Eric Bischoff Discusses Pivot Point WCW 'Forced' In WWE's Target Audience

Former WCW Senior Vice President Eric Bischoff has talked about WWE's decision to change their target audience to adults during the company's Attitude Era. The WWE Hall of Famer discussed the issue on his "83 Weeks" podcast when reviewing episode four of Netflix's "Mr. McMahon" docuseries.

"This was the pivot point, in my opinion, for WWE. Had WWE not made this pivot — you can have whatever opinion you want about the quality of it or whether they should or shouldn't have or whether they went too far — had it not been for the transition from teen and pre-teen target to 18-49 (years-old) target, 18-34 really, I don't think WWE would be the WWE we know today," Bischoff said. "In fact, I'm 100% convinced of it, particularly after seeing this doc.

Bischoff disagreed with the portrayal that a controversial Shawn Michaels segment on "WWE Raw" in September 1997, where he wore stuffed biker shorts for an in-ring interview, influenced the company's demographic change.

"Nobody referenced the fact that the reason that (WWE) went after that 18-49-year-old audience is because they had to, they were forced to," Bischoff claimed. "'WCW Nitro,' yours truly, forced them to do what they did. It was a reaction. It wasn't any kind of a spontaneous inspiration, it was a realization that, 'Damn, we gotta do what they're doing,' and especially after hearing Vince talk so far, he was just going to do it bigger and better. I don't know that 'better' is the right word, definitely bigger, and definitely more controversial than anything we were doing."

While WCW and Bischoff won the battle on Monday nights in the '90s, WWE and McMahon eventually won the war.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "83 Weeks" with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.