During a recent appearance on Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, former WWF & WCW World Heavyweight Champion Bret “Hitman” Hart talked about Eric Bischoff & his time in WCW. Below is what Bret had to say:
“I don’t have a good thing to say about Eric Bischoff or anything he ever did. Talk about the Midas touch, he was the opposite. He would kill your career; he was too stupid to know what a career was. It’s like, if you had passion for your matches and a genius for wrestling talent, it didn’t mean anything to Eric Bischoff, he was the worst loser, maggot – he was a nice enough guy, but he was just the worst.
I felt so bad, because I went to WCW because I really wanted to make a difference. If you look at WCW and all the names that they had, and all the wrestlers, they had everything, all they needed was to have someone who knew what they were doing; someone with half a brain.
I heard his quote, which is why I get hostile towards Eric Bischoff talking about how when i came to WCW I was like a broken toy, or that I didn’t have the fire. I could strangle him when I hear him say that because that is so not true. I was on fire; I wanted to take the world on; I wanted to take that whole company and kick Vince McMahon in the teeth. I wanted to put on the best matches. Give me Chris Benoit, give me Booker T, give me Sting, Hogan, and we can really get this thing rocking here, but he was such an idiot – I would tell him that if he was sitting right next to me; you are an idiot and you cost everybody.
You look at wrestling today it’s like a monopoly, so the wrestlers themselves have no leverage of any kind. Before, if they weren’t going to be paid, you could have told them that you were going to go to WCW like the old days, that was so much better for the wrestlers because we had a bargaining table, but today? No, and that is all Eric Bischoff’s fault; he killed the wrestling business, he was the worse.
Bret Hart vs. Goldberg (WCW Starrcade 1999) by OldSchoolWrestling
I like Eric. He was always nice to me. He had done some nice things for me like the night Owen Hart died, he flew me home in a learjet; paid me the whole summer with a ridiculous wage, so he did some nice things there, but at the same time, he lied to me and killed my career. It’s kind of like; come to WCW and sign this contract so that we can kill your career. That is what we are going to do.”
