17 Things We Learned From Eric Bischoff On Legends With JBL (Part 1)

7. He Didn't Want To Sign Lex Luger

With the Disney connection and the ship becoming a little steadier, Bischoff was able to sign Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage to deals. Sting convinced Bischoff to sign his good friend Lex Luger, something Bischoff really didn't want to do. So he low-balled him with the contract offer and Lex took it anyway. JBL said that, in retrospect, it was a very astute move because his debut on the first episode of Nitro was a shocking moment and got people talking, but Bischoff said that wasn't his intention at the time. He hired Lex as a courtesy to Sting, who he had a lot of respect for. He says he did not have a lot of respect for Luger, wasn't excited to work with him or see him as a big star. Ouch. Bischoff added that the debut of Luger wasn't part of a strategic plan to unveil other WWE stars on his programming, but rather that it happened more organically just because of circumstances. Bischoff then rather bitterly claimed that he has never intentionally gone after anyone in WWE 'despite the nuclear narrative contrary to that'. You can definitely sympathise with Bischoff's frustrations regarding how WCW presents not just the Monday Night War, but Bischoff's character as well.