Eric Bischoff Thinks Ric Flair Should Thank Him Instead Of Being A “Whiny Baby”
Eric Bischoff has commented on the recent war of words exchanged between Ric Flair and himself.
Recently there’s been some interesting dialogue exchanged by WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff. The two men worked together for many years in WCW when Bischoff was the company’s President while Ric Flair was a wrestler and then in the 2000s they were both in WWE as well. They are also part of the Adfreeshows network of podcasts today as well.
They famously had an on-screen feud in 1998 leading to Bischoff beating Flair in a match at Starrcade thanks to some help from Curt Hennig.
Recently, Flair ripped on Bischoff during an episode of his “To Be The Man” podcast because of something Bischoff said on Flair’s upcoming documentary:
“I’m p*ssed off at Eric. Everybody wants to think there was animosity with me and Hulk. Hulk didn’t sign my checks, Eric did. Eric f**ked me every time he turned around.”
“When he sees my documentary, he is still a prick in it. He’s still a prick. He’s an arrogant prick.”
In a tweet on December 8th, Bischoff wrote this about Flair, who posted a clip of a Four Horsemen reunion in 1998: “This is some of your best work ever. You’re welcome. I made you.”
On his 83 Weeks podcast on AdFreeShows, Bischoff expanded on what he wrote in the tweet.
“I just pointed out this is some of Ric’s best work and he should thank me for that. I brought that out in him. I brought that level of emotion and I brought out what became, really, the best Ric Flair. I brought that out of him. He should be thanking me for helping him to get over instead of just being a whiny baby about this whole thing. I don’t get it.”
“If you think about it, and I’m not joking around here, this is one of the reasons why I didn’t want to get started in this thing because it just escalates and escalates and escalates, and I really hope it all goes away, but I do have to kind of defend myself or at least offer a different perspective.”
As he continued, Eric Bischoff said that while Ric was a great performer, Bischoff felt like he had to get Hulk Hogan into WCW in 1994 because he believed Hogan could help WCW grow. Hogan did exactly that.
“You know, Ric was in WCW right after Ted Turner bought it. It was great for a lot of people, but the truth is WCW couldn’t make any money with Ric Flair. So what did Ric Flair do? He went to WWE, and guess what? Couldn’t make any money with Ric Flair in WWE. So guess what? Ric comes back to WCW and WCW still couldn’t make any money with him in ’93 and ’94, which is why I had to go out and get Hulk Hogan.”
“Ric’s a great performer. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a legend. But when it comes to business, I had to do what I had to do, and apparently, that just rubs Ric the wrong way and he can’t let it go. I’m really sorry about that, but my God, let it go.”
“Why is it that people that are fans of Ric and fans of The Four Horsemen just get all bent out of shape when you present just facts? I mean, I wasn’t being critical of the Four Horsemen. I put them over.”
Lastly, Eric Bischoff spoke about how The Four Horsemen were very popular in certain parts of the United States, but they weren’t necessarily a popular act.
“They were very, very popular amongst a small regional group of fans that when you are in the business of entertaining the entire country, that small pocket of fans in North Carolina and the Southeast in particular that dug The Four Horsemen, well, that’s cool, but that’s not the whole country. The Four Horsemen were great during their era, but they certainly weren’t a national act.”