Eric Bischoff Reveals Prank He Pulled On Vince McMahon In Las Vegas During Monday Night Wars
The Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW saw a lot of wrestlers jump ship between the two promotions with some wrestlers making surprise appearances on a rival promotion's show. The biggest move, arguably, was Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage going to WCW. Having two top stars who were in WWE for so long move to a rival company could cause a lot of tension, especially between McMahon and Hogan, both of whom are responsible for WWE's big boom in the '80s.
According to Conrad Thompson, that was exactly the case. He talked about how Vince McMahon was planning to start an argument with Hogan at the NATPE convention in Las Vegas in 1995 on the latest episode of 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff podcast.
"He [Bruce Prichard] told me, years ago, Vince was so pissed off that Hulk Hogan was here and that you guys [Bischoff and WCW] had stolen the spotlight," Thompson said. "You had a much bigger display. You had more traffic. You had the momentum at this point, and he felt so betrayed by Hogan and Savage.
"[Vince] was planning a stunt; a stunt that never actually happened. There was going to be a Vince McMahon confrontation stunt, and they were gonna film it sort of guerrilla style and try to figure out what to do with it. Of course, that didn't wind up happening."
Thompson said that he would allow Prichard to elaborate more on this story on Prichard's Something to Wrestle podcast. Bischoff relayed his own Vince story from the NATPE convention, and revealed that he and Zane Bresloff cancelled McMahon's hotel room.
"Well this is just a little rib if you will. I got to Vegas. I got there a couple of days earlier, and I was hanging around with my buddy at the time, who has since passed away, Zane Bresloff.
"We were out to dinner one night, and he goes, 'Hey, I just found out that Vince McMahon is staying at Treasure Island.' I said, 'really? How's you find that out?' He said, 'Oh I got some people I know from over there,' which didn't surprise me. He knew everybody everywhere. I said, 'wow that's really cool. We should swing by and say hi.' He goes, 'why don't we cancel his room?' I went, 'really? Can we pull that off?' I thought, wow, because we were there a few days ahead and I don't think Vince was there yet," Bischoff said. "When Zane told me he hadn't arrived yet, I thought man if we can cancel his room, there's no way he's gonna be able to get another one at the last minute because we're at the NATPE convention. It's like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. You may have a hotel you book a year in advance, but if you cancel that room and then show up day of hoping to get another one, good luck. You're gonna be staying out in Laughlin, Nevada.
"So I thought what better way to kick things off than to cancel Vince McMahon's room so he's gonna find another place to stay. We did that."
Bishoff reflected on the prank that he pulled on McMahon. He wondered why he did not hear or read about the incident anywhere.
"It was like high school sh*t, but it was fun as hell," Bischoff admitted. "I was hoping to hear about or read about it, but I'm guessing Vince no sold it and found a way to get a room. I'm sure it cost him a couple of bucks. We cancelled his room. Zane was able to pull it off because of the people that he knew."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.