Updated: Eric Bischoff Details Why Michael Hayes Used To Have Heat With Him

During the latest episode of the 83 Weeks Podcast, Eric Bischoff covered Halloween Havoc 1992. Bill Watts ran WCW in 1992 and was the main booker of the show. Bischoff talked about Bill Watts and his peculiar mindset towards the roster. He mentioned how much he disliked Watts and his view of WCW.

"Watching Bill Watts' vision of what he thought WCW should be was demoralizing for a lot of people," Bischoff said. "The locker room was not a happy place to be. Bill Watts was a bully by today's standards. He wouldn't have lasted a day in this environment. I was looking for my way out of WCW [in 1992] because it was a miserable place to be."

Bischoff also talked about Michael Hayes, who he called standoffish when he saw him with WWE. He also mentioned how Hayes was drunk during their Table for 3 recording with Jim Cornette, and said some harsh things to him.

"I didn't realize I had that much heat with Michael," Bischoff said. "When I first got to WWE as a talent, Michael was kind of standoffish; he had a chip on his shoulder. My impression was he was so loyal to WWE that he still resented the fact that the guy who kicked their ass for so long resented the company. I assumed that's what it was.

"If you go back to the Table for 3 [with Hayes and Cornette], the first one I had done, first of all, Hayes was hammered. He was just ripping into me. I could never quite figure it out. We got into it and Michael said 'I was really hurt when you fired me from WCW, I thought we were tight.' "

Bischoff continued to describe why Hayes was so upset with him, mentioning that letting him go in WCW was still on his mind after all those years. He also stated that it was nice to clear the air with him after all those years because they were close in WCW.

"Michael and I, we had a blast [in WCW]," Bischoff said. "I think Michael's feeling was that we were pretty tight, then shortly after Bill Watts left I had to make some tough decisions and one of them was cutting the Freebirds. We finally cleared the air after all that time."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.