WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently discussed various topics on an episode of his podcast, “83 Weeks.” One of the key topics was his approach to booking the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro, especially in light of its 25th anniversary.
Bischoff said, “I think the way I would approach it before I started thinking about matches is, what do I want it to be remembered as? What do I want when it’s over and done? If people describe the show to somebody, how did that show make them feel? How did you enjoy the matches? But when a show was over, how did the show in its entirety make you feel? And hopefully the audience would have felt closer to the brand.”
On keeping nostalgia:
“So what I would try to do is theme the show to, I don’t want to say be nostalgic, but throughout, from the very beginning, throughout all 12 episodes or 12 segments, if that’s what it was, I would try to find a way to connect a current storyline or wrestling talent to some kind of theme or time. It could be as obvious or not as using somebody’s finish in a match that is an homage to Tully Blanchard, for example. So some little connective tissue throughout each one of the matches that brought you back to an iconic moment, or match and/or promo memory of something that’s significant happened throughout WCW’s window. That’s what I would work backwards from.”
On Flair vs. Sting:
“Let’s say you decided you’re going to have Flair and Sting on the very last Nitro, maybe go back to the very first match and lay the last match out exactly, move for move, beat for beat, the way you laid out the first match. So literally have a mirror image, not only bookending the wrestling talent, but you’re actually bookending the match itself. I think that would be fun.”
You can check out the complete podcast below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
