10 Pivotal NWO Moments On WWE Network's WCW Monday Nitros

6. Eric Bischoff Joins (November 11th, 1996)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Nbmm0CFms For the first four months of the group being around, they had the in-ring "power" with guys like Hogan, Hall, and Nash around and winning matches. They also had the aforementioned kayfabe financial "power" with DiBiase spending money on people to have them join the cause. They didn't have any true "power", though. That changed on the November 11th, 1996 episode of Nitro, when Eric Bischoff was revealed as being a part of the group. Bischoff was known to be the man in charge of WCW, even though he was merely an announcer on television up until that point. It was similar to Vince McMahon at the time, who wasn't mentioned as the owner of the company on television for years before he became the "Mr. McMahon" character. Bischoff being on board changed everything. The group was already dominant, but now they had an authority figure in the group to overturn their losses, book matches in their advantage, and give them that "power" they had been lacking until then. Overnight, he went from being "Eric Bischoff" to being "Sleazy E", and it was a great move. By all accounts, he's a bit of a prick in real life, and getting to portray that on television was such a natural change for him. It made him one of the most hated men in all of wrestling, which is a distinction he still owns to this day, because of the managerial decisions he made and having a hand in running WCW into the ground.