Mike Graham "Eric Bischoff Bankrupted WCW"

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[@seanmcclure]

Mike is the thousandth person who got Hogan into WCW.

[@frankbonini7085]

He Had a Better Chance to Help Eric & WCW/Turner Get Hogan than Greg Gagne ... Mainly Because : 1. Hulk DESPISED the Gagnes! 2. Hulkster Grew Up in the Tampa Area, & Was a HUGE Fan of Florida Wrestling/Eddie Graham!

[@rodzor]

Greg Gagne invented Hulk Hogan

[@JGD185]

Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan

[@MondoMiami]

Actually, I was the one who persuaded Mike to persuade Bischoff to sign Hogan.

[@dannybursace9151]

I love that line!

[@paulkelly5715]

Mike grew up with a legendary father who was a top draw in New York as a wrestler then later ran the great Florida territory. To live up to that success had to be difficult because he just didn’t have the size to get over. He was a record holder bench presser at 195lbs pressing 450. But in wrestling he just wasn’t big enough. Then the suicide of his uncle and dad then his son was just too much to carry. I pray he is in peace

[@leecastro5348]

Hes like the uncle at the family gatherings thats always comes out the hero in all the stories and the story gets bigger each time he tells it lol

[@danielvrodriguez81]

Greg Gagne claims he told Eric to sign Hogan. Everyone took credit.

[@PhillyRoyalFlush]

When I was at a WCW show in 93 I shouted at Eric from the crowd to sign Hulk Hogan, so I'm taking credit for it 😊

[@flippindeadly]

I'd love to see Gagne and Graham on a shoot together. There would be some battle to take credit for everything positive and to blame everyone else for everything negative.

[@riproaringanus]

​@@flippindeadlybit of a problem with Mike on that front 😮

[@kashmere7980]

Apparently Greg gagne walked past nash in 1995 and whispered 'New World Order'

[@m.otransformers4855]

​@@PhillyRoyalFlushI remember that

[@mikewiley7529]

His shoot interviews are actually entertaining even tho u know he was just bitter and hated everything in the world. For some reason he entertains me with his absolute disdain for EVERYBODY

[@massiethomassie751]

because you come from the same garbage can

[@jaredgarrison333]

Agree 100. Bitter as hell but beyond entertaining

[@g7721]

RIP to Mike but his tattoo artist never drew a dime

[@dary0097]

🤣 🤣

[@larrybober6335]

@@dary0097 Lmao

[@michaelprice5755]

😂💀😂

[@bmschneider30]

He's got 2 firearms on him 😂

[@KHLB516]

Phenomenal line

[@hannibalsmith-zu3vq]

WCW missed the boat with Mike as a Ned Flanders type gimmick in the 90s.

[@pl5624]

Diddly doodly

[@jamesbyersmusic]

He could have been the leader of the nWokily dokily!!

[@georgewilliams4258]

How many dimes did Mike Graham cost WCW when he threatened Benoit?

[@darensparks]

Benoit wasn't a draw ever which WWE found out in 2004

[@mikes.4136]

Those contracts were crazy. Imagine having most of your roster out with BS injuries, while your promotion is struggling to go head-to-head with the WWF/WWE. WCW really believed that Ted Turner’s pockets would always be full.

[@JMB1017]

“All the Mexicans from Mexico” All this time I thought they were from Ecuador

[@tupacchamberlian8556]

Eric Bishoff "i Don't Recall" lol

[@BOBBYSOX86]

Greg Gagne created and trained Eddie Graham. "I told Eddie he should open his own promotion and book a devil worshipping angle with Kevin Sullivan as the top heel, the rest is history."

[@genxtasy9914]

The way he shakes his head at thestart is hilarious

[@jamesdarwinsmithii7039]

Bankrupted wcw 🤣. More like Time Warner didn't want wrestling to be a thing in the deal going forward. Wcw, at it's worst was doing better than most wrestling on tv today.

[@bdot187um]

True.

[@tw475]

that's bullshit. the new guy came in and said this is losing money. so he shut it down. if they really opened the books. they would have seen out of the 13-14 years wcw was around lost money more, than half the time it existed. Turner would always tell his people fuck off. that rasslin thing built his network and he remembered that.

[@jasontodd1896]

Eric and hogan help kill wcw

[@user-do2ev2hr7h]

Somehow I doubt Mike Graham had to ability to take anyone in "to see Ted".

[@KHLB516]

Exactly. I mean Hogan and Savage only saw Ted a couple times but Mike could get ppl a meeting with Ted hahaha

[@user-do2ev2hr7h]

​@@KHLB516 Bischoff only had 2 or so meetings with them by his telling, so I have to imagine Graham probably never did.

[@jimnfl7134]

You know Bash at the Beach 2000 with Hogan leaving WCW with the deal with Vince Russo, is where it died off.

[@jamesharris5868]

That devil face behind Mike in the curtain 😳

[@danielvrodriguez81]

I enjoyed the Clash of the Champions

[@UltimoDragon83]

Might be easier for Mike to tell us what he didn't do. Guy claims more credit than Hogan or Russo

[@TheREALOC1972]

He's also completely full of shit about Bischoff screwing up WCW at the end. EVERYONE knows that when Time Warner bought out Ted Turner in September of 97 they stripped Bischoff of any power and he was "President of WCW" in name only and then they "stripped" him of that October 1st of 98 when they brought in Russo and his lackey Ed Ferrara and Bischoff became nothing more than an On Air talent/Manager of the NWO. Bischoff had absolutely NOTHING to do with waht happened in WCW after Time-Warner bought it, and I'm not a fan of Bischoff in way, shape or form but the truth is the truth.

[@Chicagodog-tu1ek]

He committed suicide a couple of years ago...

[@jeremyroe5997]

Mike was a smart man

[@vortega472]

@@jeremyroe5997 Especially when he decided to end his life.

[@donjohn2695]

Mike took his life after his son committed suicide

[@mikenayers5981]

I’ve heard several times the t-shirt racket was a myth. There was no licensing agreement, and it was more that they sold the t-shirts outright to New Japan, and they sold them. They literally paid them by the shirt and marked them up, as that was the easiest arrangement.

[@johnscott2965]

Wait one minute.. I’m the guy who signed Hogan to WCW

[@mauricefisher5368]

I remember when Chris Jericho was fed up with Eric. He asked him for his check he stated Eric wrote him a check for $80,000. & told him to get out of face.

[@jasontodd1896]

Wow that really happen

[@claytron3000]

Eric didn’t write checks lol

[@mapledripcomics]

Mikes story is way to specific for it to be a complete lie.

[@kastore9364]

Kevin Nash has said much the same thing about eight of the top 10-12 wrestlers being out for injuries at one time, but Graham's explanation here about why it happened makes a bit of sense.

[@Ham-ra]

Bischoff has literally gone through this interview line by line and has to debunked every single alligation graham brought up. Unfortunately, Mike was a very bitter alcoholic and no one(!)lies like a drunk.

[@mapledripcomics]

@l--l1035 OK do me a favor and give me some bulletpoints on what he said

[@ricksanchez2425]

Randy Savage coming in was good to

[@jaredgarrison333]

Does anyone think this guy could get a meeting with Ted turner? Turner was the owner of tbs, tnt, Cartoon Network, cnn, Atlanta Braves, Atlanta hawks, owned the mgm library, married to a two time Oscar winner at the time, and this guy was able to get a meeting with Ted turner???

[@tobysgamingworld1550]

His video is verbatim what Greg Gagne said about himself lol. Which one was it? Him or Greg?

[@THE_bchat]

I was thinking the same thing. I just watched an interview with Gagne where he says all of the same things, and thought it was weird that he was telling the same story I saw Graham tell on a dvd over a decade ago.

[@cutekanjii]

​@@THE_bchati believe it's true and they probably both discussed it together before it happened and then as the years have gone by they both took credit for it leaving the other out. Possibly a 3rd or 4th party too and they all discussed it as a group. As the stories are far too similar to both have just made them up

[@AaronLesterMedia]

Mike never met me and told me I never drew a dime. Wow.

[@GLPitt1]

It would have gone bankrupt sooner without him. It lost $ ever since Turner bought it from Crockett. Bischoff made it profitable for a time.

[@tw475]

overall out of the 13 years it was around wcw easily lost money 8 years and in the last two lost more money than ever combined.

[@yojoeski]

But as long as Turner had final say, the company never would've shut down. WCW was a pet project for Ted Turner largely due to the ratings success wrestling in general was in the early days of the Superstation. Once Turner was out of the way, the writing was on the wall for WCW no matter how much money they drew.

[@chrismcdevitt7814]

Everyone claims they were the person who got Hogan to sign with Wcw, but no one takes credit for the Bret Hart signing.

[@bigboots6114]

greg gagne stated the same thing about bischoff

[@sweetpetergeda]

Yea Eric was a 1 trick lucky pony

[@bdot187um]

Eh...if it wasn't for Eric wcw would gone under in the early 90s.

[@tw475]

true. he had a good idea to get the company hot. he couldn't figure out what to do from there. it was over huge, but the writing was on the wall when they did nwo wolfpac. this is what got y'all here and the brain didn't have any plan where it finishes and what follows.

[@jasontodd1896]

He is

[@DoktorRotwang]

Everybody got Hogan in, just like everybody knew about the Montreal Screwjob except Brett.

[@Greenbeans0987]

Bischoff just never knew how to draw a dime

[@crichtonleprechaun5222]

I take his opinion in these old shoot interviews with a grain of salt. He was so bitter he hated himself.

[@Nostalgia9478]

He was 100 pct right about Bischoff Bankrupting WCW

[@crichtonleprechaun5222]

@Nostalgia9478 You're a fan, just about everyone commenting on here is commenting from the perspective of a fan. But this dude here, this dude and Greg Gagne? Nah. They are just way too bitter and biased on just about everything they were involved with on the business side. Their stories and recollections are seemingly embellished to the point of being comical. Not to mention that they won't take any kind ownership when it comes to the mistakes and bad decisions on their part. I can't say I don't believe him/ them when it comes to certain things. I just don't give that much weight to their views on things.

[@Nostalgia9478]

@@crichtonleprechaun5222 Bitterness and/or self loathing doesnt change the FACT that Graham was 100 pct right about Bischoff Bankrupted WCW

[@crichtonleprechaun5222]

@Nostalgia9478 Emotions can't change facts if they are founded to indeed be facts. From the shoots I've seen with Mike Graham and Greg Gagne, I don't take their opinions too seriously. Their views when it comes to wrestling in general are too biased and subjective.

[@Nostalgia9478]

@@crichtonleprechaun5222 Idgaf about their opinions. Its a FACT that Bischoff Bankrupted WCW no matter how much you desperately try to shift the focus to their biased opinions on other subjects. lol

[@chrismemphis8062]

I got Hogan in WCW- FACT

[@bdot187um]

Yeah right 😂

[@adamirishconundrum851]

No it was TK Kirkland that got Hogan into Dubya CEE Dubya

[@bdot187um]

@@adamirishconundrum851 all I know is that xpac was there!

[@user-go5py8mx9w]

How many phone books is Graham sitting on?

[@chuckdthefirst6698]

Doesn’t matter. He could of effed up 90% of the WCW roster easily in real life.

[@kimblandino]

​​@@chuckdthefirst6698 LOL dude would have been bitched in front of the entire southern wrestling world. He'd be wearing a skirt and high heels in this interview if he had EVER tried to get tough with ANY wrestler from that period.

[@donjohn2695]

Graham was known to be a legitimate badass don't let his size fool you he confronted Chris Benoit back in WCW and Benoit backed down also I get the feeling from these shoot interviews that Graham wasn't shuffling with a full deck

[@kimblandino]

@@donjohn2695 Benoit didn't back down. He respectfully walked away. Before Benoit was the headcase he became he was pretty level headed. Probably followed the old street proverb; "If you fight an old man and beat him; Well, congrats. You beat an old man. If you fight an old man and lose; You just got beaten up by an old man". Benoit knew there was no winning move in a physical altercation with Mike Graham. That's without the added caveat of Mike Graham being good wrestling business buddies with Sullivan, JJ, etc. Who were all technically Benoit's superiors within the company.

[@donjohn2695]

@@kimblandino Benoit did the right thing because Graham was a shooter and unhinged in a fight Graham would have got the better of Chris and Graham being older than quite a few years older than Chris wouldn't have made a difference

[@CeemPlay]

Peace of mind

[@WinstonWolfe21]

Damn no wonder WCW lost, their top guys were always looking for a loophole angle not to come to work

[@bonzijones007]

Ned Flanders could have saved WCW apparently

[@jamesbyersmusic]

Him, and the the nWokily dokily!

[@ryankeefe2102]

I'm not saying Mike is 100 percent wrong BUT like Greg Gange I genuinely think hes bitter that a guy from "outside" the wrestling business came in and did something that neither of their dads or the old time promoters did beat Vince mcmahon and i think it just sticks in their craw

[@shadowlazers]

Bishoff barely worked in wcw in 2000..and his role wasnt president..it was to watch over russo

[@curthennig9448]

And still continually drool over Hogan!

[@scottbrown-vc2lp]

i think mike had no idea why he was even there and couldnt live with the guilt! i dont see why what happened happened? but if your gonna go in to the big house with certain charges SO charges thats the only way to redeem yourself!

[@springer90]

Mike Graham's mustache never drew a dime.

[@vallangaard]

Is that Greg Gagne wearing a mask?

[@jaredgarrison333]

He is extra bitter but at the same time extra entertaining

[@jamiepreston1490]

I'd take Mike's word over Bischoffs any day of the week.

[@claytron3000]

There’s few people who lie more than Bischoff, and Mike Graham was one of them. 😂

[@KHLB516]

Sad part is that Mike probably truly believes this to be true, he convinced himself it was true. Idk how he could think anyone would be so far gone that they would believe it when he pitched this shit

[@Dqbbed]

Can't believe his KZbin channel never drew a dime "dlo brown head shake"

[@brianthomas3451]

Mike graham likes taking shots at people, even himself.

[@boscopappas234]

Good one!!!

[@TomBerishaj]

Mike "Never Drew a Dime" Graham.

[@chuckdthefirst6698]

Watch his matches and then watch his opponents without him. He was very talented and very able to het his opponents over.

[@TomBerishaj]

@@chuckdthefirst6698 Hugh Morris was also a heck of a trainer. Never drew a dime, either.

[@kimblandino]

​@@chuckdthefirst6698 Problem is, if his dad wasn't booker he never would have won a single match. He should have been Florida's Barry Horowitz. It started off like that. Until Eddie Graham started booking his midget son to actually win matches.

[@chuckdthefirst6698]

@@kimblandino haha wasn’t he actually taller than Kevin Sullivan? The bigger problem- no pun intended- was that he had no charisma.

[@chuckdthefirst6698]

@@TomBerishaj agreed. It’s the teamwork that makes the business. Nobody wins if one goes into business for himself.

[@Dqalex]

You can say all you want about Mike Graham and Greg Gagne but they were both much more knowledgeable about the business than Eric Bischoff

[@ZBR_ProXP]

All these Bischoff defenders in the comments lol

[@tanmartselby6937]

Shame on you Eric! Lol

[@DJObiSmalls]

Mike Graham came across as a racist and wanting things to "be like the old days" type guy. Glad Eric Bischoff drained Ted Turner's money.

[@ToeTag9899]

It feels like fried chicken tonight.

[@jrb9191]

Sting wasn't used because they fucked up and he had exceeded his appearance portion of the contract 😊

[@tw475]

be isn't blaming the guys. he's blaming the guy that signed the deals.

[@jrb9191]

@@tw475 Huh. He said sting was hurt and milked money. That wasn't true. They burned through his appearance clause

[@tw475]

@@jrb9191 may have got his timeline wrong. his point was they had key guy all out at the same time. that did hurt business in 99. Kevin Nash has said that before.

[@mr.c4p]

reality is he's right, bischoff has been proven 50 times over to be an absolute moron. he stepped in sh!t with hall/nash leaving and the nwo and it carried them for awhile but even that, most if not all was due to the illusion of wwf made stars showing up on their program and later the big heel turn of hogan, another ex-wwf star. Bischoff could never build a talent from the ground up tho. That said, 1 of the best on air heels of all time, should have been on someones tv all this time as a manager or something.

[@jasontodd1896]

True

[@mrnaughtycat]

Yep Eric did piss a lot of money up the wall apparently sand man almost a million dollars not sure if it’s true but if it is lol him worth that much

[@jasontodd1896]

He did

[@Mr.Wpunkt]

Just Mike talking about Mike being the one knowing everything.

[@markhensarling9209]

Mike Graham: "So I told Andre, hey boss, do not remove the tumor on your pituitary gland, the tumor will make you a giant and you will draw lots of dimes. Next thing you know, hes on top."

[@docthemetalfreak]

$600 million a year? dang for that kind of money I would never miss a day of work.

[@anthonyc1629]

Mike never drew a dime but he did draw a gun against his head.

[@sweetpetergeda]

Hogan didnt want to work for bill watts because he was afraid he was gonna lose to erick watts😂. Getting rid of the clash of champions was bad. They were part of wcw. We rather had world war 3 instead 😂

[@basedpatriarch]

Bill would never have booked that.

[@JMFSpike]

Almost nobody wanted to work for Watts during his WCW run. I think Watts' intentions were good, but he was one of those extremely stubborn old school guys. He was a hard ass who was stuck in his ways, and he had a very narrow view of pro wrestling. He wasn't the kind of guy who was ever going to modernize and change with the times. Had Watt's stayed in power, WCW would have gone down in flames much earlier then it did. Bischoff made his mistakes, but he was also able to see that times had changed. It's absolutely ridiculous how many people try to discredit or downplay what he did for WCW.

[@Aizenborgman]

It was Austin who didnt want to lose to watts son

[@GenGamesUniverse]

@@JMFSpike Yup, Watts tried to take it back to the 70's territories with shtick like guys would get fined for being a minute late or booking people he knew were not over with the fans to win or even to the point where he would ban high flying moves, this turned to piss a lot of the lucha libre/cruiserweight wrestlers off, because they couldn't do top rope moves. Thankfully, Watts was fired due to his actual racism at the time, and one guy leaked it all to Dave Meltzer.

[@brentbaker9125]

I've always felt Eric Bischoff destroyed WCW!!!

[@tupacchamberlian8556]

That's why Eric Bishoff on his RF Video Shoot interview kept replying " I Don't Recall" so he doesn't get sued

[@Ham-ra]

Nah. Dude the wars over. Your anger towards eric is completely misplace

[@alabamagirl2725]

I worked at WCW. What he's saying is not true. I'm a Crockett.

[@SmilingSynic]

When it came to drawing dimes in wrestling, Mike Graham didn't have it. Not even the pen and paper.

[@brianthomas3451]

Mike graham “drew a dime” once. By “drew” I mean “shot,”and by “dime,” I mean “gun.”

[@LuisMotta06]

This guy sounds full of it…really hard to believe anything he’s saying.

[@undertakerfanz628]

Mike graham never drew a dime

[@danielburger1775]

He drew more than your trampoline little people.

[@undertakerfanz628]

@@danielburger1775 brush your teeth

[@vortega472]

Neither did his brains.

[@codywilson7009]

@@vortega472Very classy, internet troll

[@DamnJohnnyV]

Mike told Greg Gagne to give birth to Verne and hire Hogan

[@ctuevans]

Mike graham Speaks the gospel 😅😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@adamsmith2758]

Such a simple mind, that doesn’t understand how business works. The top executive was making the decisions and getting himself paid? How revolutionary…

[@seanevans9329]

Wcw didnt promote the young stars early 2000.. shane Douglas, shane ohare, chuck palumbo, sid , booker, Steiner, kidman.. mike enos, wayne bloom... Ect....

[@aidanlynn]

Went bankrupt cause they never drew a dime.

[@vortega472]

Mike Graham's Brains (after he shot himself) never drew a dime.

[@chuckdthefirst6698]

Just flies and paramedics.

[@CeemPlay]

Eric debunked all of this on Eric Fires Back on Ad Free

[@sweetpetergeda]

He lied again 😂

[@TheREALOC1972]

@@sweetpetergeda No he didn't, I'm no fan of Bischoff but EVERYONE knows he was stripped of all his power when Time Warner bought WCW in September of 97 and was only WCW "President" in name only from September of 97 until October of 98 when the suits at Time-Warner brought in Russo and Ed Ferrara then the "title" was stripped from Bischoff and he was just an on-air talent/manager of the NWO. Russo and Ferrara even got rid of the Booking Committee January 1st of 99.

[@brobsty1856]

I find Eric to be the most believable.

[@chuckdthefirst6698]

@@brobsty1856you poor sap.

[@rolltide9547]

​@@brobsty1856I feel bad for you.

[@SjC420]

Mike is so full of shit here & comes across so bitter! Like him or not Eric Bischoff is the only guy who ran WCW & made it profitable. The reason WCW died was because of the AOL/Time Warner merger & they didn't want any wrestling on their networks & without a tv deal WCW was worthless.

[@joshboutwell5805]

Eric Bischoff is full of it but holy hell, everything that comes out of Graham's mouth is a lie.

[@GLPitt1]

😂 Yeah. Grahm takes credit for moving Nitro to Disney MGzm studios. Sure.

[@ajk]

Nitro didn't exist yet......and only reason they went to Disney MGM was because of the Olympics at the time in 96.

[@GenGamesUniverse]

@@ajk Nitro was around at that time. It started in 1994 when they did the first TV taping inside a shopping mall. The infamous one where Lex Luger returned to WCW from WWF and confronted the WCW champion Hulk Hogan.

[@ajk]

@@GenGamesUniverse No it didn't. Nitro debuted in September of 95.