VOC Nation Radio Network sent out the following:
Former WCW and ECW star Scotty Riggs entered the VOC Nation Radio Network’s IN THE ROOM studio to discuss his opinion of Eric Bischoff, the downfall of WCW and more. The entire interview can be heard at VOCNation.com.
Here are some highlights of the former “American Male” and Flock Member’s interview:
On his current status: “I’ve retired from professional wrestling due to injuries. The final straw was a factured ulnar bone in my left arm, 13 screws and 2 steel plates to fix it and after 2 surgeries, it’s still not right.”
On The American Males theme music: “That was the creative genius of Jimmy Hart. He and Michael Hayes did a lot of the music over the years in WCW. Jimmy saw in me and Marcus, a mix of The Fabulous Ones, The Fantastics and The Rock & Roll Express. His passion for those 3 tag teams came overflowing through that song. The first time we heard it, Jimmy was all excited and Marcus Bagwell and I looked at each other and our jaws dropped. I thought, oh my god it’s horrible, but it still works.”
On whether or not he could’ve been a main event talent: “I don’t know to be honest with you, there’s always a main event run in somebody, I just didn’t play the bulls*** politics game. It really got heavy and deep, everyone coming in had creative control in their contracts. I was the 47th hire in WCW and creative control didn’t exist back then. I had many influential friends, so I could have played that card, but that’s just not me.”
On Eric Bischoff’s role in WCW: “Eric Bischoff never had the final say so in what was being done, Vince McMahon has the final say so on the WWE product. There were too many chiefs in WCW and not enough Indians. Eric was a great business man when it came from going from Saturday night shows to getting us on prime time television. He was never groomed as a booker, he was never groomed to understand the inner workings of an angle or storyline. The booking committee was getting things done for him, he left things in the control of people like Kevin Sullivan and Arn Anderson.”
On Vince Russo’s role in WCW: “Vince Russo came in and tried to turn WCW into another WWE, he didn’t care about wrestling, he cared more about his “crash TV”. He had skits and promos longer than the matches.”
On Bischoff vs. McMahon: “Eric saw everything in the short-term, there was no long-term agenda. Vince has a long-term agenda. In terms of WrestleMania, everything all year builds towards that one big event. Bischoff ran things week by week and you can’t be successful without that vision.”
On the eye patch: “It was real, it was a chair to the eye. When the chair landed the wrong way up, the corner of the chair caught my eye. I had a bruised eye and it became part of the character.”
