Eric Bischoff Talks Never Signing Shawn Michaels, Why He Lost Respect For JJ Dillion, Brian Pillman
'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair recently interviewed former WCW Executive Producer and President, Eric Bischoff, on WOOOOO! Nation. In a wide-ranging two-part interview, Flair and Bischoff discussed Bischoff's hiring of JJ Dillon in WCW, Shawn Michaels never being offered a job with WCW, and Brian Pillman's release from WCW.
According to Bischoff, he hired JJ Dillon for two reasons: 1) Kevin Nash recommended Dillon; and, 2) Dillon was experiencing very difficult personal circumstances at the time. Bischoff claimed that he did not hire Dillon to gain insight as to WWE's operations.
"As [WCW] got bigger, and things started turning around and we started tightening up the ship, so to speak, it became clear that we needed experienced people in the office, in the field, as part of the wrestling side of the equation," Bischoff continued, "Kevin Nash came to me, and for whatever reason and I don't know why I didn't ask, he was tight with JJ and he put JJ over to me and told me all of the great things JJ could bring to the table. But he also said, 'look, this guy got fired, he [has] got a child or children with special needs, and he needs a gig.'"
Bischoff said that he immediately lost respect for Dillon shortly after bringing him in when he pulled Bischoff aside to show him handwritten notes on WWE financial information.
"[Dillon] said, 'hey, do you want to know what the guys in WWE are making? I've got all the records right here.' He opened up a folder and there were handwritten notes in there. And not that I'm above playing dirty, because I can and I will to a certain point, but that crossed the line for me. It didn't feel right. It was wrong. And I said, 'JJ, I don't need it, but thanks.' And that was it."
Bischoff stated that Shawn Michaels never got offered a job at WCW because Bischoff got the impression that Michaels was under contract and that he was never really interested in going over to WCW.
"It's not that his name didn't come up, I knew of Shawn." Bischoff added, "I was always under the impression that he was happy where he was and he just felt comfortable working for WWE and that he was never really interested in coming over."
As for whether Brian Pillman tricked Bischoff into releasing him for his WCW contract, Bischoff said that he cannot really be sure. Pillman, who lived the lunatic gimmick, convinced Bischoff to let him go, so he could work on his character before returning to WCW as a bigger star.
"We agreed that when the time was right that he would come back and he and I had stayed in contact. All while he was gone, he was cutting promos on me and doing all this crazy s–t, we stayed in contact. He'd call me once every six months, every three months, or I'd call him and say, 'okay, time is looking good. Where are you at?' That's my side of it. Now, maybe he worked me. Maybe he got exactly what he wanted out of me and the only reason he was talking to me after the fact was to keep me on the hook. I don't know."
In addition to these topics, Flair and Bischoff talked about the first episode of WCW Monday Nitro, the infamous WCW Thunder incident with Flair no-showing, and many other things. Click here to listen to the whole interview.
Source: WOOOOO! Nation