After Vince McMahon went through his “poor, pitiful me” stage, and got down to business to stop the bleeding that Eric Bischoff and WCW had caused his company, through the process of turning it all around, I think it’s very fair to say that Vince was 100% focused on the matter at hand.
Once the wheels of the Attitude Era were put into place, from that moment on, neither Vince or myself were worried about what Bischoff and WCW were doing on the other channel on Monday Night. The only thing we were concentrated on was what we needed to do as a company to take back what was rightfully ours.
With that being said, as the ratings would come in every Tuesday, Vince would just look at that number and say, “Vince, we work damn hard for those 3’s”. The reason Vince was so cool, calm and collected was because he knew that we were on the right track. He knew that if we stayed consistent with what we were doing that it would only be a matter of time before we overcame WCW.
However . . .
It was sometime in early summer of 1998. I am bad with dates, and times, and I publicly admit that. However, I can remember landmarks, things of major importance. Then, when I combine that with the surroundings of the event, it usually brings me closer to the time line.
In this instance, it was probably about May 1998, and how do I know that? Because it was the exact same time that Stephanie McMahon graduated from Boston University. (Slamboree 1998 was May 17th in Worcester, MA, which is an hour from Boston)
And, here’s why that is of major importance when it comes to the history of the Monday Night Wars:
Publicly, no matter how arrogant or pompous that Eric Bischoff was acting at the time, Vince McMahon never let on – in a public forum anyway – that EB and his antics were getting under his skin. If anybody, Vince understood that it was all business, and also knew damn well that he had taunted regional promoters himself when he was younger until putting the majority out of business.
However…when it turns personal with Vince McMahon, then it becomes an issue. And Easy E made it real personal, real fast.
Look, you don’t ever challenge Vince McMahon, especially when it comes to a fight. Going all the way back to his early days, Vince was forced to overcome much adversity in his life. And throughout his checkered adolescent past, he did whatever he had to do as a child and a teen just in order to survive. Vince is a fighter above all – it’s just in the McMahon blood.
And it was that same blood that boiled to the surface when Eric Bischoff challenged Vince McMahon to show up at his pay-per-view and fight him.
Regardless of the fact that Eric and WCW would have greatly benefited from this publicity stunt, because it was a WCW pay-per-view, the business of it didn’t even cross Vince’s mind at the time. As a man, he was challenged, and his instinct was to answer the call. Vince was dead-set om showing up and fighting Eric. Trust me – the boss was serious. I could hear it in his words and I could see it in his eyes – he wasn’t kidding.
However, there was one small problem – the pay-per-view landed on the exact same day that Stephanie was graduating from Boston University. After some deliberation, Vince made the right decision and went to his beloved daughter’s ceremony.
Looking back, there is NO QUESTION in my mind that Vince McMahon would have showed up to fight Eric Bischoff at that pay-per-view, had it been on any other day. What would have happened is anybody’s guess, but I guarantee you this – that day in wrestling history would have been talked about even more then David Arquette becoming the WCW World Champion.
I think.
You Have No Idea How Close McMahon vs Bischoff Was to Happening
