Triple H Recalls How He Joined WCW In 1994, His Contract Negotiations With Eric Bischoff (Video)
The official YouTube account of WWE has released a preview of the newly released Triple H: Thy Kingdom Come DVD and Blu-ray where Triple H recalls the nature of his arrival to World Championship Wrestling in 1994 as well as his contract negotiations with organization head Eric Bischoff.
Following a tryout match against Keith Cole that was suitable enough to be broadcast on the February 12, 1994 episode of WCW Saturday Night on TBS, Bischoff offered the then-24-year-old a two-year guaranteed contract. The WWE Chief Operating Officer explains why he asked for a shorter deal.
"This is one of these things that this conversation to me in my mind, I still, part of me believes like I can't believe I had the balls to do any of this," said Triple H.
"So [Bischoff] says, "I'd like to offer you a two-year deal, 52-grand-a-year." Triple H replied, "Can I just do a year? And he said, "I'm offering you two years guaranteed, you want one?" He explains, "Yeah, here's the thing. I said, "it's 52-grand. Right? So I'm going to starve for a year. At the end of a year, you're going to know I'm not worth 52-grand, or I'm worth a whole lot more than 52-grand. It ain't going to take more than a year to figure that out, right? Let's do a year."
The New Hampshire native's WCW tenure concluded after one year, as he left for the World Wrestling Federation after having his request to promoted as a singles competitor denied by organization heads. They had originally planned to pair him in a tag team with William Regal, and have future WWE Hall of Famer Sherri Martel as their manager.