Eric Bischoff Critiques WCW Finishes, Praises Pat Patterson’s Expertise

Speaking on the latest episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff discussed WCW’s Great American Bash 2000 pay-per-view event, addressing the criticism surrounding WCW’s finishes and expressing his desire to have Pat Patterson from WWE in WCW for his expertise in creating layered and effective finishes.

Bischoff discussed the persistent issue of poorly executed finishes in WCW, admitting that it was the promotion’s Achilles heel throughout his involvement in creative. He said that WCW lacked individuals with a good understanding of finishes, and even Dusty Rhodes faced the same problem. He said,

“Clearly was overdone, way overdone. WCW never had a handle on finishes. Not in ’93 or ’94 when I was the executive producer but not involved with creative, ’95 when I started getting more involved in creative, certainly by ’96 with the introduction of the NWO, I was very involved in creative during all of that period of time and up until this point in July of 2000. The Achilles heel for WCW was finishes. Dusty Rhodes had the same problem, that’s where the term Dusty Finish came from. Does he have a great mind for storytelling? He had an amazing vision in many respects. But Dusty wasn’t surrounded by people who were really good at finishes. And I think Dusty himself, because he was so focused on the episodic nature of what he was trying to achieve and seeing wrestling like a movie. Sometimes I took shortcuts when it came to finishes. We hadn’t kicked out of the problem by 2000, for sure. There was just nobody there that really had a good feel for finishes.”

Bischoff also noted that if WCW could have snatched one person from WWE that could have, in a manner of speaking, won them the war, it wouldn’t have been The Undertaker, or Shawn Michaels, or Kane. Rather, it would have been Pat Patterson. Highlighting Patterson’s talent for creating layered finishes that keep the audience engaged, Bischoff remarked,

“I’ve said this again a bunch of times. You know, people say, ‘Ohh did you of all the people that you could have snatched from WWE, who would have been, would it have been Undertaker? Would it have been Shawn Michaels? Who would it have been? Would it have been Kane?’ The answer is it would have been Pat Patterson. Because I think Pat Patterson will go down in history. And from the people that I’ve talked to that I’ve worked with for many years in WWE, you know, Pat’s strength was listening to somebody lay out a story, listening to somebody lay out a finish. And then sitting back and really putting layers into that finish.”

Bischoff further elaborated that multi-layered finishes, which surprise and shock the viewers, were an effective storytelling technique used by WWE in the past. Bischoff believes that such finishes are crucial for achieving success and distinguishing between mediocrity and failure in wrestling, movies, television shows, and books.

“You could probably find audio of me in an interview somewhere talking about this from 20 years ago, where WWE had multi-layered finishes. Just when you think you know which way of a match is going to go and then boom, something else happens that you didn’t expect. Shocked you into thinking, OK, this is going to be it. And then, no, that’s not it either. And this is the finish that a layered type of finish would when it’s done effectively. Keyword effectively is an art form. It’s the last two minutes of the movie. You sit and watch a movie for an hour and a half, or an hour and 28 minutes. And it’s setting you up for the final two minutes. Having a really multi-layered ending to a movie or to a match or to a television show or to a book. The difference between success and mediocrity or dismal failure.”

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