The latest episode of former WCW President Eric Bischoff’s podcast Bischoff on Wrestling was released just now and features former WCW & WWE Broadcaster “Mean” Gene Okerlund!
You can find some of Gene and Eric’s comments transcribed below.
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EB: Verne and Vince were two entirely different people with two entirely different visions. To Vince it’s Sports Entertainment and it’s Pro Wrestling to Verne, for one. They had totally different points of view on that and what it should be. They had some things in common at least in my opinion. I didn’t work real closely with Vince when I was there. Enough to get a feel but not like you did. How do you think Verne Gagne and Vince McMahon are similar?
GO: I think they have a lot of parallels. They match up pretty great in a number of areas. Number one, both can get a little steamed. They do have tempers. I will say this, both men as they got a little older certainly controlled their tempers. Vince was throwing headphones and microphones and monitors and everything back in the room if things weren’t just exactly right. He’d point to me and take over the play-by-play or he’d walk out and talk to a director or somebody. He was very explosive very early on. The one thing about Vince is he knows exactly what he wants and he knew how to get it. Verne knew what he wanted but I think he had to experiment a little bit to come up with the right kind of concoction or combination to get what he wanted.
This week’s episode of Bischoff on Wrestling starts with Eric giving his take on a couple of stories from around the business of pro wrestling from this past week including:
- Brock Lesnar retiring from MMA
- WWE’s 2016 4th Quarter Financial Report
- Linda McMahon being confirmed as a member of Donald Trump’s cabinet
- The McMahon Family photo with Donald Trump in the White House
- Teddy Long joining the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame class
Eric then welcomes his guest for this week former WWE & WCW Broadcaster “Mean” Gene Okerlund! During his return appearance Gene and Eric speak candidly about:
- How Gene broke in to the business
- Their respective relationships with Verne Gagne
- The first time that Gene worked with Andre the Giant
- How Andre dealt with life on the road and visiting Japan
- Gene’s memories of Hulk Hogan debuting for Verne Gagne and the AWA
- Hulk struggling with promos early in his career
- Gene’s relationship with WWE Producer Kevin Dunn
- How Kevin Dunn came to work for WWE
- Gene’s Summerslam 1989 blooper where the set started to collapse around him
- How Vince McMahon and Verne Gagne are similar and different
- Gene’s 1993 exit from the then WWF
- Gene’s WCW debut and Hulk following him not long after
- Gene’s transition from WWF to WCW
- The reaction Gene had to Eric and WCW giving away WWE’s results on Nitro
- Mick Foley not being happy about the results being given away
- The night Hulk Hogan turned and joined the NWO
- Gene’s reaction to the way the NWO was being booked
- What Gene is doing now with WWE
- Their differences over the years
- Something we don’t know about Gene
- Who Gene’s “One Bad Cat” is
- More…
Today’s show then wraps up with an extended edition of the #BischoffOnWrestling mail bag segment
You can listen to the full archives from Bischoff on Wrestling in the embedded audio player below:
