Eric Bischoff Says WCW Nitro Expanding To Three Hours Helped “Kill The Product”

Former WCW President Eric Bischoff spoke on the latest episode of the 83 Weeks Podcast about AOL Time Warner's decision to have WCW expand to three hours and why he believed that wasn't a great decision. The WWE Hall of Famer spoke about why he believed the move to three hours killed the product and started the demise of WCW.

"I fought it tooth and nail," Bischoff mentioned. "I knew, I just knew it was the wrong move. If two hours wasn't working, going to three wasn't going to make it work better, that wasn't the problem. It wasn't even the reason why we were forced to go for three hours. We weren't asked, I didn't get to vote, it wasn't a democracy, I was told 'You are now doing three hours.' That was the end of it, I think it may have come in an email.

"Their solution was we need to improve the bottom line, let's go to three hours, that will work. Sure, short term it will work, you'll create more revenue and you'll kill the product in the process, but I didn't get to vote."

Bischoff also mentioned the firing of Raven back when he was in charge of WCW and why he chose to let him go given his talent in the ring. He cited Raven bad mouthing WCW behind the scenes as a key reason as to why the company let him go.

"[Raven] was kind of a malcontent, his character was a malcontent and he lived his character," Bischoff recalled. "You had talent out mouthing off and expressing their opinions about the company which is fine, as long as you're not taking a cheque from the company. If you're taking a cheque from the company and you're out there publicly disparaging it, I've got no f***ing time for you man, hit the road.

"Especially if you're a non contributing talent, meaning you're not moving any needles, you're not generating any revenue, you're certainly not a ratings pull. You're just another cog in the wheel, as [Raven] was at the time. Why the hell would I want a guy like that around? Would you? If you had a guy out there bad mouthing your company while he was working for your company, would you fire him?"

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.