Eric Bischoff Credits WWE Hall Of Famer With His Successful WCW Audition

Long before he earned the title of President, Eric Bischoff initially joined World Championship Wrestling as an announcer.

As the American Wrestling Association gradually disintegrated in the late 1980s, looked to secure his future elsewhere. In 1990, the on-air personality attempted to break into WWE (WWF at the time) as an announcer; unfortunately, Bischoff didn't find any luck there. Soon after, though. Bischoff received another chance to find work.

In a recent episode of "83 Weeks," Bischoff detailed his first audition for an announcing position at WCW. Bischoff admitted he "went in cold," as he wasn't quite familiar with much of the roster, with the exception of Diamond Dallas Page and Larry Zbyszko — whom he had known from his tenure in the AWA. The excited Bischoff was soon informed he'd be calling play-by-play commentary alongside Page during his audition. However, their relationship was "strained at best," he said. "We didn't have heat with each other, but we had clearly determined that the chemistry just wasn't there."

Despite their rocky rapport, Page proved to be the game changer in Bischoff's audition. "What was really cool is Page sat me down. It's like none of that silly high school sh** ever happened. He sat down, he said, 'Look, bro, this is what they're looking for. This is the style of play-by-play they like. If you hit this and you hit that,' and [he] basically laid out to me what Dallas's impression was of what would work for me in WCW. He knew what they were looking for in play-by-play."

After a lengthy conversation of running Bischoff through the roster, their storylines, and finishers, Page called color commentary alongside him for the audition. "Page really made that audition work ... He really led me through the elements of doing play-by-play that I wasn't familiar enough with the talent to do," Bischoff said, and with Page's guidance, Bischoff got the job.