Bischoff Regrets Not Quitting WCW in July of 1998

In the newest edition of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff revealed what he regretted most during his run with WCW, which two-month time period was his favorite, and much more. You can read his comments below.

On his biggest regret in WCW: The only regret that I’ve ever really admitted to – to myself, not anybody else – was regretting the fact that I didn’t quit WCW in July of 1998. Now is that because I didn’t enjoy what I was doing? Was it because I wasn’t making enough money? That’s a hell of a statement. We had a nine million dollar week. Why would anybody in my position want to quit the company that you’re working for that you’ve taken from the ash heap because WCW had never made a dime – no matter who was booking before me and no matter who was running the company before me, doesn’t matter. None of them combined were ever able to reach a fraction of the success I was able to create from 1994 to 1998. So why would a 44-year-old guy who was on the top of the world want to quit? Because I saw the handwriting on the wall. I saw what was going on, and I saw where it was taking me.”

On why things started to go downhill for WCW: “90 percent of my battles weren’t being fought in a booking meeting or in creative meeting. My battles were being fought internally. I didn’t prioritize creative, and we just started doing what was easiest and made sense in the moment, as opposed to really digging in and being passionate about it the way we were in 96 and 97 and early in 98.”

On his pick for his favorite time period in WCW: “I really do think it was July 98 or August 98. Things started to really go downhill from there. When you have big corporations merger and you have cultures clashing as a result of that merger, everything downstream from that was affected. And we were beginning to become greatly affected. I would say the summer of 98 – if I had to pick my favorite time to go back and if I could relive any moment in WCW – it would probably be that period in time.”