There have been many debates on just who killed WCW, but considered one of the corporate’s former top executives, and someone often blamed for its demise, has outlined just when WCW died for him. Eric Bischoff talked in regards to the moment that he moved on from WCW on an episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast, when asked in regards to the infamous moment on “WCW Monday Nitro” when Shane McMahon revealed it was him who bought the corporate.
“For me, personally, after I got the phone call from Brian Bedol, ‘The deal’s dead,’ I used to be on a beach in Hawaii with my kids,” Bischoff explained. “That is when it died to me. That was the last ‘Nitro…’ My relationship with WCW died after I hung up that phone call. So, for me, not being a component of the last event, to me, it was no big deal. It was anticlimactic. It had already been determined. The fight was over. I used to be already moving on by the point this show aired, in my mind, as the perfect I could. Makes it sound like I didn’t care, that is not the case, but psychologically, I suppose, I had already moved on.”
As WCW struggled toward its final days, Bischoff raised $67 million with Fusient Media Ventures to buy the corporate. But in 2001, AOL Time Warner canceled WCW’s TV programming. With no network to host “Nitro,” the worth of the promotion drastically fell, and Bischoff’s financial buyers pulled out of the deal. Vince McMahon, of the then-WWF, swept in and purchased the corporate for a much lower cost, and his son, Shane “bought” the corporate in storyline.
If you happen to use any quotes from this text, please credit “83 Weeks” and supply a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.