained why. Below are some highlights

Bischoff on not reaching out to Shawn Michaels due to his “history”: “I never got into the talking stage with either one of them. Never had a syllable of conversation with either one of them, and that’s really interesting. Shawn, not so much. I knew Shawn had a history. Shawn had a reputation, and I think he will admit — Shawn will admit — that he was not the easiest person to be in business with back during this period, and I knew that very well. And by this point, both Scott [Hall] and Kevin [Nash] were very, to say a handful, would be an understatement. And I had no — No. 1, I didn’t need him. We were top talent heavy by ’97 and ’98, so there was no real need to bring in somebody at Shawn’s level, especially with Bret Hart coming in the near future. And even if we did need somebody, bringing in somebody with Shawn Michaels’ history back at this point was not something I was interested in doing.”

Bischoff on why he never reached out to The Undertaker due to his loyalty to WWE: “The Undertaker, I just knew — well, I didn’t know, I should say. I had heard and respected the fact that he was extremely loyal to Vince [McMahon], and there would no way he would even entertain coming to WCW. So, I just never made the effort to even try to reach out to them. What’s really interesting, I think now, when I see Undertaker — I saw him when we were together in the UK several months ago before I came to WWE, we hung out together, and we don’t have any history, but we get along almost like we did or we do. I think I just have so much respect for the guy, not only for what he’s accomplished over the years, but he was one of the guys that never reached out to me, never had an agent, or a surrogate so to speak reach out to me on his behalf. He was loyal to WWE or WWF at the time, and you know, he stayed loyal and never reached out to try and improve his position financially. And I gotta respect a guy like that. And I enjoy his company to this day. I don’t spend a lot of time with him, but the little bit of time that I do, he’s one of the guys that I really like to hang out with and hear stories from.”

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