WWE HOFer Eric Bischoff On The Benefits Of WCW Working With NJPW In The '90s

Eric Bischoff will likely always be remembered for leading WCW when the promotion went head-to-head with WWE in the '90s. According to Bischoff on his "83 Weeks" podcast, a partnership with Masa Saito of NJPW exposed him to a new style of wrestling that he wanted to bring into WCW. Before they eventually left WCW for WWE, The Radicalz (specifically Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrero) were a major acquisition for the promotion, and their debuts were intended to bring the Japanese style to WCW.

"I already had the desire to create a more New Japan-esque presentation, that's what the Cruiserweight was designed to do," Bischoff said. "That's the exact conversation that I had when I brought all three of them in for the very first time in a meeting." According to co-host Conrad Thompson, there's a belief that Bischoff stole the idea of the NWO from the Wrestling World 1996 event between NJPW and UWFI, which he dismissed. "I didn't even know who UWFI was, I wasn't paying attention to storylines. I clearly don't understand Japanese color or play-by-play to suggest that I watched something over there and went oh, there's a storyline I'm going to bring over here is as ignorant and stupid as the people that regurgitate it."

Lastly, Bischoff recalled the experience he had working in North Korea for joint WCW/NJPW pay-per-view Collision in Korea, including interacting with the legendary Muhammad Ali. "Nothing compares to jumping on a North Korean military transport with a crew full of WCW wrestlers while I'm sitting next to Muhammad Ali, listening to him telling me stories about when he was a kid and he would go watch wrestling." Additionally, Bischoff noted that he sat only a few seats away from then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "83 Weeks" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc.