Eric Bischoff thinks Sting would’ve been a success in the nWo, but nothing compared to Hulk Hogan.
Leading up to Bash at the Beach 1996, no decision had been made about who the “third man” would be. While Hulk Hogan was the obvious choice, the former WWE Champion was hesitant to turn heel and abandon Hulkamania.
He also had creative control, so if Hulk Hogan didn’t want to join the group, Eric Bischoff had no say in the matter. Because of this, Sting was the backup and could have been the third man on the day of the show.
This would have made the Monday Night Wars very different. Sting’s battles against the nWo were a huge highlight of WCW. With him in the group, there is no telling if WCW would get popular enough to beat the WWF for 83 straight weeks.
Erich Bischoff took to Twitter recently to answer a question from Michael Elgin about who the third man could be. The conversation started over Bischoff’s response to a thread about potential options for the third man. The former WCW boss revealed that Sting definitely was an option, although he wouldn’t have been successful as Hulk Hogan in the role.
“Hey Michael! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you! The original choice was Sting. Steve was on board and ready to go. It would have been successful in my opinion, just not as impactful as the Hogan turn.” Eric Bischoff said.
Bischoff also denied a past report from Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that claimed Lex Luger was also considered for the role.
Eric Bischoff Reflects On Why 2019 WWE Return Didn’t Work
Eric Bischoff didn’t want to adapt when he made his WWE return in 2019.
He appeared on the JAXXON Podcast recently and discussed his time in the WWE five years ago. He explained that he didn’t adapt to the culture of the WWE which is why his tenure was so short.
“They brought me in, but more on the creative side of the business. I was hired to be essentially the showrunner for SmackDown on Fox. Just to oversee most of it. But that didn’t work. From my perspective, I just didn’t have the ability to adapt to that culture.” Eric Bischoff said.
“I know this sounds, you know, stupid in a way, but I live in the middle of nowhere—Wyoming—and I like it because there’s nobody around me. I was into social distancing before it became a thing. That’s why I moved to Wyoming: because I generally don’t like being around large groups of people.”
Eric Bischoff continued. “And I had to move to Stamford, freaking Connecticut. Back up—I live in a 5,000-square-foot house on 20 acres, right outside of Yellowstone National Park. I can literally see it from my deck. Like Sarah Palin can see Russia, I can see Yellowstone. So to go from that to a two-bedroom corporate apartment in downtown Stamford had a much bigger effect on me than I thought it would.
“I was always uncomfortable there. Now, I’ve got to go to work, and I’m working directly face-to-face with Vince almost every day—sometimes for six, eight hours at a stretch, going until three or four o’clock in the morning.” Bischoff added. “If you don’t really have good chemistry with someone that you’re working with like that—if it’s bad chemistry, you’re just not feeling the vibe—it’s brutal.
