Authors: Eric Bischoff

Controversy Creates Cash (50 page)

BOOK: Controversy Creates Cash

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I don’t know that for sure. No one can say what would or would not have happened for certain. But when you look at wrestling ten or fifteen years ago, it was a limited niche product. It’s still hard to sell advertising inside wrestling today, but it was much harder back then. The launch of
Nitro
and the change I forced upon WWE created competition that grew the audience—and more importantly, changed the demographics of that audience to a point that the advertising revenue had to follow. No one could deny the size and purchasing power of the pro wrestling audience. WCW
Nitro
and, yes, Eric Bischoff helped create a pop culture phenomenon on cable television.

Would WWE exist today if it weren’t for the pop culture phenomenon born from competition with the WCW?

As I said, no one can go back and definitively say what would have happened if things were different. But I think it’s safe to say that WWE would not exist at the level it is at now.

So at the very end of the day, when people ask, “Do you think there’ll be another competitor to the WWE?” my answer is, “I don’t think so.” When people ask, “Will you ever go head-to-head with Vince McMahon again?” my answer is, “Probably not.” But never say never.