Eric Bischoff And Michael Hayes Talk Their Greatest Accomplishments, Hayes On Being Taken Off WWE TV
As noted, Eric Bischoff, Jim Cornette, and Michael 'P.S.' Hayes recently enjoyed a meal together for WWE Network's Table For 3. Among other things, Bischoff talked about his proudest accomplishment in professional wrestling and Hayes discussed his transition from an on-air talent to working behind-the-scenes.
According to Bischoff, the format of WCW Monday Nitro is the accomplishment of which he is most proud from his pro wrestling career.
"WWE was the dominant [pro] wrestling company and I knew that if I was going to get primetime, I was going to have to change that. So I literally sat down with a legal notepad and a pen and I made a list of every single way that I could be different than the WWE. They were taped. I'll go live. They target kids, they're a little family friendly, and a little animated in the way that they present their storylines and their characters. I'm going to be reality-based and I'm going to have a little bit more of an edge. I'm going to target 18 to 34 year old men. So I just literally made a list. There was probably 15 or 20 things. Some of them made sense, some of them didn't. And that is what created that format."
Also during the show, Hayes talked about going from an on-air talent to an agent behind-the-scenes.
"I had a great run with The [Fabulous] Freebirds. I tried to recreate it, but it didn't work so much. I tried again with the Hardys to start a new thing and finally Vince [McMahon] said, 'no, you're not going to do that. I don't want you on-air.' I thought my career was over. He asked me to be an agent. And then, I just thought, 'well, kid, you've got to make the best of this' and it worked."
Hayes, who admitted he gets a natural high from living vicariously through "big stars" as he assists putting matches together, shared that The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 25 is his proudest accomplishment.
"And the funnest time I've had, and I've had a lot, I've been blessed, I'm still having fun, was the first Undertaker/Shawn Michaels matchup at WrestleMania 25 because we all had this vision and we were working on it and it was basically heaven against hell. And when I first presented it to Vince [he said], 'oh God! No, Michael, we're not going to do heaven versus hell!' Next thing you know, Undertaker is ascending from the fires of hell. Shawn's descending from the clouds of heaven." Hayes added, "the match was so good. I mean, to make people think that Shawn Michaels, as great as he is, had a chance to break that streak."
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Source: WWE Network's Table For 3