WWE Network Presents: Eric Bischoff’s Top 10 Most Controversial Moments

WWE Network Presents: Eric Bischoff’s Top 10 Most Controversial Moments

-Back at it on night three of Nitro week and this time another countdown. We are back to focusing on Bischoff and why not as I feel the man deserves some kudos for what he has done and it is nice to see the WWE is finally recognizing him (much like they did with Heyman about a year ago). News has broken that WWE is apparently working on a Bischoff DVD set, so makes sense they are focusing things on him. Could a Hall of Fame induction be in the future as well?

-Bischoff himself is the host, and he tells us that he does believe that “controversy creates cash.” He wastes no time getting to the countdown.

10: Challenging Mr. McMahon: Nitro, May 11, 1998
-This is a combination of the actual footage of the moment and Bischoff explaining. He came out on Nitro and challenged Vince to a fight at Slamboree that was being held in Massachusetts. Bischoff says it was his response to the promo X-Pac cut when he returned to the WWE the night after Mania XIV. Bischoff says it was fun at the time and he was confident in his ability. He had his ass kicked before and worst thing that could happen would be Vince kicking his ass on PPV. The show comes and Vince of course no shows and Bischoff gets the win by count-out. Bischoff mentions that people around him told him it was a bad idea because Vince may show up (Hogan I believe has be confirmed as the guy telling him that).

9: Searching for Stone Cold: RAW, Feb 3, 2003
-Had to assume there were going to be some WWE moments on this list because the man did have a hell of a run as the GM and may be the greatest heel GM in the WWE. This was during the era where Vince gave Bischoff 30 days to improve RAW or he would be fired. Bischoff’s solution was to find Stone Cold Steve Austin and bring him back to the WWE. This all led to Austin’s return following his blow-up with Vince and led to his match at No Way Out with Bischoff. Eric goes over the history he has with Austin and says he hadn’t talked to Steve since just before he sent him the Fed-Ex that fired him. Bischoff hunts for Austin in Texas and while he doesn’t find him, he does get into a bar fight.

8: Indecent Proposal: SmackDown, Oct 31, 2002
-Oh boy this one! SmackDown is having a Halloween party and Steph is dressed as a hot looking witch with her rack on full display. Damn! Bischoff thought the whole idea was a joke, but soon found out it wasn’t. Steph finds someone in her office dressed like Vince and it is Bischoff. He was the RAW GM and says he is going to sign Scott Steiner. We cut back to Bischoff in present day and he says the whole situation was awkward, but does make sure to say that Steph was a “hot chick.” Awesome! He knew of her relationship with HHH, and what was even worse was that Vince was directing the scene. Of course he was, and Bischoff says that Vince writes the checks so he had to give him what he wanted. So we get Bischoff making out with Steph and she kind of enjoys it by the end. Crazy moment to be sure and not shocking that Vince would ok an idea like that. I mean seriously who thought in 1997 during the craziness that was the Monday Night Wars that in 5 years Vince McMahon would be paying Eric Bischoff to make out with his daughter who was dressed as a witch with her tits damn near popping out? Only in wrestling!

7: The Randy Anderson Incident: Nitro, Feb 10, 1997
-Bischoff calls Randy Anderson, his wife, and his kids up to the announce desk and fires him as the n.W.o stands behind him laughing. Anderson keeps asking him for his job back and Bischoff asks the kids what their names are and then tells one them to tell their daddy that he is still fired. He says the next day at the Turner Office he found out they were flooded with complaints about how they could let an executive treat a contractor that way (notice how he said contractor there). Great heel character moment there for Bischoff to be sure.

6: Not Fair to Flair: Starrcade Dec 27, 1998
-Bischoff and Flair have a match at Starrcade to continue along their feud that spilled into the real world. Bischoff covers the feud and story and it was intense as all hell because of the truth involved. It does get kind of sad though as they cover the feud and how part of it was over Flair wanting to go to his son Reid’s wrestling tournament. Bischoff says he was scared to death, and I could believe that. He says to his credit Ric was the consummate professional inside the ring and for the most part outside the ring. Bischoff wins the match and does say that Ric took care of him.

5: Wedding Crasher: SmackDown, Sept 12, 2002
-This moment is glorious just because the WWE set it up so perfectly. So Billy and Chuck were going to marry each other and the WWE got a lot of press for it. They even got props from the Gay and Lesbian community, and they had to deliver on something at this point. Bischoff talks about how it was a controversial storyline to start with so they already had that going for them. Anyway the ceremony happens and the priest is some old guy that nobody really cared about until he says “3 Minutes.” Then his voice changes and you know it is Bischoff under one hell of a disguise. The pop he gets is amazing! Bischoff says he was hurried secretly into the building and walked around all day in character. Rosey and Jamal (3 Minute Warning) show up and beat the hell out of Billy and Chuck. They also do a number on Steph if I remember correctly, but that isn’t shown here obviously. Great moment and hell of a job by Bischoff!

4: The Trial of Eric Bischoff: RAW, Dec 5, 2005
-Ok, we are getting a little too one sided with the WWE moments at this point. Anyway, Bischoff is put on trial by Vince McMahon to decide if he should still be the RAW GM. Bischoff says they treated it as a real trial with Vince as the judge. Bischoff was represented by Coach and Foley was the one trying to prosecute him. The various witnesses were Steph, Mae, Moolah, and Maria. Bischoff says it was a fun way to end his run with the WWE. He says the run lasted longer than he ever thought. John Cena polls the crowd on if they want Bischoff to be fired and they are all for it. Vince does the honors and Cena gives him the FU before McMahon tosses him into the back of a garbage truck. Just shows how long Cena has been on top as well.

3: Late Night Heist: Nitro, July 20, 1998
-This was the build towards the Road Wild PPV that Jay Leno had agreed to wrestle. Bischoff and Hogan hijack the Tonight Show and he says he was worried that it wouldn’t come across as authentic. Soon after the angle, they had a replica set built to travel with them each week on Nitro. Bischoff would even steal Jay’s opening monologue from the Friday show and use it on Monday Night. He admits he did not steal them and that Jay actually faxed them to him. The crowd just doesn’t seem impressed with the segments as I hear a boring chant. He says the executives in Turner were worried that they would be pissing off people in charge at NBC.

2: The Puppet Master Revealed: Nitro, Nov 18, 1996
-This is the night where Bischoff was revealed as being a member of the n.W.o. This was tremendously done as Bischoff lets the fans know that he has been doing everything in his power to get Piper to sign and face Hulk Hogan. Piper himself shows up and starts questioning Bischoff and when his answers don’t jive Piper tries to attack him, but gets cut off by the n.W.o. Hogan then comes down and he and Bischoff hug and the crowd goes crazy. Just great stuff here and again, as a reminder, evil Eric predates Mr. McMahon by over a year. It also ties loose ends as to how the n.W.o got things they did and had the power they had. It can’t be overstated how great Bischoff was in that role and it was shocking at the time because we were all used to him being the pretty boy announcer (Ken doll look alike as Hall would say). Nobody knew he had that evil, slimy persona in him and it was a perfect vehicle to draw more heat on the n.W.o at a time when they were becoming the cool heels.

1: Hell Freezes Over: RAW, July 15, 2002
-Just something wrong with a WWE moment being Bischoff’s top moment, but they own the wrestling world. With that said you can make a case for this topping the list because Hell Freezing Over is an understatement with this moment. Vince had promised a new RAW GM and it being Eric Bischoff was one of those jaw dropping moments. Bischoff says the WWE did a great job keeping it secret and he says he even bought his own plane ticket. Seeing Bischoff and McMahon hug is still surreal. Only thing that has come close is when Bret returned and he and Shawn buried their issues. Bischoff talks about the look on the faces of the talent when he stepped out of the limo in the backstage area. I will say the backstage segment with Booker T before McMahon’s reveal was a mistake as it took away the surprise factor a bit.

-Bischoff wraps things and again says that controversy creates cash and there is always a chance he could be back to create more.

-Obviously this was top moments of Bischoff the character and not the man in charge of WCW as I kind of hoped. If they went that route then you have Madusa trashing the title, Luger appearing on Nitro, giving away RAW results, The Foley “butts in the seats” incident, the whole blood feud with Flair behind the scenes, and so on. So for what it was, much like last night’s countdown, it was a fun show.

-Join me tomorrow as we wrap up Nitro week with Part II of JBL’s interview with Eric Bischoff.