Interview Highlights: Bischoff, JBL, Prichard talks about Bischoff trying to sign Pat Patterson to WCW, the DX invasion of Nitro, WCW courting JBL

The following are highlights of last week’s “The Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast” with Eric Bischoff, Bruce Prichard, and JBL…

•On Trying to Sign Pat Patterson

Sam: It got to the place where off screen, writers were being traded back and forth, was there a point where you tried to get Bruce?

Bischoff: No, that’s another part of the narrative. There was nobody we sat back and tried to steal. When talent came over it was really them coming to us not us trying to cherry pick. The only person I tried was Pat Patterson, people kept telling me what a great finish guy he was and I knew looking at our product we needed someone with that depth of storytelling.

JBL: The headline out of that is that Eric wanted Pat but didn’t want Bruce Prichard.”

•On the DX invasion of Nitro

JBL: …We had a friendly rivalry, we did have the time when they invaded from Norfolk, we invaded in the afternoon and we didn’t know what would happen, Jerry Brisco went around telling people to be ready so we were in the parking lot, we had Ken Shamrock and that’s about all we needed really. We had no idea what was going to happen, we were out there until Vince was leaving.

Sam: Did you know that at the time Eric?

Bischoff: No, I had no idea any of that was going on, it’s one of the things I regret the most. I would’ve let them in and whatever happened would have happened on television, that would have been some of the greatest television in the history of wrestling.

Sam: So, we are talking about when DX went over to Nitro and was like outside in the parking lot and driving a tank.

JBL: They had no plan.

Prichard: We had a little bit of a plan. I was there directing the whole thing.

JBL: I love the fact you had a dummy tape, though. If you got kidnapped, you were going to sneak the other one out. If you had got in the building, though, what would you have done?

Prichard: Oh god, we just would’ve taped it and gone for it. We were hoping we were going to get in.

Bischoff: I don’t think that would have been worth the effort because honestly, there was no heat between the boys. They would’ve broken in and would have been in character and then they would have high fived each other and cracked a beer.

•On Bischoff trying to Court JBL

Bischoff: That was the only name we wanted at the time. I tried to court JBL once in an airport, but it didn’t work out.

JBL: It got me a raise! I ran into Eric at a bar, it was the first time I met him and I was in the middle of a contract negotiation and I got a raise. ”

Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast is published every Thursday morning on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, notsam.com, and wherever podcasts are available.