The latest episode of former WCW President Eric Bischoff’s podcast Bischoff on Wrestling was released last night and features WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross as his guest.
During their interview Eric and Jim discuss WWE’s recent spree of hiring top independent pro wrestlers. You can find those quotes transcribed below.
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JR: Now they’re (WWE) signing a bunch of Cruiserweights to have their own show. Then you see that they are having their own thing in England. I think it’s very obvious that they are doing all they can to strengthen all their shores. All of their boarders. They are doing that and I think it’s a natural thing. Something that you and I would do, the same thing, if you and I were in charge.
EB: Let me play Devil’s advocate a little bit and look at history. It’s very easy I think in a conversation like this to put things in the right context to be “politically correct.” I’m not accusing you of trying to do that. I’ve never known you to do that or for it to be your instinct. It’s one thing to say, “Look at what Vince did by taking these guys like AJ and Nakamura and all these guys from New Japan.” Well, that’s raiding a territory. Look at the history of what WWE did to Mid-South to the AWA to all of the territories. In my own case I kind of lived it not first hand but shortly there after. Gene Okerlund, Bobby Heenan, Hulk Hogan, Curt Henning… he offered them a better deal and those guys had the ability and the freedom to make that choice. But when I did the very same thing I was accused of STEALING and RAIDING. What’s the difference between Vince McMahon shoring up his boarders and grabbing some of that talent and bringing them over under exclusive contracts to WWE and what Vince McMahon did (to the territories) and what he accused me of in WCW? Where’s the fine line?
JR: I don’t know that there is one to be honest with you. If there is a fine line, and there may be arguably, if there is it’s so minuscule that it’s meaningless.
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A new episode of Bischoff on Wrestling is released every Wednesday night. Next week’s episode features the return of Sean “X-Pac” Waltman to the show. This will be a special two part episode with the first part airing on Waltman’s podcast and the second half airing Bischoff’s next Wednesday.
Related: Eric Bischoff To Sean Waltman, “Why Did I Fire You?”
This week’s episode of Bischoff on Wrestling starts with Eric talking about his friend Kurt Angle being announced for the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame.
Eric also takes a moment to discuss a couple of the other top news stories of the week in his “Business of Pro Wrestling” segment including:
- The passing of Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka
- The road to the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania
- Vince McMahon reportedly wanting Undertaker to work with a younger star at WrestleMania
- More…
Eric then welcomes his guest for the week WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross! Ross speaks candidly to Eric about:
- Reinventing himself since leaving WWE
- Why he left WCW
- His venture in to BBQ Sauce and Eric’s venture in to the craft beer markets
- Why he enjoys his current schedule
- Getting to do commentary for Wrestle Kingdom 11
- World of Sports future
- Working on his autobiography
- WWE’s global expansion
- Kenny Omega’s NJPW status and whether he thinks he will wind up in WWE
- Who his One Bad Cat is
- Something about him you don’t know
- More…
Eric then closes the show by answering some fan questions from the #BischoffOnWrestling mailbag.
You can listen to the full archives from Bischoff on Wrestling in the embedded audio player below:
