Eric Bischoff Explains Why Hulk Hogan Was Hesitant To Work With Vader

On a recent edition of 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff (transcript via Wrestling Inc), Bischoff spoke about why Hulk Hogan was so hesitant to work with Vader and more. Here are the highlights…

“Hulk Hogan wanted to work with people that he knew were professional. He wanted to work with people who would make him look good. He was well aware of his strengths and his weaknesses and he wanted to work with people that would camouflage his weaknesses and amplify his strengths. That is just being a pro. It is what it is. He didn’t want to work with Ric Flair because they were friends, he wanted to work with Ric Flair because he knew Flair would do what I just prescribed.

That is the reputation Hogan has and that is why I still kind of harbor a lot of resentment because of the way the dirt sheets back in the day would frame this news where ‘Hulk Hogan doesn’t want to drop the strap,’ well, the inference is he is a greedy f***er who doesn’t want to share. That is the inference. Or, Hulk Hogan didn’t want to work with Vader because Vader was stiff. Well, are we talking about the guy who broke someone’s back or ruptured Sting’s ear drum? Come on; Vader did work stiff. Hulk Hogan wasn’t interested in working that way so it’s not that Hogan didn’t want to work with Vader, he did, and they did, but Hogan wanted to make sure that Vader was going to have his head on straight and not try to over-impress anybody with physicality because that was not what Hogan did.

Hulk Hogan was a character. He wasn’t Mick Foley that wanted to go jump off of balconies or throw himself off of thumbtacks and end up with 65 stiches in his head. That wasn’t the kind of match he wanted to have. He wanted to make sure that when he got into the ring with people that they were people that would complement the kind of match he can do best.”