Eric Bischoff On “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” Concept, Sting vs. Jake Roberts In Coal Miner’s Glove Match At Halloween Havoc 1992

In a recent edition of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff discussed the “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” concept, Sting vs. Jake Roberts in a Coal Miner’s Glove Match at Halloween Havoc 1992, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Eric Bischoff on the “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” concept at WCW Halloween Havoc: “The Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal thing – I believe it was a Dusty Rhodes idea. I’m pretty sure, could be wrong. I get the idea, there’s intrigue – but I remember even in 1992 going ‘Oh man, I just came out of the team challenge series, and I’m walking into this?’ This is just about as corny and about as bad.

On the Coal Miner’s Glove Match between Sting and Jake Roberts at Halloween Havoc 1992: “Maybe this is another chink in my armor when it comes to gimmick matches – I’ve seen so many of them end up so badly, my natural reaction to any type of gimmick match is just ‘I don’t wanna see it, I don’t wanna be a part of it.’ Because again, so often, there’s no story. There’s a story with Jake Roberts and the snake – that’s a gimmick that’s part of his character. I felt the same way in 1992 that you did about a Coal Miner’s Glove Match…..what the fuck is that? What makes it so interesting? No story, no buildup – just a gimmick match for the sake of a gimmick match. Then, to make it even worse, that screwy wheel that they probably hadn’t practiced or rehearsed with all that much, trying to get it to stop where they wanted it to stop. It didn’t seem natural and it was exposed right from the very beginning.

“Even Sting had a hard time making sense out of this. And Jake looked good – I didn’t appreciate Jake Roberts for his working ability to the extent I should have, and going back and watching this, I saw glimpses of Jake at the peak of his career, which he wasn’t in this match. But I saw why DDP thought so highly of him in terms of his working and the psychology. I saw it here, and I think it’s worthwhile to go back and watch this because like I said, Jake wasn’t at the peak of his career, but he was damn good. It really is interesting to go back and watch his psychology, but it wasn’t enough to make this match interesting for me. The whole snake biting Jake in the face…….eh, I don’t know.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit 83 Weeks with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.