Why Eric Bischoff Was Forced To Let WWE Legend Leave WCW

Eric Bischoff was unable to stop a WWE Hall of Famer leaving WCW.

Although he became synonymous with WWE, Triple H got his first big wrestling break in early 1994 when he signed with WCW.

The star was famously known as Terra Ryzing, before being repackaged as Jean-Paul Lévesque. He went on to work with William Regal, and their on-screen partnership sparked a friendship that is still going strong today.

Despite his potential, the man who would eventually become Triple H left WCW when his one-year contract expired, and by January 1995 he was a WWF Superstar.

Eric Bischoff Never Wanted Triple H To Leave

Speaking on his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff recalled working with Triple H in WCW, and why he ultimately left. Bischoff explained that he really wanted to keep The Game, but his hands were tied by budgetary constraints.

“I really wanted to keep Paul for a variety of reasons, but Paul came along at a really difficult time.

Around the time that Paul came into WCW, I was focused on saving money and not spending money. I had a very, very limited budget. As much as I wanted to keep Paul, I couldn’t. The budget just wouldn’t sustain it.”

Bischoff added that while the likes of Ric Flair and Terry Taylor were sold on the star and his potential, he simply didn’t have the financial means to do the deal.

“Contractually, I didn’t have the budget — me, WCW didn’t have the budget,” Bischoff confessed. “As high as Ric Flair was on Paul, and Terry Taylor was on Paul, and a number of other people … we couldn’t really pay [Levesque] what he was looking for.”

The former WCW boss suggested the company was always destined to be nothing more than a stepping stone.

“WCW was just a stepping stone for Paul, and because I couldn’t really entice him financially, I think it was a foregone conclusion — regardless of how any of us felt about Paul and his potential — he wasn’t long for WCW,”

Although their WCW careers only crossed paths relatively briefly, the pair later worked together for several years in WWE. Bischoff made his most recent WWE appearance in early December, featuring on an episode of NXT.

Despite the appearance and several others in recent years, Eric Bischoff isn’t signed to a WWE contract.

H/t to Wrestling Inc