Eric Bischoff on Why He Kept Crow Sting Gimmick a Secret in WCW

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff talked about how Andre Freitas helped design the iconic Crow version of Sting — and why he guarded the project so closely from people inside WCW. Bischoff spoke about the matter in the context of his giving a tour of the WCW Power Plant. You can check out his comments below:

On Who Came Up With the Look:

“We went to AFX Studios. Now, you’ve probably heard of AFX, you might have heard of Andre Freitas, the guy who runs it. [He] was so instrumental in coming up with some of the coolest stuff we ever did in WCW in terms of special effects and costuming. Andre really designed the Crow Sting character. He worked with Steve Borden, Sting, and they collaborated on that character.

“We talked to Andre about that process, and he showed us some of his sketches and the work that went into it. Some of the stuff that he pitched me with to sell me on the job. And he had all the materials. He brought all of that back and showed it to us. So that was really fun. Listening to him talk about the KISS Demon character, and Andre shared a lot of experiences working with Gene Simmons from KISS on that project. A lot of it was information I either didn’t know, wasn’t aware of, or completely forgot. So it was like, ‘Wow, that really happened?’ It was interesting for me as well, because you’re hearing stories from a different perspective.”

On Keeping It Quiet:

“This kind of goes to the resentment and the jealousy, just the culture at the time. It’s not so much that I was worried about leaks, although that too. But you start having people internally passing judgment on a project — before the project even starts, they’re already crapping on it, and making it more difficult for anybody to accept. And that was one of the reasons I kept things internal. Because I didn’t want people internally to start passing judgment and resisting it before it even got started.”

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