The Monday Night War Debate: 14 Things We Learned From Eric Bischoff & Bruce Prichard
14. Lex Luger Jumping Ship
After some rehashing of how WCW got into the game of prime time television to oppose the WWE on Monday nights, we begin with a discussion around the move that fired the first shot in the war the defection of Lex Luger. The Total Package was coming to the end of his contract and negotiations had fallen through the cracks. Bischoff says that Sting had been pestering him for months to bring his friend back but admits that he saw no value in him whatsoever. He offered him a deal with increased dates for 20% of what he was making prior to leaving for the WWE in the hopes that hed turn it down, and when he didnt he decided to make the most of his new acquisition. Prichard counters that they were truly shocked when they saw the man they thought was still a WWE employee walk out on the first edition of Nitro, and that they knew WCW meant business. He goes into a great rendition of Pat Patterson here exasperated at Luger showing up on the opposition. The decision to use the Mall of America as the location of the first show was just to present a different aesthetic than what audiences were used to, and both men agreed that it worked well.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
