Conversation With The Big Guy Recap – WWE Exposing the Business, Memorizing Promos in WWE, Bischoff Returning to Wrestling? More!
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On this special ‘1 Year Anniversary’ edition of the show, Bischoff and his co-host Nick Hausman go live in order to answer fan questions.
To start the show, Bischoff says he’s very grateful that Shane McMahon emerged without injury from a forced landing in a helicopter yesterday. He says he doesn’t know McMahon well, but he knows how much McMahon loves his wife and kids and he was certainly thinking about them during that situation yesterday. In typical McMahon fashion, Shane didn’t really sell anything during his news interview, and Bischoff says that only Shane could top his Hell in the Cell leap by falling out of the sky in a helicopter.
A listener calls into the show and asks Bischoff how WWE can get back to the days when they were doing 6.0 and 7.0 ratings. Bischoff says that things have changed so much in the world of entertainment since those days, and there are so many alternative ways to consume programming these days. He doesn’t think we’ll ever see those types of numbers again, and with respect to the current television landscape, Bischoff thinks that WWE is ‘blowing it out of the water’.
Another listener calls into the show and asks Bischoff who his favourite member of the nWo was. He says that Hulk Hogan is his best friend, but he also really enjoyed Scott Hall’s performance as a member of the nWo. Hall brought a lot to that group, and then his pairing with Kevin Nash resulted in a terrific tandem. Hall and Nash’s pairing is a perfect example of 1+1=5.
Bischoff is joined on today’s show by his co-host Nick Hausman.
Hausman asks Bischoff for his opinion on seeing Dixie Carter on WWE programming this Monday night. Bischoff says that Kurt Angle, and his return to WWE is a big story within that company right now, and Carter was obviously a big part of Angle’s post-WWE career. It didn’t surprise Bischoff to see Carter on Angle’s documentary at all, because there was never really any animosity between WWE and TNA.
In terms of Angle’s current mystery storyline on RAW right now, Bischoff says that he knows exactly what’s going on there. He says that WWE is simply copying the Clair/A.J. Styles angle from TNA a few years back. He says that all signs point to Dixie Carter being the person on the other end of Angle’s phone, and we might see her on RAW soon.
Bischoff says that if Carter is actually going to be a character on WWE programming, he hopes that there are a whole new batch of Producers ready to focus on getting Carter through her segments. He says that it would often take her an entire day to prepare for a 2-minute segment in TNA because she’s simply not a talented performer.
Former WCW President and former RAW GM Eric Bischoff talked about the Rusev-Cena flag match on his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling :
“I hate it. I just hate it. I haaaate it. I hate it. God, whose idea was that? Vince McMahon, if you are listening to this or someone that works for you is listening to this re-think that. That is just… gwuck. My teeth hurt just listening to you talk about this”
He continued:
“What’s a Flag Match?! What the hell is a Flag Match?! It’s like it’s been around for a thousand years and eeeeverybody knows what a Flag Match is. So, I am going to take your flag? Or, you’re going to take my flag? I am sorry… do not care. Boring. Here is what I do believe now once I take off my cynical hat. If you want to build up a story, create emotion, build anticipation, have a sense of reality, give yourself an element of surprise and wrap it all in some great action you’ve got to be a little believable. The stakes have to be a little relatable. What are the stakes?! You are going to grab my flag? Huh? You are grabbing my flag? That’s what I am going to get pissed off about and fight my heart out about? You’re going to grab my flag. I am sorry. I am sleeping through that one.”
Bischoff is joined on today’s show by his co-host Nick Hausman.
Bischoff comments on the news that Vince Russo filed a restraining order against Jim Cornette recently. He simply calls this action by Russo ‘bizarre’, and he’s getting sick and tired of talking about Russo. At first it was fun to poke fun at Russo because he’s so easy to get fired up, but at this point it’s just silly.
Hausman mentions that initially fans thought all these verbal jabs between Russo, Cornette, Bischoff and Prichard were a work, which would ultimately result in some live debate tour featuring all men. It’s obvious now that was never the case. Bischoff mentions that we was offered a pretty good pay day recently to do an in-ring segment with Russo for an indie promotion in P.E.I.,Canada. Even though the money was good, he turned it down because Russo is just too weird to be around.
Bischoff thought the Samoa Joe/Brock Lesnar segment from RAW this past week created some mystique, and that’s something that has been sorely missing from WWE’s product lately. Joe is a great character, and luckily WWE has made a commitment to Joe’s character because now Joe comes off as a believable threat to Lesnar. Bischoff thinks Joe will give Lesnar some of the best matches he has had in recent memory.
Bischoff mentions that he predicted months ago that Mayweather vs. McGregor was going to happen, because there was too much money to be made on both sides for it not to happen. He says that while Mayweather might be the favourite, McGregor is not your typical boxer. This might lead to Mcgregor putting Mayweather in some uncomfortable positions in the boxing ring.
Bischoff says that he can’t even compare this bout to CM Punk’s debut UFC outing against Mickey Gall. He says that McGregor has a much better chance to beat Mayweather than Punk had to beat Gall. At least McGregor is a fighter, where Cm Punk is not.
Bischoff informs that at one point he had an opportunity to purchase the UFC for $2 Million. This was ’98-’99, and the UFC brand was in the toilet. He took the call and listened, but he had no interest in the company at that time. The Fertitta brothers and Dana White would soon come into the picture and turn the UFC into a massive organization.
Speaking about the controversy surrounding the finish of the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, Bischoff thinks all the fan backlash is silly. He says that this is a storyline, and if you’re trying to make some kind of social/political statement from this, you’re going too far.
Russo is joined on todays’s show by his co-host Jeff Lane. They will cover part two of the April 10, 2000 episode of Monday Nitro.
Russo informs that he initially reached out to J.J. Dillon about going to work for WCW after having a meeting with Vince McMahon. Russo stressed that he wanted his wife to be able to move closer to her family, and he wanted to see his children more often. McMahon replied by saying that Russo has enough money to hire a nanny to take care of his children.
Russo did not appreciate that response and reached out to WCW. He knew that once he did that, his time in WWE was limited, whether he got a job in WCW or not. He informs that he doesn’t regret leaving WWE for WCW at this time at all, and he’d do the exact same thing tomorrow.
This episode was the first show that he and Eric Bischoff wrote together, and in spite of their differences, they managed to write some pretty good television together.
Well the on-going real life feud between former WWE creative writer Vince Russo and Jim Cornette continues. This time around, Vince Russo has filed a restraining order against because he feels that he is being stalked by Cornette.
For those not following the drama, Cornette made an offer to meet up with Russo at an undisclosed location with $5,000 in hand. Cornette said Russo can have the money if he can take it from him. Russo then issued a sarcastic apology video, which Cornette responded to with his own video as well. The two have continue to trade shots between each other on various wrestling podcasts. This all started when Eric Bischoff and Cornette decided to continuously bring up Russo on the the WWE Network’s “Table for 3” show.