With the "Who Killed WCW?" docuseries, the shutdown promotion has become a huge topic of discussion again. While the show has yet to answer the titular question, the creative control that stars had has been citedin the past for one of the reasons why WCW died. Eric Bischoff addressed this theory in an episode of his "83 Weeks" podcast, and broke down how much creative control Hulk Hogan specifically had in WCW.
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Bischoff recalled Hogan's original WCW signing proceedings and explained that back in 1994, the promotion had a terrible reputation. "There had never been any successful leadership or direction in WCW up until the point in time when Hulk Hogan signed to become a part of the company."
The former WCW President explained that he and Hogan didn't know each other at the time, and because of this the "Hulkster" was more aggressive in his contract dealings than he might have been if they were friends. "If you look at the history of WCW prior to 1994, putting your career in the hands of leadership in WCW in '90, '91, '92, '93 was career suicide," Bischoff explained. "He didn't want to commit career suicide; he had value in the Hulk Hogan brand and he wanted to protect it."
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Bischoff said that Hogan's creative control existed from the moment he joined the promotion, and again argued that jumping to WCW at the time was a major career risk. ""Nobody in their right mind who had value as a character, and as a brand, and was doing business outside of wrestling... Why would you ever expect that person not to protect that brand?"
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "83 Weeks" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
