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: Eric, I have a lot of circles of friends, some in wrestling and some elsewhere. Regarding prescription pills and alcohol are a problem in society, I agree with that. But I would say percentage-wise, I think you'd agree with this, the percentage of wrestlers who get in so deep that they die is exponentially higher in wrestling than it is in society in general.

Eric Bischoff: I do not disagree with that.

Keller: Good. Because some people make that argument as if everyone's taking prescription pills. I think they're so inside the industry they think that's normal, but you're not. I'm glad you said that.

Bischoff: I think prescription pills are the single most evil, and the abuse of them, are the single most evil thing that's happening in our society across the board. I agree with you that in this industry, the entertainment industry, and professional wrestling in particular, that it's even more of a problem. But here's my point, and this is going to sound that I'm connecting dots that shouldn't even be on the same page, but right now, our government is talking about the government controlling and having more control over health care and managing things directly. Right now, there is so much government control in the manufacturing and distribution of Schedule 3 controlled substances like Vicodin and Percocet and Oxytocin and all the sh--'s that killing people, right? And they can't control it. Why does a guy like Jeff Hardy - and I hope things turn out for Jeff Hardy; I know people think I have some sort of grudge against him, I don't; Matt and Jeff have always been really nothing but nice, nothing but professional to me. I disagree creatively. Not disagree. I get disappointed when I see people wasting opportunities when they're 32, 33, 34 years old. They don't really realize there's a finite period of time when you get to extract the best for you and your family in the future in that period of time. People think it's going to last forever. So, just as a passionate guy who was in the business at one time, I see certain things that make me shake my head. But all that said, the long list of guys that you mentioned and guys that are right now abusing prescription drugs, if the government can't control given the DEA, the FDA, and the medical community, it's just ridiculous how much control the government has over prescription drugs, but people still get 'em in quantities that allow them to abuse them. We know the Chris Benoit situation is well-documented. But that's an obvious one, but where does a guy like Jeff Hardy, assuming - and I'll give Jeff the benefit of the doubt, maybe those weren't his pills, maybe it was somebody that was staying at his house, who knows? I don't know. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. But whosoever those were, how did a guy end up with a prescription for 242 Vicodin?

Keller: Well, if you get a 60 day supply and you're taking four a day, you're pretty close to that number. That's what's scary, is that maybe that's the scary part. Maybe there are doctors out there who look at the condition of Jeff's body with the schedule he's had at, what, age 31 give or take a year, who say, "Here, you need this to function. You're tolerance is built up."

Bischoff: That's exactly my point. Therein lies the problem. If there are doctors who are controlled by the Federal Government and the FDA and all these others and there's not enough control over those doctors to prescribe those drugs to anybody, Jeff Hardy or anybody else, let's assume Jeff had prescriptions for everything in that house, if there's a doctor, just like the guy in the Michael Jackson thing, are you kidding me? How could that doctor prescribe the type of stuff that he was giving to Michael Jackson and get away with it with the amount of control that the Federal Government. That was my big bitch when everybody was like busting WWE's chops, saying they should do more, they should take control, it's their fault. Nonsense. The medical community has enough controls in place right now; they just don't enforce them. If anybody is getting the quantity of prescription medication, particularly when it rises to the level of opiates like Vicodin and the one that I think is absolutely the worst, which is Oxycontin. I'm sure there's more that I'm not aware of, but those are the two. Every time somebody shows up dead in the entertainment business who's under the age of 50, I don't even have to wait to read what the obituary is or what the doctors have said. I know what it is. Heath Ledge. D.J. A.M. It's all the same story over and over again. And it's prescription drugs, not steroids.

MORE TO COME TOMORROW WITH THE NEXT PART OF THE SERIES...

CLICK HERE FOR THE MOST RECENT BISCHOFF Q&A SNIPPET

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