Eric Bischoff Explains How He Would’ve Utilized The Undertaker In WCW
Eric Bischoff opens up his imagination.
WWE icon The Undertaker has been a focal point in the sports-entertainment company since his debut in 1990. Into the late 90s, fellow in-ring performers who had the opportunity to work with The Undertaker during the Monday Night Wars such as Triple H are on record saying that WWE may not have made through those battles without “The Deadman”.
On the other side of the coin was WCW and their President Eric Bischoff. Wrestling fans and fellow wrestlers have given their takes in the past about what could’ve happened if The Undertaker went back to WCW after “The Undertaker” character was established. During an episode of ’83 Weeks’ with Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson, Bischoff was asked how he would’ve booked The Undertaker and Bischoff responded by saying he did not know because he wouldn’t have owned the rights to “The Undertaker” character.
“I don’t know man. He wouldn’t have been The Undertaker. That’s the biggest challenge right there because you’re spending so much money for a character that you can’t have, so, knowing that he wouldn’t have been anything close to The Undertaker as a character, how could we have used him?” Bischoff questioned.
Bischoff then continued by saying he was going to use his imagination and fantasy book how he would’ve used The Undertaker in WCW. Bischoff added that if the n.W.o. storyline played out how he would’ve liked it to, then Mark Callous may have been a counter to the n.W.o.’s former 4-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion Kevin Nash.
“I was never a big fan of really big guys. You know we had Kevin [Nash], we had Paul [Big Show], and it’s really hard creatively — we’ve touched on this before — you know, booking guys that are that big, because it’s hard to, in a believable way get sympathy on them. It’s hard for them in a believable way to sell unless you take a chainsaw to them or a bazooka.” Bischoff joked. “It’s hard for them to be a good heel, because it doesn’t make any sense for a guy that big to be a chicken sh*t. It’s not believable. So, I just don’t know. I know I wouldn’t have been excited about hiring him. Not because he’s not a super talented guy, but if you would’ve looked at our roster back then, where would he have fit? He had a relationship with — he was in WCW before so lets have fun with this. We’ll use our imagination. So lets assume, hypothetically, the whole n.W.o., WCW storyline as I had it in my head, would’ve played out the way I wanted it.” Bischoff continued, “n.W.o. would’ve officially taken over Monday Nitro, top to bottom, would’ve been n.W.o.’s show. WCW would’ve been over on Thunder had it played out the way I’d hoped for it. You know, because WCW and Mark Callous previously had a relationship, I would’ve probably tried to play off that. I would’ve probably tried to bring Undertaker or Mark Callous in on the WCW side of the equation to be kind of a counter for Kevin Nash, so-to-speak, so that might’ve worked, but other than something like that, I don’t know. It would’ve been tough.”
While on the topic of The Undertaker, “The Deadman” is officially on Twitter and you can see some of his tweets over @theundertaker.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the ’83 Weeks’ podcast with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.
