Eric Bischoff Explains The Importance Of NWO Japan In Improving WCW And NJPW Relations

Eric Bischoff is primarily credited by most as the creative mind behind the nWo. As the President of WCW, Bischoff had long-time hero Hulk Hogan join "The Outsiders," Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, to create the most influential group in wrestling history. 

As it turns out, the original idea for the nWo came from Japan, which Bischoff has always admitted, and said that they wanted to create a version of the nWo in Japan, which he spoke about on his "83 Weeks" podcast. Bischoff said that the idea behind nWo Japan was "to strengthen and grow the relationship with New Japan." 

He explained how he had to salvage the relationship between WCW and NJPW. "I think [NJPW founder Antonio Inoki] respected what I'd accomplished in WCW because he had seen what had happened before me and he was seeing what was happening under my watch. And I think he respected me. I think he respected my honesty. Again, when I first started doing business with New Japan, I had a lot of repairs to do. Bill Watts had really, really damaged that relationship."

Bischoff mentioned how different the culture was in Japan, which was the most important thing to understand in fixing the issues between the companies, and credited Sonny Ono and Brad Riggins for helping improve their relationship. 

Given how hot the nWo was in WCW, adding the stable to Japan only made sense, as per Bischoff. "Having the nWo in Japan gave us the opportunity to participate, to perform there more often." Bischoff also mentioned that Master Saito said the nWo storyline was the most successful in NJPW history.