On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff broke down how quickly Hulk Hogan adapted to being a villain in 1996, and credited Scott Hall and Kevin Nash with everything the nWo brought to WCW culturally. You can check out his comments below:
On Hogan’s in-ring heel work:
“I think the heel nature, the heel instinct in terms of what he did in the ring, and his timing, and how to sell — all of those very important in-ring elements of making the transition from babyface to heel — I don’t think he had any trouble with any of that. I think that came easily for him. He’d been working across from some of the best heels in the business for a long time, so he had a lot of experience working with heels. I think the transition to becoming one was really not difficult for him at all in the ring.”
On what actually took time:
“What was a transition and evolution was in his character. That was harder. That was much harder. I’m not suggesting he had a difficult time with it, but it developed more slowly than his heel work in the ring. His heel work on the mic evolved at a slower pace than his heel work in the ring.”
On leaning on the Outsiders:
“He leaned a lot on Scott and Kevin. He spent a lot of time with them. He loved chopping it up with them, because it helped him adapt to the vibe. So he wasn’t the formerly ‘say your prayers, eat your vitamins’ yellow guy now pretending he’s a heel. He evolved into the culture that Scott and Kevin brought to the table. That’s the best way to say it.”
On who actually created the nWo’s identity:
“Scott and Kevin in the nWo brought an element of pop culture into WCW in a way that had never been done before. That was all Scott and Kevin. That wasn’t Eric Bischoff. It came naturally to them. And when it became Scott, Kevin and Hulk, it was up to Hulk to adapt to that character’s presentation. The nWo as a threesome is a character — the brand as a character. Hulk had to adapt to that, because it didn’t come naturally for him. That wasn’t his world. The music wasn’t that familiar to him.”
On why it still took time:
“It was a little bit familiar because of his relationship with Brooke and her relationship with music, so he probably had more of a hip hop connection than certainly I ever did, and probably more than a lot of people do. But knowing about the culture and being able to feel comfortable in it are two different things. Scott and Kevin really helped him feel comfortable, but it did take time.”
On working with Ric Flair at Clash of the Champions:
“Hulk didn’t have any insecurities about his work as a heel, but at the same time, you’re going to want to work with somebody that’s going to make you — if you can go out there and pull off an eight, or get in the ring with Ric Flair and pull off a nine and maybe a 10, what are you going to do? Regardless of how Ric adapted his style to whoever he was working with, he sold his ass off. That was the constant thread through everything Ric Flair. Ric had his match critics — Ole Anderson used to hate Ric Flair matches, he’d lose his shit watching. But it worked. What are we complaining about if it works? The old saying was Ric could wrestle a broomstick and make the broomstick good. Well, that was true. That’s why his career was what it was.”