In pro wrestling, even on-screen authority figures occasionally must lace up their wrestling boots and take a bump or two, which Eric Bischoff recently spoke about, recalling how he wasn’t taught to take one.
Bischoff had some prior experience in combat sports before becoming an interviewer, announcer, and later a member of WCW management, having competed in martial arts competitions. Nonetheless, skilled wrestling is an altogether different ball game, and Bischoff wasn’t trained like other wrestlers before moving into the squared circle, which he revealed during a special edition of his “83 Weeks” podcast held on the Power Plant, WCW’s training facility.
“No one has ever taught me methods to take a bump. Like, I’ve taken bumps. Chokeslams from the Giant, chokeslams from Kane off the sting of a stage, a powerbomb from Kevin Nash off of the stage onto the ground. I believe Sid Vicious hit me with a powerbomb that I could feel for a month,” he said. “I didn’t wish to learn because I’m superstitious.”
Bischoff explained that his body is not suited to taking bumps and that he risked injury while learning methods to take one, adding that he preferred to take them on the fly.
“We talked about creatively, [I was told] ‘Okay, then here’s the purpose where you are going to get hit with a powerbomb.’ And it’s like, [I was told] ‘Okay, well, we will teach you methods to take the powerbomb.’ I said, ‘No, you are not. I don’t need to learn that since the chances are high, while I’m attempting to learn methods to take that bump, I’m probably going to get hurt.’ I’m just not built for it. But when I’ll get hurt, if it’s on camera and we have it on tape, or if it’s live, well, we got the shot,” said Bischoff.
Later within the video, the WWE Hall of Famer learnt methods to take a basic bump and was trained by Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker, who was the top trainer in WCW.