Two prominent figures in the wrestling world are former ECW owner Paul Heyman and former WCW owner Eric Bischoff, both of whom led wrestling promotions that had a significant impact on the industry. Despite WCW and ECW being rivals in the 90s, they have expressed mutual respect for each other’s work in recent times. In a recent “83 Weeks” podcast episode, Bischoff talked about how his approach to wrestling closely paralleled Heyman’s.
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“Heyman, whether consciously or not, approached the business in a similar way to me, which was, ‘You can’t directly compete with WWE… how can I offer something unique?'” Bischoff shared. “[ECW] featured incredible talent that wasn’t already well-known.”
In his WCW days, Bischoff also aimed to showcase talent that was fresh to the wrestling scene. He introduced the Cruiserweight Division, which played a pivotal role in distinguishing WCW from WWF and maintaining high viewership ratings, as he believed that the nine o’clock hour was equally important as the main event of the show.
“We needed something distinctive and fast-paced,” Bischoff emphasized. Although the term “Cruiserweight” became popular through WCW, Bischoff acknowledged Heyman for featuring smaller wrestlers on TV before him in the form of Luchadors.
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“I wasn’t the first to showcase Luchadors on television,” Bischoff admitted. “Credit goes to Paul Heyman; he had Rey Mysterio on his show before I did.”
If you intend to use any quotes from this article, please attribute them to “83 Weeks” and provide credit to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
