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On Monday, September 14, PWTorch editor Wade Keller interviewed former WCW President Eric Bischoff an exclusive multi-hour "Torch Talk" interview covering a variety of controversial subjects from the Monday Night War period, his days on WWE TV, his 2006 autobiography, and the "Rise & Fall of WCW" DVD.

The following is the latest installment of part four of the exclusive five-hour "Torch Talk" with former WCW President Eric Bischoff. This fourth part of the series picks up in the midst of a discussion about Bischoff's oft-criticized decision to put the first-ever Hulk Hogan vs. Goldberg match on free Nitro with just four day's notice. Part 4(a) of our daily Q&As will be published here at PWTorch.com, which is unprecedented with our VIP-exclusive "Torch Talk" series.

To both READ and LISTEN to the entire interview, you'll want to become a VIP member, which also includes instant access to our newsmaking multi-hour in-depth hard-hitting "Torch Talks" with other top WCW players such as Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, X-Pac, Vince Russo, Ed Ferrara, Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and others (ALL AVAILABLE AT THIS LINK FOR VIP MEMBERS). To subscribe right now and be the first to read the entire Bischoff "Torch Talk" and have VIP-only access to the audio, click here. The first audio segment and transcript installment is now available for VIP members.

We present today's latest question and answer from Part 4(a). Tune in tomorrow for the next series of Q&A's from part 4.

Wade Keller: I think there comes a point where if you stipulate to the fact that you could have done everything right and never made one mistake that WCW would have gone out of business, I still think as a lifelong fan and lifelong observer, somebody who enjoys following the industry and trends and ups and downs, it's still worth isolating some specifics and try to understand the decisions that were made and take a lesson from that or look at it differently. You were in the middle of it. So I love to get your perspective and kind of pin you down to the point so we learn something about the mindset that went into some of the decisions that are ridiculed or questioned or, in other ways, to just understand why a decision was made that people admire. That's what I'm trying to do when I bring up that specific situation (giving away Goldberg vs. Hogan on Nitro with little notice) because, I can tell you, if I ask people what do you want me to ask Bischoff about, that would be a top five question on most people's lists. "What were they thinking when they gave Hogan vs. Goldberg away!?"

Eric Bischoff: Believe me, it's understandable, but again I can't even go back and put myself in the frame of mind I was in at that time without thinking about it a lot. Because there was just so much going on. Again, you're in the eye of the hurricane. You're not sitting on the bench thinking about something and having the luxury of having days and weeks to figure s--- out. You're in the eye of a hurricane and you have a million things swirling around you and you have to juggle them, you have to take risks, you have make decisions, you have to come up creative, and sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Going back to that particular decision, given the competitive nature of where WCW was at the time and WWE was at the time, given that it was Bill Goldberg who we were building and it was an Atlanta crowd, we knew we'd get the reaction we'd get when he won the match (for) whatever self-serving reasons Hulk Hogan may have had for being the guy. It sounds like a great idea. I'm thinking to myself, 'Holy sh--, this is going to be one of those moments that people are going to talk about on Nitro.' This is going to be one of those moments that is kind of consistent with: You've gotta tune into Nitro; you just don't know what you're going to miss if you don't.

Keller: Well, Eric, in your defense, I'll say this. It's a point you just said there. Had Hogan-Goldberg on three day's notice on Nitro shattered ratings records and led to Nitro starting a new winning streak, it'd be talked about the greatest move you ever made...

Bischoff: There's the flaw. But there's the flaw. It wouldn't have. Had it started a winning streak that would have been more than a one-night hit, it wouldn't have, because while we were being forced to change the things that we had to change and forced to do the things we had to do pretty much against our will for the most part, it wouldn't have changed. Hogan and Goldberg might have gotten a 10.5, the following week we would have been right back to where we were because the nature of WWE programming at that time, and the nature of the programming we were forced - when I say forced, the mandate and the limitations and the direction that we were being forced to go into would not have allowed us to compete with the WWE on a long-term basis.

Keller: Did you know that at the time? Did you feel that at the time?

Bischoff: Yes.

MORE TO COME TOMOROW...

CLICK HERE FOR THE MOST RECENT BISCHOFF Q&A SNIPPET FROM PART 3(B)

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