Ernest Miller Discusses Nixed Idea To Have Him Defeat Hulk Hogan For The WCW Championship
Ernest "The Cat" Miller was certainly one of the most flamboyant superstars in pro wrestling during the Monday Night Wars. With his homage to James Brown, Miller incorporated his karate skills and charisma to become a popular name in WCW from 1997-2001. Miller was a recent guest on Sitting Ringside with David Penzer, and discussed how over he was at one time to both the fans and the wrestlers backstage.
When Miller was on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show in March 2018, he went into detail of Hulk Hogan lobbying for him to have a short-term reign as the World Heavyweight Champion.
"You know what? Hogan wanted to lose the title to me one time to get me involved with the nWo," said Miller. "But then, if you noticed, we had so much little to nothing going on outside of the nWo. nWo was taking over the show so much that they didn't want the whole show to be about the nWo, so they had to build [people] who can actually draw ratings. So I was one of the ones who wasn't involved in the nWo, but I was still drawing good ratings when I would go out. It worked. There were a few of us that could draw ratings on our own without being involved in the nWo."
Miller went into detail with David Penzer of why Eric Bischoff decided not to give the go-ahead for him to win the title. Miller stated that Sting recognized that he was starting to get popular in WCW, and told him that he has something going.
"Sting looked at me and said, 'Cat, you're over, man,'" said Miller. "He said that was like the best thing on the pay-per-view! That's the best thing on this show! He said, 'that's good!' So, I felt good. Him and Eric [Bischoff] made me the Commissioner, that way I got to work with everybody."
Regarding not winning the world title, Miller explained why it did not happen.
"Hulk Hogan came to me and repitched me a thing to where he wanted to drop the belt to me, the world champion belt to me, then chase me a few weeks to get it back," said Miller. "And, I remember the booking committee, which consisted of Eric [Bischoff] at that time, said, 'Listen. That sounds good, but we rather for you to keep the belt for a while if we [are] going to put the belt on you. We don't want you to win it on a Monday, then lose it again on a Thursday.' But, Hogan thought I was over enough to drop the belt to me."
Penzer, who said that he was working in talent relations at the time with Terry Taylor, confirmed Miller's story.
"I remember 100 percent Hulk pitching you as a short-term champion," said Penzer. "That is 100 percent true if anybody tries to say you're full of it. I got your back on that."
If any portion of these quotes are used, please credit Sitting Ringside with David Penzer with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.