Eric Bischoff Criticizes Bret Hart for His Ric Flair Comments

On a recent episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, former WCW executive producer Eric Bischoff spoke with Conrad Thompson as the two reviewed the 1998 WCW pay-per-view Souled Out.

During the episode Bischoff gave a glowing review of Ric Flair for putting on a solid 18-minute match with Bret Hart, who was making his debut with the company.

"... He was still great, everybody loved Ric Flair," Bischoff said. "And at 49 years old... Chris Jericho, the darling of the internet, and deservingly so, how old is he, 48? Generally speaking, it is a younger man's business, but Ric Flair in this match ... there was nothing wrong. I don't think this match was lacking."

But Bischoff's tone changed when the subject of Hart came up. Thompson pulled up a passage from one of Hart's books reflecting on the match.

"Bret would write 'I was worried how Ric would work with me, with my still-injured hand. I needed to keep a close eye on him. Flair appeared to be trying to get along in this den of wolves and multiple wolf packs, but as hard as he tried nobody liked him, except his old cronies like Kevin Sullivan, Arn Anderson, JJ Dillion and Mongo McMichael. (Hulk) Hogan took every opportunity to try and stir me up about Flair but I said nothing. I let Ric try to do the match his way, even letting him chop me to his heart's content as he tried to show me how good he really was. I offered no resistance in what was, as usual with Flair, 20 minutes of non-stop non-psychology,'" Thompson read.

Bischoff did not mince words with his response.

"F— him. He (Bret) was such a bitter prick when he wrote that book," Bischoff said. "I have no dog in this hunt, I wasn't in that match, I didn't lay the match out. Look, he's not busting my balls in that part of his book, he's burying Ric Flair. There is nobody in this business that has ever worked with Ric Flair that wouldn't tell you that Ric made them look better than they really are. From Hulk Hogan on down, talk to Stone Cold Steve Austin about that, talk to people about that who really have a f—ing clue and aren't putting themselves over in the book because they think they're a goddamn Canadian hero and they think their s— doesn't stink and if it wasn't for them, wrestling would never be what it could have been.

"It's absurd to me, and when I hear this stuff it really gets me hot," Bischoff said.

Bischoff specified that he felt Hart used to be that bitter, but both he and Thompson pointed out that Flair and Hart have since buried the hatchet and are good friends.