Former WCW Executive Producer, and WWE RAW GM Eric Bischoff and more in a new interview with the Pancakes and Powerslams Podcast where he discussed his original plan for a Nitro vs Thunder war bland split between WCW and the nWo.
During the interview Bischoff explained how the creation of WCW Thunder by Ted Turner, required the splitting of the nWo into two groups and more.
Bischoff explained, “The reason why we expanded the nWo, quite frankly, including the reason why we brought in Bret Hart although he had nothing originally to do with the nWo, was because we knew we had launched a second primetime series on the TBS network based on the strength of Nitro on TNT. It was a mandate directly from Ted Turner himself, and based on the success we had with Nitro on TNT, Ted was determined, much to my chagrin, and the chagrin of others at the executive level, but Ted was determined to launch this second two-hour show on TBS, and that required two things. One, a significant influx of new talent, because we already had a three-hour show on TNT, and just having another two-hour show with the same talent would have cannibalized the success we had on TNT, and quite frankly it did, anyway. And the second thing was it required a position. It required me trying to create two separate brands. And this is long before Raw and SmackDown.”
Bischoff continued, “And again I have to reiterate, I didn’t want Thunder on TBS. I petitioned as aggressively as I could under the circumstances to not have a second show, because I was fully aware of what it would do to Nitro on TNT and it did. But, once I lost that battle, my goal was to create two separate brands. And the intent, although it was never realized and executed fully, the intent was for nWo to take over TNT and have WCW live on SmackDown [Thunder]. And, by doing that, I would have been able to create my own war, so to speak, and my own rivalry between Nitro and Thunder, similar in many ways to what WWE has been attempting to do, rather unsuccessfully from my perspective, but attempting to do with Raw and SmackDown.”
