As it is noted, Eric Bischoff wanted to relaunch WCW in 2001 (having Joey Styles in the brand) shortly after the takeover of Vince McMahon but he could not for obvious reasons. Vince McMahon himself wanted to run WCW as a parallel brand along with WWE. But things did not go pretty well for the promotion and we have discussed this failure previously.
Eric Bischoff revealed that he wanted Joey Styles as a part of the resurrected WCW. Joey Styles had been one of the key figures of Extreme Championship Wrestling and he was very famous for his commentary among the fans. His catchphrase ‘Oh My God!’ is still very famous.
Eric Bischoff Wanted To Sign Joey Styles In WCW?
Recently, Bischoff appeared on an episode of the 83 weeks where he revealed that he wanted to sign Joey Styles after WCW relaunch he said,
I wanted and needed to keep Tony on the team, behind the scenes and in front of the camera. But I was also interested in Joey Styles. We would’ve had four hours of TV to do in primetime. There was plenty of room for great announcers. If you look at some of the things I did, I would change announce teams out.
One announcer team in the first hour, once announce team in the second hour. It wasn’t because I thought one team was better than the other team. It was two different teams, therefore it felt like two different shows to a degree. You didn’t lose viewers because they were hearing the same voice over and over and over again. So, changing up the chemistry and energy and delivery helped make Nitro feel like a two-hour show that was over with in 45 minutes, as opposed to a two-hour show that felt like it was a four-hour show. There would’ve been plenty of room for announcers.
Joey Styles was jobless after ECW was purchased by WWE. Bischoff wanted to take advantage of the situation and there is nothing wrong with it. Styles was later signed by WWE in 2005 he first appeared on the ECW: One Night Stand he became a regular commentator for the Monday Night Raw and he continued his run till 2008 as he joined the newly resurrected ECW under WWE in 2006.
After that, Styles was promoted to Vice President of Digital Media Content in 2008 and he continued his work for eight long years until he finally announced his retirement in the year 2016.
Credit: 83 Weeks. H/T 411Mania.