Eric Bischoff gave his thoughts on various topics while covering WCW Bash at the Beach 1995, which was held at Huntington Beach on the latest episode of his 83 Weeks Podcast. Here are the highlights:
On the challenges of putting the event at a beach:
“I couldn’t pin that on any one individual [who came up with the name]. It was probably another one of those collaborative things that was sitting in the room; it was just bouncing ideas. You know, it was called Bash of the Beach. So it always bothered me that we’d call something a bash of the beach and not always have it on a beach. Like, bash the beach in Orlando. Yeah, it’s all clear. Let’s fuck it. Orlando, there are no beaches in Orlando, right? Made beaches. I know a couple of bars with really cool man-made beaches. You could sit out on the beach at a little pond to drink margaritas and fantasize that you’re down in Al Cap Poco or some shit. But I always wanted to have it at a beach. The cost of doing so, the logistical hurdles you would have to overcome to do something outside on a beach. And then, of course, you’ve got weather, which could, can be an issue. So there were a lot of reasons why we never did it in WCW up until this point. But once I was able to, I got the chair, and I was the one that called the shots. Um, it was like, all hands on deck, let’s find a beach we can do this at. But I don’t know that it was my idea. I think it was especially Huntington Beach that would’ve been; there would’ve been a lot of people involved in that. Sharon Cella would’ve been involved in that. Mike Weber would’ve been involved in that. Zane Breslov, of course, would’ve been involved in that. So there were, there were a lot of people who owned it for Hulk Hogan.”
On Hulk Hogan wanting to use his friends, including Kamille, as opponents:
“I think that’s fair. You know, when, when Hulk came in, and we’ve talked about this a lot, I’ll try not to refer back to it too much, but for context, you know, Hulk came in 94, or three years earlier, five years earlier for certain, which as we’ve seen, you know, AEW’s been around now for what, four years? Yeah. It seems like yesterday, right? It does. So when Hulk came in in 1994, of course, he would be comfortable with talent and versions of stories that he was involved for five, or six years earlier. And I think we can see that. Look, CM Punk and Samoa Joe. What are we doing over in AEW? Oh, something that started way back when, right now, it’s working obviously, and it’s a different situation, different talent, different stages of their career, and so forth. But the idea of going back to things that have worked in the past, even if they’re four or 5, 6, or 7 years old, should not be unusual if you have a critical mind and are looking at what’s going on. Cuz we see it all the time. It happens. Um, Kamala and many of the former opponents were lined up to feed the baby face and the monster. Sure. Hulk felt very comfortable bringing them in. And, who was I to say, no, that won’t work. I didn’t know then what I certainly know now by any stretch, nor did I know then what I figured out by 1998, right? In that, in that two or three-year period of time, I went to school, right? I learned a lot, you know, by trial and error. Some things worked, some things didn’t, didn’t. But we’re talking about 1994 here. Um, yeah, a lot of that talent like Kamala we’re, we’re in WCW to set them up to, if things went the way we hoped they would go at that time, would be there to feed the monster again. Of course, we know he’s gonna be a part of it.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit with an h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.
