Eric Bischoff explains why he did not want WWE legend Shawn Michaels in WCW in 1997

Eric Bischoff was WCW's President when Shawn Michaels was among WWE's top stars in the 1990s. In a recent podcast episode, the former executive addressed why he did not have an interest in hiring The Heartbreak Kid in 1997.

Michaels defeated Bret Hart at Survivor Series 1997 in one of the most controversial matches in WWE history. After the event, Michaels continued wrestling for four months before taking a four-year break from WWE in-ring action. Hart, meanwhile, joined WCW and worked for Bischoff.

On the 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff said he would not have wanted Michaels at that time even if he had been available, instead of Hart. The 69-year-old cited attitude and drug problems at the time as the key reasons for his perspective:

"I would have rather not had that experience at that time," Bischoff stated. "Shawn healthy, much like when Scott Hall was clean and sober and really on his game, probably amazing to be around and a wealth of knowledge and creativity, but during that period of time I didn't need any more stress than I already had." [55:54 – 56:11]

Bischoff clarified he would happily have held talks with Michaels about joining WCW in 1996. However, he did not think the two-time WWE Hall of Famer would have been a good addition to his roster in 1997.

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Eric Bischoff on dream Shawn Michaels matches WCW did not book

The host of 83 Weeks, Conrad Thompson speculated how Shawn Michaels could have worked with legends like Eddie Guerrero and Randy Savage in WCW.

While Eric Bischoff agreed the matches would have been great, he reiterated that Michaels' attitude might have caused problems:

"Sure, you can go down that rabbit hole if you want, but for me it was like could I add another layer of chaos into an already chaotic situation with some of the talent I had at the time? No, thank you. I barely survived what I did!" [58:33 – 58:49]

More than two decades on, Michaels is the head booker for WWE's NXT brand. He received a Hall of Fame induction in 2011 as an individual and another as a D-Generation X member in 2019.

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Please credit 83 Weeks and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.