WWE Re-Writing Their Own History Of Eric Bischoff?

They say that history is written by the winners and WWE’s account of Eric Bischoff’s run at the helm of WCW is rife with tales that paint him as the bad guy. But after Monday’s entertaining sit-down interview with JBL on the Network, it looks like WWE are willing to at least let the man give his own side of the story. Did he raid WWE stars or did many of them simply return to where they’d started? Was he given a blank check book from Ted Turner, or did he cut costs and turn a failing company in to a multi-million dollar success story?

Although Bischoff has stated his case many times elsewhere, it’s refreshing to see WWE give him the airtime, and it’s safe to say JBL has just found his forte as an interviewer. I personally found his intelligent and slick style much more enjoyable that Steve Austin and Chris Jericho’s informal and often scattered chats. Perhaps that has something to do with post production, but either way the company are on to a winner.

Part 2 of JBL’s Legend’s with Eric Bischoff airs next week.

Jim Ross who was brought up during the interview went in to more detail about his departure from WCW in a new blog entry, backing up much of what Bischoff said:

I can tell you that Eric Bischoff did not fire me. Bill Shaw, a TBS VP/lackey reassigned me to work with Rob Garner, an old friend from my Crockett days, to work in TV Syndication of which I had previous experience with the UWF. I was told I was ‘too Southern’ to be the voice of a national brand. That from a station that aired multiple, Andy Griffith reruns daily. That reassignment directly violated my TBS agreement of which they themselves drew up-. However, my goose was cooked in WCW when my mentor and friend Bill Watts left his bombastic renderings on TBS mgmt when he departed as EVP of WCW and departed Atlanta. I was so closely aligned with Cowboy even though I had no idea he was coming to Atlanta until he arrived and no one from TBS management asked me about him even though I had been in WCW from day one. Good background check for feedback, right? Nonetheless I would not trade Bill being my mentor for a TBS or any other job but I did love living in Atlanta. Yes, I was bitter and angry that TBS never gave me an interview for the job that Eric got even though looking back in hindsight Eric likely would have done a better job than me over the long haul because it was my destiny was to take Vince McMahon’s offer and join WWE in 1993, a run that lasted officially 21 years. My family’s financial future was secured after enduring the dark days of near bankruptcy for WWE in the mid 90’s, taking a large cut in pay, seeing office executives jump ship like scared rats, by the way this does not include my dear friend JJ Dillon who also left because he could not afford to care for his family on what he would be earning after the pay reductions. My department was able to assemble, arguably, the best talent roster in the history of the business that helped provide WWE with the ammo to have a $160M Initial Stock Offering (IPO) to go from a not so long ago near bankrupt public company to a thriving, healthy, public company that it is today. So, in hindsight, going to WWE and not staying in WCW was the best professional move that I ever made in my 40 year professional career.

Meanwhile it’s not just on the Network that the Eric Bischoff story is being re-written, as according to WrestlingDVDNetwork.com WWE are planning to release a DVD and Blu-ray in 2016, featuring a documentary and his best on air segments.

Tank Abbott Would Fight Ronda Rousey

The ever outspoken character that is Tank Abbott is laughing in the face of the politically correct crowd this week, after saying he’d love to fight UFC’s Ronda Rousey and force her to make him a sandwich.

Speaking to the Proving Ground podcast the former UFC fighter and WCW personality laid down the challenge:

“(Rousey) is a girl. It’s all about this emotional stuff. I will tell you this: I don’t care, I will fight any woman on this Earth for free. I will. She will have to make me a sandwich. That’s what I get for winning. I won’t even train. If I win, which is going to happen — and you’re going to get bashed up good — you have to make me a sandwich. If you win, I’ll give you $100,000.”

While there’s a lot of backlash against Abbott’s comments online, people should realize that he’s always been controversial and is probably only being half serious.

He made his name in the early days of the UFC with his trash talking not because he was a particularly great fighter. Dancing with 3 Count in WCW should tell you all you need to know about what business he is in … the entertainment business, and his comments were pretty damn funny.