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: If Bret was as vulnerable (when he came to WCW from WWE) - and I'm in no way disputing what you're saying because I think everyone agrees Bret was at a point of despair - if he was at that level, do you think WCW creatively did a lot to drive him further into despair due to the warring factions and the heel turn and what he coined "what seemed like sabotage." He wrote: "Eric was clearly in over his head and unable to deal with warring wolf packs. To me, at this point, it felt stupid, like it was sabotage." There had to be a way WCW could have lifted his spirits, and I think about the total opposite happened the way politics consumed and ate up Bret. What you're saying, it's the reason for it. Well, we can't rely on him. But if you say you can't rely on someone, does that mean destroy him? And that seems to be politically what happened to Bret.

Eric Bischoff: You know, I disagree with that. I'm not going to deny, and I will absolutely agree that politics at that time were running rampant because the business was in an upheaval. We were going through everything that I've been talking about with you for the last hour from '98 up until that time. Let me go back and tell you why I brought Bret in. Bret and I had danced previously. I really wanted to bring Bret in sooner when we were really on a roll and then Vince made a play to keep him...

Keller: And Bret never wanted to leave, in his heart...

Bischoff: That's right, of course, he didn't want to leave. But for anyone to suggest that politics didn't exist in WWE then or that politics don't exist in WWE now is smoking crack. Politics are a part of the business. Now, granted, they were at a fever pitch '98, '99 in WCW at the time because of everything we were going through, there's no question about that. My intent, and the reason that I could financially justify bringing Bret Hart in and paying him what we paid him was because of Thunder. The original intent was - much like WWE has done not so successfully in my opinion, but more successfully than we did or I did - my intent was to have a Nitro brand with that roster of talent and a Thunder brand with its roster of talent so I wasn't deluding my show and I wasn't killing my talent and I was giving people a reason to tune in to one or the other. That's why I brought Bret in. Now, for a variety of reasons, financial pressures being one of them, we opted to not discipline ourselves and stick with that plan. But that was the intent of bringing him in. There was a combination of things going on at the time between our own internal pressures, the fact that Bret showed up and left his heart and spirit and Montreal and only his body was showing up at TV five minutes before taping or a live production. All of those things combined to bring - and my own lack of ability, I'll accept responsibility, my own lack of ability to come up with the right creative that would motivate him, satisfy the fans, and build a long-term program. All of those things combined, in my mind equally, to end up with a failed effort. But I don't think it was just the politics, or just Bret and what he went through, I don't think it was just me. I don't think it was just any one thing. That's easy and fun when you can point to it and argue about it and focus on it, but it was again go back and live that moment and that situation. It was a combination of a lot of different things that led to that.

MORE TO COME TOMORROW WITH KELLER PUSHING HARDER FOR BISCHOFF TO ADMIT WCW'S ERRORS IN HANDLING HART'S RUN...

CLICK HERE FOR THE MOST RECENT BISCHOFF Q&A SNIPPET

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