Stone Cold Reacts To Eric Bischoff (1998)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ต.ค. 2024
- In this throwback to 1998, Stone Cold Steve Austin listens and reacts to comments made about him by eric Bischoff, questioning his status in pro wrestling.
Full interview can be viewed here : • Off The Record - Steve...
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Even people who don't follow wrestling at all knows who Stone Cold Steve Austin is.
never heard of him
@GeorgeChan-kp3ls at the time you posted this comment, you had heard of him as you literally just read his name.
@@josephwilliams1915 i don`t know how to read
@@GeorgeChan-kp3ls me neither
@@GeorgeChan-kp3ls you are from Mars 😂😂
He was the guy in an era that was stacked with legends and hall of famers.
On god
Imagine that someone who wrestled 25+ years ago had legends and hall of famers. 25 years from now we will be saying the about most the current wwe roster that's how time works. Miz will be a legend, Dolph, Kofi, big e, etc
💯% FACTS
lol so outrageous to even be said
@@VenomZNoHope They won't be legends lmao The Miz???
This was 98 and stone cold was at his fucking peak and eric actually said that 😂
Whats funny to thats when wwf started beatinfg wcw in the ratings
At this point in time NWO was still whooping that ass
@@leslieloudermilk3876 actually WCW had one more week of 'whooping that ass' in March 1998 before WWF went back and forth and then took over the ratings until WCW folded in 2001.
@@bubbacalling the point is. Stone Cold was lying at this point. The facts are there. NWO was still #1. Not Stone Cold
Bischoff has always been a bit delusional at times when it comes to shitting on the competition, you can tell he just has a personal axe to grind at times and lets his feelings get in the way of reality
Ironically, Austin is still in the top 3 of merchandise sales today, 25 years after this interview
WHAT?
Who would've guessed that letting Austin be himself would be $$$$$$
"My name...is PAUL HEYMAN!"
Can't disagree that was a mistake
Naw, Vince gave him that gimmick. Period. Vince built Austin.
Steve was the same badass even when he was wrestling in the sportatorium in Dallas for WCCW.
@@theone5404 no, Vince gave him the "ringmaster" gimmick. Austin came up with his own gimmick. He was already drinking beer and tweaking his character in ECW
"It actually sounds like he believes what he's saying" That's the best compliment Austin can give him.
There's a reason why vince is a billionaire, and eric has a podcast
truuuuuth lol
Eric still thinks the finger poke was a good idea 😅😅
It's because Eric never owned WCW. If he did they would have won the war without a doubt. It was AOL TimeWarner, the owners of WCW, who killed it off, not WWE or WCW.
@@namikstudiosaww did you take a few too many pile drivers as a kid? In what reality did WCW ever stand a chance on its own against WWF/E? Maybe when Hogan went to WCW and other former WWE guys. But at that point you really can't say WCW would have won on their own. Ppl grew up on WWF and hulk Hogan and Piper and Bret etc. Yeah there were a few starcade fans out there. Some dusty Rhodes fans lingering about. But look where Dusty's kids even ended up. Even AEW, If it's even still around, could be as big as WCW. But nothing will ever be as big as WWF
Ouch
Austin SAVED WWF/WWE from WCW, that is a fact.
This did not age well
It didn't age well from the moment he said it lol
Aged like milk.
The sad part is Eric didn't realize what he had when Austin was in WCW in the early 90s. WCW was too PG for Austin, he needed to be himself. ECW and WWF made that happen and he blossomed.
@@rdogletree4543I know people give Eric hate for firing him, but stone cold wouldn't have been able to do the things that got him over so huge. Turner broadcast would have shut that down right after the first middle finger and cussing.
@@adrianhartso7060 Right, TBS has always been extremely PG, I'm born and raised in Georgia so I know first hand how it's always been. WWE tried it for a while but it wasn't working and when their contract was up they immediately went back to the USA network lol
Monday Night Wars was the peak of wrestling
At his peak, no one was bigger than Stone Cold.
(ahem) Hogan?!
Hulk Hogan was actually bigger.
@@brianezell5790not at that time buddy. Nobody was bigger than Austin from 1998-2003. If hogan as bigger than why he couldn’t keep wcw alive? 🤡🤡🤡 hogan was the biggest thing in the 80s .. late 90s was Austin and that’s not even debatable
@@LottaLouie I am saying Hogan in the mid to late 1980s was more popular than Austin was from 1998-2003.
@@brianezell5790hogan was like a super hero in the 80s, but stone cold was as close as they come to reaching that popularity.
I miss the days when Stone Cold and Eric were CO GMs. "Im trying very hard to keep my composure " 😂😂😂😂😂
oh btw the key word was tomorrow.... then stuns eric lmfao
Dude I read this in Austin's voice lol
@@taronwilliams2307me too 😂
Turn off that stupid music nobody wanna see you spit that stupid azz water 😂😂😂😂
SS03 Was something special lmao. Team austin vs Team Bischoff with some of the best WWE/WCW had to offer. IMO that match was better than SS01.
You can tell Austin really appreciated it when he said “But while we’re at it….” 😂😂😂
Yeah, he threw him the alley-oop right there 😄
The Austin and McMahon feud was legendary. Thats what made him #1
No he was already a huge star by that point. WWE loves to frame it all these years later that the McMahon feud made him a legend. His 3:16 promo, Pillman's got a gun, long feuds with Bret, Shawn/DX and Rock, Rock throwing his custom belt in the river, Owen breaking his neck and his tag team with Dude Love all happened before he even stunned Vince for the first time. His feud with McMahon was just good booking.
@@GrateWight Yup, and those were all great wrestling storylines. When Austin started going ham on his boss.....that became something that TRANSCENDED wrestling!
@@GrateWight You are right but so is OP. Let’s take Roman Reigns career - ignoring the many many misteps - He was already the biggest star in the company before the heel turn but only now is he one of the biggest wrestling icons of the past 20 years. Stone Cold was already Stone Cold but the McMahon feud put him on the Mount Rushmore of wrestling
@@GrateWight Austin was over AF in 1996
@@Runnerboy2012 but by that logic how did anyone else get on the mountain without feuding with their boss? He was a megastar before the feud, fighting his boss was the right way to take his character. All the McMahon feud really did was give Vince such a big ego that he put his family at the center of every major storyline for the next 20+ years. And that just drove away over half the audience they built between 97 and 98.
Eric means that Hogan wouldn't let Austin become as big as he was if he was there.
Once they let Stone Cold be himself WCW knew what time it was
3:16
I bet when Vince told Steve he was getting put in a program with Bischoff, Steve was frothing out the mouth to stun that dude lol
stomp a mud hole most likely lol
What was Bischoff supposed to say? He was working for WCW. He couldn't bury his own roster by admitting Steve was the biggest guy in the industry.
@1NightStan Explain
Plus he was heal at the time
@@arsenalfanrichiill explain, numbers and merchandise sales proves Eric has no idea what hes taking about
@@greatone275 That doesn't address my original comment though.
@@arsenalfanrichido you realize how much of a damn fool he made himself out to be all he had to say " well, he not the number one guy in our promotion and that's all that matter to me, wcw " right there hes not burying his guys or wcw, he's just butt hurt because he got rid of him does that answer your question
98 WWF talent pool was pretty deep lol.
wcw had such a huge roster that year. Sting, hogan, Bret, goldberg, nash, hall, macho, flair, giant, Jericho, eddy, booker, benoit, steiners, ddp, piper, rey… & they managed to lose the rating war that year & never win another week after their terrible Halloween havoc ppv 😅😅
98,2002, and 2014 has the MOST STACKED WWE ROSTERS EVER ‼️
WCW talent was complaining and worried that Austin was getting over so well. So when he got injured Bischoff fired him. The bitterness led to that epic ECW promo where Austin shoots on WCW and eventually uses that same energy in his Stone Cold gimmick. The dude put in the work and when he finally saw some light for a character he became one of the greatest pro wrestlers in history. Bischoff and WCW fucked up.
Only about the Sone Cold gimmick. The Stunning Steve Austin gimmick was dead
@@brianstrutter1501He dumped that gimmick at the very end of his WCW run. One of his last matches in WCW was against Macho Man on Saturday Night and you can see the beginning of the Stone Cold character taking shape. I think he was actually fired 2 weeks later after that match. There's a video on TH-cam of the match in fast forward where Austin comments on it in the comments section and says that it could've been a hell of a program but he was fired right after. He also said somewhere else that Macho Man put him over with the boys in the back after the match.
Steve Austin was the obvious talent to whom the torch should have been passed from Ric Flair.
It is kind of ironic that by firing a great talent like Steve Austin, they basically handed him over to the competition and once there, he was motivated to succeed. One can reasonably argue that Stone Cold was the main reason why the WWF won against WCW.
I am certain that that story certainly ate at Eric Bischoff deep down inside at the time.
@@MR-in8bl It would have been really cool if Macho Man left WCW in 1998 and had a program with SCSA in the WWF. Two hyper alpha males fighting for dominance. It would have been pure gold and would have given the WWF a license to print money with such a program.
Eric isn't wrong here. Steve would have never got the chance to be Stone Cold in WCW...and that was the issue with WCW.
U dead wrong thats why Vince lasted longer Erik wanted all the control see how that ended
@@bruceray3749
He ment they were holding him back..
I love how everyone in the comment section is just repeating the same thing over and over again.. I’m not reading the entire comment but every time I get notified it’s all the same words lol
Stone cold was a top guy on a roster with
Triple H
Shawn Michaels
Bret hart
The rock
Hulk hogan
Undertaker
Chris Jericho
Kurt Angle
And others lol
And The Brooklyn Brawler
Hogan was at WCW at that time and maybe hart too
Bret Hart left for wcw, Shawn was injured, The rock was pretty much on the same level, Hogan was in WCW, Undertaker had major injury problems in the 'austin era', and Jericho and Angle hit their peak after austin left. So basically Stone Cold was better than Triple H who really wasn't an amazing star.
He was not.
@@akajshhshbob4005 Austin's first main event feud was with Bret. His second with Shawn who he took the title from. By that point he was the guy. Rock wasn't on his level until Austin was out in 2000. By which time he was the number 1 draw in wrestling for 2 years straight. Also, Taker feuded with Austin in 98 and 99. He was a bigger star than all them. He also comparatively outdrew Hogan during Hogan's peak.
And that's how u kill a company.
He was right technically but Steve Austin was on the rise to greatness. It was a lot of big names in wcw at that time
No he wasn’t.
It's not like the WWF didn't have Taker, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Triple H, and a host of others back then. Bischoff had a Hogan worship problem.
Eric Bischoff.😆 He could sell a ninja suit in minutes.
To be honest Austin really only had one storyline which was cursing with his boss and whoever was affiliated with him but damn it sure was one good ass storyline that could never ever be duplicated
There were too many made veterans above him on the roster already. Him being fired was the best thing to happen to him. He needed a place to move up. Same thing with Benoit and Eddie. That’s why more than one company was a good thing.
So true. Always thought Vince should have brought WCW back and competed against himself. Could have had Shane run WCW and talk bad about each other or something. And if WCW got better ratings so what? He still wins
I remember in 1998 as a 10 year old, the majority of the stores in the mall had Stone Cold T-Shirts.
When Shawn passed Austin the belt made Austin #1 man
Mike Tyson made him the #1 man. Shawn Michaels was a huge failure which is WHY Austin was made #1 in the first place.
Bret Hart made Stine Cold a main event guy Wrestlemania 13
I think Vince did. The rivalry of that era was McMahon vs Austin. The rivalry was based around Austin's identity as a wrestler.
The championship is just a prop, Austin didn’t need no championships to be over with the fans. Same as undertaker and Rick, they just cut knife throwing promos and in ring work.
Everybody is missing the point here. Shawn was the man at that time and he did in-fact pass the torch to Austin. It’s a wrestling tradition. It was his first title run, solidifying a new top guy is established. Austin himself has made mentions of this.
From the guy that single handedly destroyed an entire wrestling company.
No it wasn't all on you need to bring up Vince Russo. Hogan. Those big lavish contracts that they gave out two aging superstars. And and letting their young up-and-coming superstars languish on house shows and warm up matches.
@@jamalmckenzie3822 Wasn't Bischoff the one who gave Hogan that outrageous contract? Wasn't Bischoff the moron who gave Kevin Nash the book and allowed him to book the matches, with Nash booking himself to beat an undefeated Wrath and an undefeated Goldberg? Wasn't Bischoff the one who had all merchandise in the WCW stores ring up as sales for Hogan even if it was a Jericho shirt that actually sold? Wasn't it his bright idea to put practically every star that came to that company in the NWO in order to get them over?
I agree, Russo was horrible and shoulders blame, but the overwhelming majority of it lies with Bischoff. There's a reason why they sold WCW to Vince and not Bischoff, cause Bischoff proved he couldn't run things when he was in charge. I mean damn, he was in charge that last year when they lost 60 million dollars.
@@trainmap oh yes I'm not going to lie to you bischoff definitely contributed to it but I was kind of saying he isn't the sole perpetrator in the act. Then we also got to look at Time Warner pretty much washed their hands of WCW when they needed them the most. From everything I've read I think WCW started going downhill the summer of 1998. And not to mention the Bookers try to bury sting at a time when he was the most over guy in the company. And Scott Steiner getting the title should have never happened.
@@trainmap Yes and yes, but isn't Bishoff also one of the main reasons they were able to surpass WWF at all for awhile?
Kane Undertaker Mankind Shawn Michaels Triple H all DX The Rock Vince as a character persona yeah small pond that is
Whole time everyone in the studio was waiting for Stone Cold to hit Eric with a stunner 😂🤣
He’s right, but that talent roster, over time, was pushed and developed to the moon
What was he right about, so your saying if stone cold, not stunning Steve was in WCW, he would have been a mid card act? Because it's pretty much been proven, the WWF started beating WCW in the ratings, when stone cold was born?
@@markheckman2196 No WWE began winning when Mike Tyson signed on for Wrestlemania
@@jessehayes8052they never lost another ratings battle with WCW after the finger poke of doom. That was the same night Mankind beat the Rock for the title and WCW tried to expose the ending hoping people wouldnt switch over…it backfired. The Tyson thing was a great storyline, but by this time WWE had so much emerging talent that it was unmistakable that they were superior.
This aged so well for Austin.
Stunning steve was awsome at WCW
Man Steve Austin was great in both organization (WCW&WWF) =WWE
Agreed!
yes he was a great tag team partner with Brian Pillman but in his singles work he was a discount Ric Flair, Stunning Steve Austin was a very talented wrestler for sure but he hadn't put it all together yet and when he did he caught fire and rocketed to the top of the wrestling world.
Wccw and uswa as well.
In 98 you had every dx member throughout different sections, undertaker, kane, the rock, nation, owen, shamrock, foley, brood, i.c.p and a host of wrestlers that always had something to do
Also those days lead to a WWE that is full of indie talent. No way these guys today make it in Wrestling in the 80's and 90's.
These clowns today would've been eaten alive by the likes of SCSA, & the Rock, Taker, Kane, HHH, & the list goes on.
Could you imagine these gamer nerds trying to go against David Schultz, Macho Man, AUSTIN, Dynamite Kid, Bret Hart, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, I mean ANY WRESTLER from the beginning of wrestling all the way to the early 2000's? Can u imagine that? They'd be MANGLED by those guys. I'll tell ya this if guys like Adam Page went up against a young Sabu Page would have QUIT 98% of these guys would have quit if the environment was still the same and guys didn't become PUSSIFIED.
Did Eric just tell the face a WWF/WWE OF ALL TIME that he was a MIDCARD!!! Eric needs to be stunnered 😅
_one man's trash is another man's treasure._
In this case , there were over 10 trash that became another man treasures
This was a great interview..
Very good conversation
And that's why they released them the first time and he crafted a little bit and ECW and then called up to WWF. Then got a little push but just being himself and the whole 316 bit helped him out. They were actually listening to the fans when the fans started with the 316 posters. WCW could have had a different version of Austin at the took a chance. Probably not because they have a lot of heavy hitters at the time. They lost Mark and he became Undertaker. They lost Hunter Hurst hemsley but I obviously triple H now and etc
Eric bishoff was absolutely wromg about stone cold Steve Austin
...and 35 years later, there is STILL no one topping Austin's merch sales.
Its 25 lol
Come on fam Hulk hogan had 30 years of merch. That Nwo and the yellow hulkamaina is iconic. There making a movie about a movie star hulk hogan. There is no comparison
Stone Cold was Big in the additude Era.. he is A Legend he made beating up your boss look great i never seen anyone whoop there boss lol
That was definitely a work to shine light on his company (WCW) at the time but WWF/WWE was on fire at the time and couldn't be touched.
It's not like the Ringmaster was lighting the world on fire either.
Well like most people have said on the comments here once they let him be himself not some Vince character he shot off like a bomb fired from a howitzer.
i think stone cold name was vinces idea . he started call him like that even when he was ringmaster
@@LordDeBahs Austin's said it was his ex-wife who, while he was trying to name his new gimmick, told him to eat his soup before it got "stone cold."
@@LordDeBahsno it wasn't, Steve came up with that. Vince wanted to call him bullshit like Fang McFrost.
“No Wonder WCW Went Outta Business” - The Rock
Eric just laid down the crack pipe before this short started
Eric Bishoff had to have hit the 8ball before this interview 😂
yeah two eight balls, alright. The ones hanging between Hogan's legs.
I would be willing to bet anything anyone wanted to bet that if Austin were to get back in the ring today the pop he would get when his music hit would be off the freaking charts!!!!
Old dogs need to know when to bow out
I've seen footage of exactly this. THE 2 top crowd reactions were Hogan and The Rock. Not Austin. There's a video out there top 10 comebacks crowd reactions or something like that. Stone Cold did not win
He main evented wrestlemain last year
@@brianstrutter1501lol stfu. Good for you and your little youtube video, because you obviously never watched wwe in the attitude era or even understand the comment you replied to.
@@brianstrutter1501backlash 2000. Austin has always gotten bigger pops than Rock and Hogan. Don't fool yourself.
Both companies were notorious for burying the other company's top guys when they moved. As a top tier guy in one of those places at that time, you purely would jump for money because it was clear you'd be killing your career.
WCW didn’t bury guys intentionally, they did so mostly through incompetence.
Diesel and Razor were top guys that became bigger by jumping ship.
WCW used Curt Hennig pretty well too.
Dropped the ball hard with Bret Hart, but that was incompetence, not intentional, as near as I could tell.
"Big fish in a small pond."
The pond: Undertaker, Kane, The Rock, Shawn Micheals, Triple H, Brett Hart, Mankind etc...
He is kind of right if Vince did not give Austin the creative freedom he had then he would become a midcard
@@attiepollard7847how so?
@@attiepollard7847 who told u that he gave him creative freedom ?
@@JonySmith-bb4gx Vince did but it was mainly out of frustration and he thought that Austin was just a waste of time. "So he just told Steve just do whatever you want and come back to me when you get an idea" I'm not going to focus on you that much.
Stone cold rules
Steve’s promos in 1995 in ECW after the WCW layoff were something else to behold.
Austin said the same thing to Hogan, he couldn't be number 1 if Hogan was around, so what eric was saying, here is true.
He's not telling the truth, just like stone cold said, look at the numbers, he was out drawing Hogan by a long shot, and was selling more merchandise.
@@markheckman2196 If he was in the same company with Hogan or in WCW he wouldn't have been. There were too many big names for him to compete with.
@@AlexThorn that would have been on WCW not pushing him, it would have been there downfall. Nevermind, getting rid of him was there downfall
@@AlexThorn Hogan ain't the man..Austin is the man there.
@@AlexThorn yeah if company isn't pushing a guy ... No matter how much talented guy is they can't do anything.... If he would've been in wcw hogan wouldn't have allowed him to become this big star which is not Austin's fault... Hogan is the goat of this business that's for sure but during that peak austin era no one even came close to him
He has a valid point, many people are unaware that the WWF roster was worthless when Austin rose to the top, there was a spot to fill. WcW had some of the biggest names in wrestling history; he would never have been given a shot.
Eric didn't believe what he ws saying. It's what he had to say he was the competition he had to always downplay stone cold and the WWF
Eric was abolutely right. Even if Austin was the biggest star at the time, If Austin had been in WCW at the time, he would have been a mid carder.
As soon as Austin mentions sales, I immediately think of my 3:16 shirt on the wall lol. He ain't lying
Wow…probably the most known wrestler of all time
Hay i remember "Stunning" Steve Austin with hair who didn't stay in WCW but i digress 😮
Where can I find the whole interview
Search for off the record, Eric Bischoff.
Bischoff calling WFF (at the time) the "small pond"... like, dude I get it their your competition, but they're also the 2st name in the industry.
Eric always had ideas above his station. He should count his lucky stars he had the career that he did.
Two things
First he let Austin go, so either a he's just trying to defend what he did, or be he still stands by it because he thinks it was the right decision.
Two he's absolutely right Austin would be a midcard player in WCW, only because of all the bad contracts giving creative control the people like Hogan & Nash. Hogan would have no choice for bury Austin every chance he got because he knows he cannot compete with him in any aspect of the business weather be in ringer on the mic.
So really he's right just because his company was absolute sensational top-level piece of talent would have been completely wasted
THE BEST PERFORMER EVER! hands down. No one will ever touch what he did in the tude era
Stone Steve Austin is and always be the MAN
And now we all know why Eric got stunned so many times! 🎉
Stone Cold was #1 and will remain there. Reason? He was real! When he walked, talked, wrestled he did it with the passion and history of low paychecks, tuna and raw potatoes etc.
Bischoff didn't even believe himself there.
Stone Cold was pretty much single handedly bringing it to WCW
No . Not alone
Eric saying that in 1998 is insane 😂
And in 2023, he is still a top merchandise seller
98' was that year. Stone cold was at his peak. And Dmx was on top fo the world. Great movies and music during that year
Stone Cold is a Legend. One of the best ever.
I think when Brett heart Gave stone cold Steve Austin a beating Like no other and he didn't give up That made him the number one guy he just needed the title to match it.💯
80s WWF was the best time for wrestlers and managers, lot's of imitators not many orginals. Wrestling will never be the same
Stone Cold is still one of the top sellers for merch.
Austin was larger than life in 1998! You had to be there!!
Literally no one in WCW was more popular than Stone Cold
From the moment he dropped the KOTR promo til this day he has been a top guy in wrestling
Would love to see Bischoff reacting to Austin reacting to Bischoff today.
You can tell by Bishoff body language that even he didn't believe what he was saying LOL
All this just made the Stone cold GM/Sheriff years better TV.
Remember, WCW thought telling everyone Mankind won the title was going to be a turn-off.
And it was, just not in the way they thought
Best wrestler best promo in best era and his chemistry with vince and the rock was unmatched
Austin got the last laugh! He’s a legend! 👏👍🍺🍺
He was midcard at WCW, when he went to WWE he became what he is now and exploded through the stratosphere! 🫡🇺🇸
She said f the backpack😂😂😂😂 Victor showed up ready to put in work but had to get lil sis straight first
This is why WCW went under and WWE didn’t.
The fact that Bichoff said that is hilarious
This video should be played back at each time he wants to comment on wrestling today. He was lost in 98
Man growing Stone Cold Skulls are everywhere and “that’s the bottom line” are in every kids mouth
Eric bischoff biggest mistake in WCW was letting Steve Austin Mick Foley and Triple H leave
This aged like a BANANA for Bischoff.😂😂😂😂😂😂
Austin becoming WWF champion was the beginning of the end of wcw.
I'm glad Austin got the last laugh and on top of that, they got to work with each other again in a very entertaining way. This story had a great ending
And right now today Stone Cold is one of the biggest wrestling icons has own show his, his own beer, his podcast, his merch still sells after 25 years while Eric Bischoff has a little podcast
Bischoff was doing what he needed to do for WCW. Cant be mad at him
I'm a black dude who stopped watching wrestling in like 6th grade (80s). I started watching it again when Stone Cold went up again Tyson. After that, I watched more and I became a Stone Cold fan. The man is a great entertainer. WCW was always 2nd fiddle to WWF IMO.
Off the record was such a great show. I think it came on before Raw on TSN. Thank goodness TSN showed raw back in the day
Mr. McMahon said it best “No chance in hell”
I mean, Bischoff's right to say Austin could not have been as over in WCW - because they never let him get over when he was there, and as soon as he started looking dangerous (see his and Pillman's programs with Flair), WCW's powers that be did their worst to depush him.
But that's an indictment of the WCW more than it is of Austin or the WWF.