Eric Bischoff has explained the reason why he wasn’t interested in joining TNA Wrestling back in 2002.
While speaking on a recent edition of his “83 Weeks” podcast, Eazy-E confirmed that he was in talks with TNA Wrestling in 2002 prior to taking a job in WWE to become the RAW General Manager.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On whether TNA reached out to him when they started in 2002: “Early on I think when — in the very beginning, before TNA initially had even lost, and it was Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett that was behind it all. I did get a call from both of them. They were both on the same call. And I remember it specifically because I was driving between Las Vegas — or excuse me, Phoenix and Las Vegas. I was headed up to Vegas for a meeting, and we were living in Phoenix at the time. So I remember exactly the phone call, because I was concerned about losing cell service along the way. So I had to pull over and sit on the side of the road for 20 minutes or half an hour during the call.”
On what was said: “What was the call like? A brief explanation of what they were doing back then — again, this is a minute ago. So some of these details may be sketchy, and I apologize to Jeff if I’m getting any of this wrong. It’s not my intention. But I think they explained — I know they explained the idea of doing, it was weekly pay-per-views. Or pay-per-view without television. And that was a brick wall for me, I just couldn’t wrap my head around that idea.
“So I politely — you know, I appreciated the phone call. And it was one call, they basically explained to me what they were doing and wanted to know if I might be interested. It was a very courteous, amicable call and I thanked them, and let them know that I was pretty busy with the things I was doing and I just wouldn’t be able to dedicate any time to it. In truth, I just didn’t see the model. I couldn’t wrap my head around that revenue model of pay-per-view only — even though it’s just $9.99. And later on, we found out that Jay Hassman, who I had worked with. He was the guy responsible for the cat’s ass logo [in WCW]. So I found out that Jay was involved, and I further distanced myself from the opportunity. I just — and again, not because it wasn’t a good opportunity, but because I was just focused on other things.”
