Eric Bischoff On When He Decided To Split the NWO, If WCW Thunder Caused The Split

On a recent episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff discussed NWO Wolfpac. Bischoff talked about when he decided to split the NWO, if Thunder was a reason for the Wolpac and if there is an ideal length for a good story. Some highlights are below.

On when he decided to split the NWO: “I guess the frustration that existed at that time, and especially from Kevin (Nash), was that there was no progression. It wasn’t going anywhere. Now, Kevin didn’t articulate it that way, but that’s what was happening. There’s nothing happening with the NWO that feels any different than what we have been doing for quite a while at that point. I think Kevin was smart enough and had the instinct enough to start recognizing it, and I know Kevin pretty well and I knew him pretty well back then. Kevin’s not going to quietly just do what he’s been told to do or asked to do. Kevin’s going to speak up, and Kevin’s presentation when Kevin’s starting to get frustrated, he doesn’t say, ‘Hey Eric, let’s go and have a nice dinner. I got a couple ideas I want to share with you and let’s just riff a little bit.’ That’s not Kevin. Kevin comes at it a little differently a little more aggressively and by aggressive I mean blunt. Not angry, but just blunt.

“That bluntness and that was a result of the frustration of, there’s no logical progression of the story. It was in a stalemate creatively. That’s what created the frustration and some of the vocal things that Kevin said that got out or that people were reacting to. There was still a ton of respect between Kevin and Hulk it wasn’t a personal thing it was a frustration and hey we got this fast horse and you got it tied to a tree let’s untie this horse we’re gonna figure out a way to get the horse running again and it was really Kevin I think it was Nash’s idea to split it up. Now, and not for political reasons but to progress the story and if you think about it and I didn’t think about it then because I didn’t have the same experience or knowledge or interest really in detailed storytelling…”

On if WCW Thunder was a reason for the Wolfpac: “No, it was totally separate. It was really that the story had gotten flat and wasn’t progressing and we needed to do something to keep it hot and splitting it and creating a rift between Hogan and Nash and the red and the white we felt was the best way to do it, but that one didn’t have anything to do with Thunder.”

On if there’s a rule for how long a good story should last: “No, because not every story and I don’t disagree with Jeff Jarrett on this everything is subjective. I love asparagus you may hate it whatever. It has nothing to do with the asparagus it’s just your reaction to it and storylines and creative is much the same way. I don’t like there’s a lot of great technically great shows available on streaming for example that a lot of people love that I just can’t spend five minutes watching. So, the answer to your question is no there’s not a set period of time that I consider to be ideal.”

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