Eric Bischoff Says He Struggled With 'What' Chants After Arriving In WWE

"What!?" chants have become fairly ubiquitous in wrestling, but as an on-screen antagonist of former WWE Raw Co-General Manager "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Eric Bischoff was showered with more chants than most.

"I had to overcome [the chants], when I first got to WWE as a character," Bischoff said on "83 Weeks" recently. The WWE Hall of Famer said fans used the chants to throw performers off their game. "Fun time."

The chants were popularized by Steve Austin, making Bischoff, and every other Austin rival a target for the chants. Bischoff believes they were the first inkling of things like the "Yes Movement," as the crowd was realizing the power of live television.

"It was [annoying]," Bischoff said. "It was a real clear example of the audience realizing that they're a really big part of the show. Like they should be getting a check, if they do their job properly, because a really great audience can make a mediocre show feel like a big deal...conversely, a dead crowd can make [a good show] feel flatter than p*** on a plate."

Even after Steve Austin's retirement, the crowds continued to use the chant to throw performers off during promos, to the point that even Austin himself has felt a little guilty over the fact that they've become a complicated part of his legacy. The chants were born out of a phone message that Austin left for AEW World Tag Team Champion Christian Cage, in which Austin continuously shouted the question in an attempt to entertain himself.