There have been many debates on just who killed WCW, but one of the company’s former top executives, and someone often blamed for its demise, has outlined just when WCW died for him. Eric Bischoff talked about the moment that he moved on from WCW on an episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast, when asked about the infamous moment on “WCW Monday Nitro” when Shane McMahon revealed it was him who bought the company.

“For me, personally, when I got the phone call from Brian Bedol, ‘The deal’s dead,’ I was on a beach in Hawaii with my kids,” Bischoff explained. “That’s when it died to me. That was the last ‘Nitro…’ My relationship with WCW died when I hung up that phone call. So, for me, not being a part of the last event, to me, it was no big deal. It was anticlimactic. It had already been determined. The fight was over. I was already moving on by the time this show aired, in my mind, as the best I could. Makes it sound like I didn’t care, that’s not the case, but psychologically, I guess, I had already moved on.”

As WCW struggled toward its final days, Bischoff raised $67 million with Fusient Media Ventures to purchase the company. But in 2001, AOL Time Warner canceled WCW’s TV programming. With no network to host “Nitro,” the value of the promotion drastically fell, and Bischoff’s financial buyers pulled out of the deal. Vince McMahon, of the then-WWF, swept in and purchased the company for a much lower price, and his son, Shane “bought” the company in storyline.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “83 Weeks” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.