Eric Bischoff talks about being there for Hulk Hogan during the roughest time in his life and why he despises Bubba the Love Sponge.
Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan began their relationship in 1994 when Hulk Hogan made the jump from WWE to WCW. In the years that followed, both men would grow closer and remain in business together, but more importantly, they would remain friends.
On his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff discussed temporarily moving in with Hulk Hogan following his divorce from Linda Hogan and actually managing many of Hogan's assets for a brief time while Hogan battled his demons, both physical and emotional.
“There was a period of time when I was living down in Clearwater just because Hulk was in a bad spot. He needed somebody that, not that I was like, you know, the most stable personality or rational person he could have probably had at his side at the time, But I was the closest thing there was to it,” Eric said. “[Eric was there] just to try to keep him within the lines, because it was very easy for Hulk at a certain point in his life to go completely off the rails and he was surrounded by people that would not necessarily encourage it, but certainly wouldn't do anything to manage it. So I did. I talked about it last week. There was a point in time where a lot of Hulk's assets, including his trademarks and a ton of cash and everything else, all ended up, you know, in an LLC that I controlled because he was just in a bad spot.”
Another person who became a picture of Hulk Hogan's wife at the time was Bubba the Love Sponge. Eric Bischoff openly talked about despising Bubba, saying that and his eyes, Bubba was just using Hulk Hogan to garner attention for his radio show.
“It was about that same time that Bubba had kind of integrated himself into Hulk's life and was providing Hulk an opportunity to show up [on] a radio [show] every morning, regardless of what condition Hulk may have been in because of the back issues he was dealing with, the emotional issues he was dealing with, and the prescription meds, and the Captain Morgan, and the whole nine yards. It didn't matter to Bubba, Bubba would put him on the air,” Eric said. “Hulk being Hulk, we all know, he can say some shit, right? He can get out there and he can dig a pretty big hole for himself occasionally. Add a fistful of Viking and a quart of Captain Morgan, to the equation and it was ridiculous. If Bubba would have truly been a friend, he would have never let him do that. I'm not saying Hulk Hogan didn't have any responsibility. He did. He knows he did. He takes full responsibility for it. He doesn't blame anybody for anything in real life. He looks at himself in the mirror and he deals with it. But Bubba positioned himself as a friend when Hulk needed one badly, he also positioned himself as a friend who could provide a media platform so that Hulk could tell [his side of his trials and tribulations], however, it may have been distorted because of all the things I've already discussed, you know, came off badly and made Hulk look worse in the situation. You know, that was money to Bubba. That was great radio.”
Bischoff continued, “I had to eat it a little bit. You know, I couldn't be as forceful in my opinion because I was managing a broader situation. I couldn't be as forceful as I felt inside. All I could do was try to mitigate it and control it to the best of my ability, which really wasn't much. I didn't have a lot of ability to control things in this regard. When I had to leave Florida, you know, after a period of several weeks or months, whatever it was, I would be in L.A. because I had business to take care of. I couldn't live in Florida full time... I remember driving around Los Angeles and listening to Bubba's show. There were times that I pulled over on the side of the road and just shake my head. You know, hearing what I was hearing and I always resented him, not resented. I wasn't resentful of him. I despised them because it was clear to me what he was doing and who he really was.”
Perhaps the most memorable by-product of the Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff relationship, the New World Order, was slated to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame before the coronavirus pandemic shut down all WrestleMania weekend events. Learn more about their induction at this link.
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