3 times Eric Bischoff blurred the lines between entertainment and reality

#2 Eric Bischoff fires referee, Randy Anderson

Eric Bischoff using both of his pointer fingers for non-verbal communication.

At Souled Out 1997, bad guy referee Nick Patrick was knocked out and there was no one to make the count for the Steiners. That’s when WCW ref, Randy Anderson came rushing in from the crowd to make the count, awarding the titles to the Steiner Brothers.

The problem for Anderson?

He just helped the Steiner Brothers take the titles from the nWo team of the Outsiders. There would be a penalty to pay. The next night on Nitro, Eric Bischoff fired Randy Anderson in egregious fashion.

Bischoff: “I know you that you had a tough year...”

Anderson: “My bout with cancer…”

Bischoff: “I don’t want to hear about your personal problems! I know that you had a tough year, but under the circumstances I have no other choice, you are hereby terminated.”

The following week, Anderson showed up with his family begging for his job back. In what some consider to be one of the most entertaining segments in WCW history, Bischoff asked Anderson’s children to tell their father that he is still fired.

An Executive Call

The day after Anderson’s on-air “termination”, Bischoff received a call from an executive at Turner Broadcasting asking why Turner’s Human Resources department was flooded with calls about Bischoff unfairly terminating an employee the previous night.

At first, Bischoff was confused, he explained on a recent episode of his podcast, because he had not actually fired anyone. As it turned out, members of Randy Anderson’s church were watching Nitro and were horrified to see the public humiliation of their fellow worshiper, who had just finished a battle with testicular cancer.