Eric Bischoff is a man that knows a thing or two about wrestling factions having created the NWO but he now says it’s time for wrestling to lay factions to rest for a while.
Bischoff was WCW President when Hulk Hogan shocked the world at Bash At The Beach in 1996 and joined the two outsiders of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to create the New World Order. The group not only rejuvenated WCW and Hulk Hogan’s career, but the group also rejuvenated the whole of wrestling.
A year later in the World Wrestling Federation gang warfare was all the rage as The Hart Foundation battled near enough every American superstar on the roster. D-Generation X was born out of the alliance between Shawn Michaels and Triple H. Faarooq’s previous incarnation of the Nation Of Domination branched off into three separate factions including Los Boricuas and the Disciples of Apocalypse. And it would not be long after that until an evil Mr. McMahon led his Corporation into battle with Stone Cold Steve Austin.
In more recent times New Japan Pro Wrestling and then AEW have become the place to be for fans of wrestling factions. The group many hold responsible for AEW even existing, Bullet Club, was born and still resides in NJPW.
Speaking on an episode of The Angle Podcast, Eric Bischoff says that perhaps now is the time to put factions in wrestling into cold storage.
Bischoff explained:
“I wouldn’t even attempt it. Everyone’s been trying to recreate the NWO since the NWO. You just can’t man. The good news is the NWO will go down as one of the best storylines/factions in the history of the wrestling business. NWO merchandise is one of the highest selling items in the WWE catalogue. The bad news is, every effort that keeps coming along pale in comparison, and I think the only way to overcome that is to just let it rest. Let’s just not have any more factions for a few years so that when one comes along it feels fresh, and not like an attempt to be like the NWO. Everything gets compared to it.”
Eric Bischoff was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame on the same night as the group he created. The NWO quartet of Hollywood Hogan, Nash, Hall, and Sean ‘Syxx’ Waltman was part of the delayed Class of 2020. Bischoff was inducted by himself as part of the Class of 2021.
During his appearance on the podcast, the former Executive Director of SmackDown says not to expect to see him in any full-time wrestling roles, explaining that that’s now all in the past for him.