Raven Was Released By WCW After Eric Bischoff Rant

Hamish Woodward

ECW Legend Raven had memorable runs in both WCW and WWE, although how he was fired from WCW is the most interesting tale from his time there.

As the leader of the Flock, he tormented many wrestlers in World Championships Wrestling, although he never came close to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

He left WCW in extraordinary circumstances in 1999, where a backstage rant by Eric Bischoff ended in him offering a host of talent their releases – with a couple of them agreeing.

DID YOU KNOW: The Sandman was meant to join Raven’s Flock in WCW?

The first was WCW’s Raven, who was released by the company after the offer from Bischoff. He had already torn down Raven for “disparaging remarks” about the company in public, and he was unhappy with his spot in the company at that point.

Raven was angling for a return to ECW, where he was treated like a star, despite the uncertain nature of working for the promotion.

In the book Death of WCW, by Bryan Alvarez and R.D Reynolds, it was revealed that Bischoff yelled at a host of talent in the WCW locker room, offering them their release because he was so angry at them.

He yelled at Raven for making disparaging remarks about the
company in public, at Konnan for saying the word “pussy” on TV, at Rey
Mysterio Jr. for making gay references on TV, and at Public Enemy and
Bagwell for crying about having to lose matches. He told Raven that if he
didn’t like things, he could leave right now. Amazingly, Raven got up and
left.

Later that night, Billy Kidman and Konnan went to Bischoff to accept their release, although they were ultimately denied. Rey Mysterio Jr also attempted to get his release, but after hearing of the rejection from Bischoff, decided not to go through with it.

Raven would ultimately return to WCW, but signed for WWE following the close of the promotion. He was not pushed to the main event in the promotion, due to Vince McMahon not seeing him as a big star.

It was said that, when the WWF re-signed Raven in 2001, Vince McMahon asked backstage producers “when did we re-sign Johnny Polo?”, referencing the gimmick he had used in the company a decade earlier.

McMahon completely ignoring Raven’s ECW run and incredible gimmick clearly showed a lack of respect from the Chairman, dooming Raven from the start.

However, he did take part in an excellent three-way Hardcore Championship match at WrestleMania X7, against Kane and The Big Show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFAsIgndGMU

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