On September 14 and October 1, 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 last installment of part eight of the exclusive five-hour "Torch Talk" with former WCW President Eric Bischoff from October 1 - before Bischoff joined TNA and was just starting negotiations with TNA at the time. Part 8 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 last question and answer from Part 8. Tune in tomorrow for the next series of Q&A's in Part 9 from the Eric Bischoff Torch Talk.

Eric Bischoff: (continued from yesterday) ... By the way, when we (Vince Russo and Bischoff) went in there (WCW), we weren't equal. I was overseeing him. That was the understanding and the role.

Wade Keller: He knew that too?

Bischoff: Yeah. Well, he should have. He may not have wanted it that way, but that was the deal going in. I'll, I'll, I'll... accept it as a mistake that I made. I gave him a lot of rope. I didn't want to come in initially and start stomping on his toes every time he wanted to do something because then the outcome would have been inevitable in terms of us working together if I would have immediately come in there and shit–canned the stuff that he wanted to do. The outcome would have been real predictable and it would have been really short–lived. So my approach was, okay, I'm going to give him rope, I'm going to give him some freedom, let him run a little bit, rein in the stuff that's completely off the wall, and at the same time try to do the things that I feel need to get done. That was my approach.

And in doing so, you know, some of the things that he was doing — they tended to be smaller issues, they weren't big main event things - but a lot of the undercard stuff that, I guess, I wouldn't have assumed would have been on everybody's radar as much as it was, had this feeling about it of just being very dark and negative. That's the only way I can describe it. And I can't give you a specific example. It's like when you walk into a restaurant, it either smells like Italian food or it smells like German food. This just had a dark, not evil, but dark and... just dark, that's the only way I can say it. And Brad called me up and he said, "Eric, it's just not working. His stuff is just too dark. We've got to lighten it up a little bit." And that's what I referred to in the book as his booking being dark. I hadn't honestly paid — it didn't strike me that way initially. It was different than the way I did things, but I wasn't demanding or expecting that I wanted him to do everything the way I would do it. There was a reason we were both there. But in retrospect, everything did have this dark kind of — it'll sound crazy coming out of a 54-year-old guy — icky feel to it.

Keller: I think people can relate to it. Even if there's bright production values, there can be an undercurrent that the root of the storyline and the characters are brought to you in a certain way.

Bischoff: That's what I saw. I have no idea what he's doing now.

END OF PART 8....

MORE TO COME TOMORROW WITH THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF PART 9...

CLICK HERE FOR THE MOST RECENT BISCHOFF Q&A SNIPPET FROM PART 8

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