10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (13 Sept)

7. The Ready To Rumble Producer's Special Request

If Eric Bischoff's '83 Weeks' pod has proved anything, it's that the former WCW chief is refreshingly honest about his own flaws and was up to the neck in political !*$% by the time he left in 1999. Shortly before leaving, Eric was approached by movie producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura about appearing in his new wrestling-themed project.

Hold onto your asses, because it was the infamous Ready To Rumble.

Bonaventura wanted Bischoff to play the lead heel in his new film; anyone who has seen Ready To Rumble will know that Joe Pantoliano came on board to play the villain. That's when things changed on Eric's end, and he wasn't 100% sold on being involved anyway. The increasingly-stressed exec had enough on his plate.

Conversations about the movie began in the summer of 1998, but it didn't go into production until late-1999. By that point, Bischoff had left his post at WCW and was in Cody, Wyoming fishing. Who knows, he could've parlayed into acting had he smashed the role.