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 six of the exclusive five-hour "Torch Talk" with former WCW President Eric Bischoff. Part 6 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 6. Tune in tomorrow for the next series of Q&A's from the Eric Bischoff Torch Talk.

Wade Keller: I actually think in the realm of "all things happen for a reason," if you want to look at life that way, your firing of him (Steve Austin in WCW) and him getting worked up over it was, to a degree, an inspiration for what he ended up becoming.

Eric Bischoff: You know what's ironic about that, Wade? When I was in WWE (laughs) and Vince [McMahon] came to me and said, "Hey, will you think about working an angle with Austin?" because they were going to bring Austin back, I said, "That would be awesome, that would be great." I had actually come up with the idea of, once it was announced, me searching the countryside looking for Steve Austin to make amends. That was actually my idea. So I went to Texas - I don't know if you remember the skits, but it was actually kind of fun - I went to search for "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Because he and I ended up in the ring - creatively speaking, this is storyline not reality - I wanted to suck up to him, right? I went into all of these different bars and got into fights with some of these guys in Plano, Texas or wherever the heck we were and Steve came to one of the shoots. It had been the first time I had seen Steve since well before I fired him. Steve came down to the bar, he pulled me aside, and he said - I'm paraphrasing, I don't remember the exact words - and he said, "Hey, I just want you to know, you've got no heat with me at all. Let's have some fun, let's make this work." We shook hands. I think we popped a beer and toasted a beer. He said, "You know what, the truth is I'm really grateful things turned out the way they did because there might not have ever been a ‘Stone Cold' Steve Austin." He acknowledged immediately the same thing that you're saying. And it's true. It is what it is. It's easy for people, especially my critics or the critics of WCW, to look back and say, "Aww, you should have never fired him in 1994. Because in 1998 he was going to become ‘Stone Cold' Steve Austin." Well, okay, great. You should be on Wall Street or in Las Vegas, not living in your mother's basement. (laughs)

MORE TO COME TOMORROW WITH BISCHOFF TALKING MORE STEVE AUSTIN...

CLICK HERE FOR THE MOST RECENT BISCHOFF Q&A SNIPPET FROM PART 5

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