Eric Bischoff On How He Would Have Booked Goldberg Differently
Eric Bischoff feels he could have made Bill Goldberg an even bigger attraction by changing how he was booked.
During his time in WCW, Eric Bischoff launched Monday Nitro to compete head-to-head with WWE’s Monday Night Raw.
After creating the New World Order, a faction consisting of a heel Hulk Hogan alongside two former WWE Superstars, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall, WCW would become the number-one watched Wrestling show for 83 consecutive weeks between June 1996 and April 1998.
In 1997, a former football player turned WCW Power Plant trainee, Bill Goldberg debuted and began a winning streak that lasted for 173 matches.
Bischoff was discussing Goldberg during an episode of 83 Weeks, claiming that despite the huge success, if he was to go back he would have used the then-future WCW Champion less, and would not have made Goldberg the US Champion.
“Goldberg didn’t need it. If I had a do-over on this one, I would have established Goldberg much the way we did, but I would have made him more of an attraction and used less of him. Because I think the anticipation that came with Bill Goldberg, the mystique that came with Bill Goldberg, the intensity that came with Bill Goldberg was something that you could tape into at the right time in the right way, use it, and let it go away for a while.”
“Let it heat up again. Let the audience want to see Bill Goldberg as opposed to what I did, which was feeling like, ‘Oh no, he’s successful we got to get him out there.’ Love a do-over on that. I would have stretched the whole second half of Billy Goldberg’s career in WCW. I would have played that over 18 or 24 month period as opposed to the kind of condensed trajectory that it had.”
During the episode Eric Bischoff would share his preference for having a heel as Champion, and how this allows for higher engagement for fans.
“Yes. I think our entire culture roots consciously very consciously and sometimes subconsciously for the underdog. Everybody wants to see the little guy win. Everybody enjoys watching the underdog win. It’s part of who we are.”
“So, yeah I like that and absolutely there’s a time and a place to have your babyface champion certainly Hulk Hogan proved that as did John Cena. It makes sense. Steve Austin makes sense for the right person for the right character in the right situation when you’ve got a locker room deep with credible well-established Q rating mongers that you can feed to that babyface, but absent a deep roster of viable, certifiably successful heels doesn’t last too long historically.”
H/t to 411Mania