Eric Bischoff Talks To Sean Waltman On If NWO Was More Influential Than DX, If He Belongs In WWE HOF

Former WCW president Eric Bischoff joined Sean Waltman on the latest episode of X-Pac 1,2,360. You can watch the episode in the video above or download the podcast version on iTunes, they sent us these highlights:

Sean asks if Eric knew that Vince McMahon told all the WWE that talent they can't talk to anyone in WCW:

"No I didn't, certainly didn't know it. But I'm not surprised by it, having been on both sides of the equation so to speak and also working with WWE, having been in the position that I was in. It doesn't surprise me at all. I think it's one of those things, as you pointed out, not a lot of people know that. I certainly didn't know it until this moment. But it doesn't surprise me at all. He was fighting for his life, man."

Sean disputes a story told in WWE Network's Monday Night Wars series:

"On the Network they talk about [Diamond Dallas Page] calling up Scott [Hall] or Kevin [Nash] and making the overture that way. I seem to remember being out here in LA recuperating from an injury, and I was meeting with Barry Bloom about something other than wrestling, movie stuff, and he brought up the fact that the checkbook was getting opened up in WCW and some big money was being thrown around. The first thing I thought of was get Scott on the phone, because he wasn't happy. That's my version of how it all started. That's my version of how it all started. Is that wrong?"

Eric's response:

"My recollection of it was really more probably aligned with Page's, because he lived right down the street from me. Whether I liked it or not, we talked all the time. Usually he talked all the time and I listened. You know Page. But Page knew where we were going and Page maintained relationships with people. I never did. I still don't to this day...But Page maintained contact, and from what I remember when things started changing , because Page knew what I was thinking, and I don't know whether he reached out to you, whether he reached out to them, who he reached out to. But somehow, the way I recall it, Page really reached out to Scott first. Maybe that happened simultaneously with you. Maybe you and Scott had a conversation. I don't know. But from my perspective, that's kind of what I remember."

Sean reveals the move to WCW move didn't go down as planned:

"In our group, the way we were talking, I was going to be the first one to jump. What happened was I went to give my ninety day notice and my contract had already rolled over. So I was screwed. So Kevin and Scott could go, but I couldn't."

Eric on drug testing in WCW:

"I think drug testing was something that we felt we had to do. It was something that we felt if we didn't do we were vulnerable. It's a little bit like risk management in a big corporation. There's certain things you put into place just to make sure you don't get sued–not that you necessarily want to, but you have to."

Does Eric think he belongs in the WWE Hall of Fame?

"This is hard to talk about for me. But I'll do my best and keep it short, or try. I have two answers for that. Obviously it's always great to be recognized by your peers, right? I would be lying if I said that wouldn't be important to me. It wouldn't be true. But I will say that I'm not sure I'm comfortable with it either. That's because it's my own personal belief, and this doesn't have anything to do with me, this is just the way I feel about things. I am a peripheral character, and I've said this before. If the WWE decided to add an executive wing to the hall of fame for people on the business side of the business were recognized, then hell yeah! I think I should be there. In fact I think there should be a statue of me there, because I think in many respects I'm responsible, at least partially, for the success of what the WWE has become today...I think as an executive yeah, I'd love to be recognized for that. But to be in the same Hall of Fame with guys like Roddy Piper and Ric Flair and all the guys that are in there that spent years learning their craft inside the ring, I don't feel like I'm in that neighborhood, bro. It feels a little weird to me."

Would Eric accept if asked:

"I don't know. First of all I'm not holding my breath that it's going to happen. There's a lot of dynamics involved. Honestly I don't think about it. I'm not assuming it'll happen, and I won't be disappointed if it doesn't."

Eric on whether NWO or D-Generation X were more influential:

"NWO was new. It was fresh. It was an entirely different take on wrestling factions. There was the Four Horsemen. It's not like it was the first time there was ever a faction. But it was the first time you ever had badass, cool heels. It was the first time that we saw so many of the antics and the things we saw the NWO do backstage. The NWO story took place in parts of the arena that nobody had ever seen on camera before. It broke ground in so many different ways that I think it paved the way and created a template almost for DX, and to this day I still see more NWO merchandise than I see DX merchandise. So from my point of view, because we got there first and because I think it still exists in the minds of so many people today, my perspective at least is that the NWO was the greatest faction of all time in the wrestling business, and therefore probably more influential in the long run."