WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff took on an episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including TNA Wrestling reaching out to him when they started in 2002.
Bischoff said, “Early on I think when — in the very beginning, before TNA initially had even lost, and it was Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett that was behind it all. I did get a call from both of them. They were both on the same call. And I remember it specifically because I was driving between Las Vegas — or excuse me, Phoenix and Las Vegas. I was headed up to Vegas for a meeting, and we were living in Phoenix at the time. So I remember exactly the phone call, because I was concerned about losing cell service along the way. So I had to pull over and sit on the side of the road for 20 minutes or half an hour during the call.”
On what was said during the call and why he turned TNA down:
“What was the call like? A brief explanation of what they were doing back then — again, this is a minute ago. So some of these details may be sketchy, and I apologize to Jeff if I’m getting any of this wrong. It’s not my intention. But I think they explained — I know they explained the idea of doing, it was weekly pay-per-views. Or pay-per-view without television. And that was a brick wall for me, I just couldn’t wrap my head around that idea. So I politely — you know, I appreciated the phone call. And it was one call, they basically explained to me what they were doing and wanted to know if I might be interested. It was a very courteous, amicable call and I thanked them, and let them know that I was pretty busy with the things I was doing and I just wouldn’t be able to dedicate any time to it. In truth, I just didn’t see the model. I couldn’t wrap my head around that revenue model of pay-per-view only — even though it’s just $9.99. And later on, we found out that Jay Hassman, who I had worked with. He was the guy responsible for the cat’s ass logo [in WCW]. So I found out that Jay was involved, and I further distanced myself from the opportunity. I just — and again, not because it wasn’t a good opportunity, but because I was just focused on other things.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
