"People could have reached out and punched me" - Eric Bischoff says the crowd wanted to see his a** get kicked at hardcore WWE event

WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff recalled attending ECW One Night Stand 2005 and said the crowd wanted to see him get smashed.

Eric Bischoff was the mastermind behind WCW during Monday Night Wars. He quickly worked his way to the top of the company, aligned himself with powerful forces and became an integral part of the success and downfall of WCW.

Eric Bischoff was utterly disliked by the competition and some of his peers for his actions. The world was shocked when Vince McMahon hired him and made him the General Manager of RAW in 2002. In a recent edition of 83 Weeks, Bischoff discussed how hostile the core was towards him at ECW One Night Stand 05:

“When you could feel the heat, that’s pretty cool, and I could feel that heat... It felt real because you’re so close to it. Literally, people could have reached out and punched me. They would have had multiple opportunities for that, so that was pretty cool... I wanted my role in this show, however big of small, to fulfill the audience’s desire. They wanted to see me get my a** kicked, and I couldn’t wait to do it.” [H/T - 411Mania]

The crowd, although hostile, didn't attack Eric Bischoff and the event was a success, for which most of the credit goes to the hardcore ECW fans in attendance.

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Eric Bischoff talks about the ECW fanbase

In the late 90's, ECW was a great product for the fans who enjoyed blood and thumbtacks over traditional wrestling matches. Fans of the product were loyal and as hardcore as their product.

During the WCW vs WWF war, ECW stood out on its own and created their own stars such as TAZ, Raven, Tommy Dreamer, The Dudleyz and more who weren't participating in the Monday Night Wars. In the same episode, Eric Biscoff spoke about the ECW fanbase:

“I was aware of it and used to watch some of the tapes occasionally if there was a reason to... You could look at the tape and see the crowd. The crowd was so intense, they were different. But the experience that I get live is way different than seeing sh*t on tape. You can’t feel it on tape watching a video, but you can feel it when you’re there.” [H/T - 411Mania]

It would have been interesting to see what the outcome of the war would've been if ECW was involved in a larger capacity.