Eric Bischoff On D-Generation X's Effect On The Monday Night Wars

During a recent edition of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff spoke about D-Generation X's stint during the Attitude Era, which is noted for many considering it a direct response to the successful New World Order. Bischoff spoke highly of DX, however.

“It should be pretty obvious that it was. It was entertaining as hell. They knocked it out of the park. I wasn’t as big of a fan of Shawn Michaels’ character in DX. I think he overplayed it. He tried too hard to be cute. Only by 10 or 20 percent – it wasn’t horrible overacting, but Triple H seemed a lot more natural at it. He didn’t have to force it quite as hard, and I think he was having a lot more fun with it, or maybe it was vice versa. Maybe the reason Shawn was overacting as much as he did was because he was having fun with it.

“But there was no question that it was a really powerful faction. The timing was right. I’ve said this before, and I’m gonna say this again – I think what got DX over more than anything – more than Triple H, more than Shawn Michaels – was Sean Waltman. I think that added a level of credibility when that happened and just made it feel more real. It brought more of an edgy character with it. I think because of the way he left WCW and the rhetoric back and forth and all that. But it felt like war, and it felt like it should’ve felt during the Monday Night War era.”

Bischoff was asked if WCW had any interest in pursuing Chyna.

“I’m not really sure other than there weren’t a lot of women in the industry at that time that could work. There was a lot of women, but they were generally valets, eye candy type of roles. They weren’t physical in the ring, especially as physical as someone like Chyna. So, there just wasn’t a lot of opportunity. There wasn’t a lot of creative opportunity because we just didn’t have a lot of women on board. That was a part of it I’m sure.”

He also spoke about Sean Waltman's infamous debut promo when he debuted on RAW following his WCW firing.

“I was still pretty cocky at that point and wasn’t too worried about too much. I mean, I was concerned, don’t get me wrong. But I kind of liked it because it was what made the Monday Night War era the Monday Night War. It felt like a real war. We weren’t just in the same time period on the same night. We were actually doing everything we could to undermine each other and to overpower each other. It’s one of the reasons I think the Monday Night War era will probably be recognized in the decades to come as the most significant era in professional wrestling possibly in our lifetime, maybe only second to WWE when Vince McMahon decided to raid all the territories and take his company national. That was without question the biggest pivot point in professional wrestling, but I think the extended era of the Monday Night War and everything that happened in it, probably changed professional wrestling more than almost anything ever to that point.”