Fans don’t always reflect fondly on Eric Bischoff’s time running WCW, but under his watch, Goldberg rose to superstardom and the nWo was born.
However, that’s not to say that there weren’t also some missteps by Bischoff and WCW’s creative team along the way. One of these missed opportunities surrounds Paul Wight, who later became The Big Show in WWE.
Wight made his debut with WCW at Slamboree in 1995 before making his in-ring debut, winning the World Championship at Halloween Havoc against Hulk Hogan. During this early part of his career, the star was capable of incredible feats of athleticism despite his gigantic frame.
However, Wight eventually became disenchanted with life in WCW and allowed his contract to expire so he could join WWE in February 1999.
Speaking on a recent episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff discussed The Giant, and what management could have done better to maximise his potential. Despite his success with the company, Bischoff said that more could have been done to make him feel like an attraction.
“I argue that although we didn’t do this, we should have done this,” Bischoff said. “I think The Giant should have been an attraction. The less you see of Hogan—this is gonna sound like a shot and it’s not; it’s actually a compliment—but the less you see of a Hulk Hogan on a regular basis, the less you see of Roddy Piper, the less you see of The Giant for different reasons, the more valuable that they become.
Again, because they just didn’t need to get over, they were already over. Giant because he was The Giant, because of his size and his unique attributes, everything that he brought with him through the curtain, that was a less is more type of a character, and I think that’s proven to be true with Giant. He’s a specialty attraction, just like Andre The Giant was a specialty attraction.”
Eric Bischoff Claims AEW Is Making The Same Mistakes As WCW
During a different episode, Eric Bischoff reflected on his time with WCW, comparing it to the rise of AEW. Bischoff stated that despite AEW boss Tony Khan being adamant that he would learn from WCW’s mistakes, he’s failed to back up those comments. The WWE Hall of Famer pointed to the upcoming launch of AEW Collision, comparing it to WCW Thunder.
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