10 Wrestling Decision-Makers (And Their Biggest Mistakes)

2. Eric Bischoff (In WCW)

Biggest mistake: Succumbing to the politics of ex-WWF wrestlers It would be unfair to blame the fall of WCW on one person; everyone from Vince Russo to Eric Bischoff to Ted Turner was guilty in one way or another of weakening the company. In Bischoff€™s case, he worked alongside Russo in the booking department for some time, and was a key figure in the politics and decision-making process of WCW at the time. While Bischoff can be credited for creating the NWO, and initially putting a lot of emphasis on WCW bourgeoning cruiserweight division, he fell victim to something that at times he had no control over: the politics of the company€™s most powerful wrestlers, with Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash being particularly influential people that manipulated Bischoff. When Hulk Hogan signed with WCW, he convinced Bischoff to give him complete creative control over his character, allowing Hogan to do basically whatever he wanted; but this also extended to other people, allowing Hogan to mess with the careers of other wrestlers. Billy Kidman was a particular victim of Hogan€™s, as Hogan allegedly rigged polls on WCW€™s website to make it seem like Kidman couldn€™t draw; when in reality fans saw Kidman as the workhorse of the company. Nash was another such person who managed to manipulate storylines for his own benefit because Bischoff couldn€™t really control him. A particular case of this power was when Nash managed to book himself to beat Goldberg€™s undefeated streak, despite little build-up and little in the way of storyline. But the worst example was when Bischoff essentially gave up on the cruiserweight division, despite its soaring popularity. Some of the best guys in that division, especially Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko, were labelled €˜vanilla midgets€™, i.e. technical wresters who couldn€™t draw, despite fan reaction showing the opposite. So while these great wrestlers were left in the mid-card shuffle to their own devices, the ex-WWF guys were keeping the main event to themselves. On one hand, if Bischoff had greater control over the ex-WWF guys in WCW, maybe there would€™ve been fewer conflicting egos trying to mold the company to fit their interests over everyone else€™s. On the other hand, some of these guys might not have signed with WCW if their creative demands weren€™t met. Either way, Bischoff made a critical mistake in granting so much creative power to one wrestler, even if his name was Hogan. Because that one decision opened Pandora€™s Box, allowing others to follow Hogan€™s bad example.