The latest episode of former WCW President Eric Bischoff’s podcast Bischoff on Wrestling was released just now and features former WCW & WWE Broadcaster “Mean” Gene Okerlund!
You can find some of Gene and Eric’s comments transcribed below.
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EB: What was your reaction when I started giving away finishes from Monday Night RAW?
GO: Initially it bothered me a little bit. You did. They would do live to tape on that same night for that week or even two weeks at times because the shows were one hour at that time. They moved to two a little later on. I thought it might have been a little tacky. The old school guys would say, “What the hell is this guy thinking?!” It was already out there. It was in the dirt sheets. They covered it so if you gave finishes away… I thought you were going to be in the Hall of Fame this year! If it hadn’t been for Alundra Blayze throwing the women’s belt in the garbage can I think you would have! (laughs) I’m kidding.
EB: That’s alright. I hear it all the time. I think a lot of the more established guys like yourself, I don’t know if it’s true, the reaction I got from a lot of the boys was like they didn’t really want to be a part of that because they knew they might have to go back to work there someday. They didn’t want to be covered with the collateral damage that created. There were a lot of reasons to be against it. You weren’t alone.
This week’s episode of Bischoff on Wrestling starts with Eric giving his take on a couple of stories from around the business of pro wrestling from this past week including:
- Brock Lesnar retiring from MMA
- WWE’s 2016 4th Quarter Financial Report
- Linda McMahon being confirmed as a member of Donald Trump’s cabinet
- The McMahon Family photo with Donald Trump in the White House
- Teddy Long joining the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame class
Eric then welcomes his guest for this week former WWE & WCW Broadcaster “Mean” Gene Okerlund! During his return appearance Gene and Eric speak candidly about:
- How Gene broke in to the business
- Their respective relationships with Verne Gagne
- The first time that Gene worked with Andre the Giant
- How Andre dealt with life on the road and visiting Japan
- Gene’s memories of Hulk Hogan debuting for Verne Gagne and the AWA
- Hulk struggling with promos early in his career
- Gene’s relationship with WWE Producer Kevin Dunn
- How Kevin Dunn came to work for WWE
- Gene’s Summerslam 1989 blooper where the set started to collapse around him
- How Vince McMahon and Verne Gagne are similar and different
- Gene’s 1993 exit from the then WWF
- Gene’s WCW debut and Hulk following him not long after
- Gene’s transition from WWF to WCW
- The reaction Gene had to Eric and WCW giving away WWE’s results on Nitro
- Mick Foley not being happy about the results being given away
- The night Hulk Hogan turned and joined the NWO
- Gene’s reaction to the way the NWO was being booked
- What Gene is doing now with WWE
- Their differences over the years
- Something we don’t know about Gene
- Who Gene’s “One Bad Cat” is
- More…
Today’s show then wraps up with an extended edition of the #BischoffOnWrestling mail bag segment
You can listen to the full archives from Bischoff on Wrestling in the embedded audio player below:
