Eric Bischoff recently reflected on a major creative direction that WCW once considered during the height of the nWo era, revealing that there were plans to eventually split WCW and the New World Order into separate brands.

Speaking on his 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff explained that while the nWo storyline remained a massive success, he believes the company would have benefited from bringing the saga to a definitive conclusion after the iconic rivalry between Hulk Hogan and Sting.

“It still would have been big, but long term, business-wise, I think finishing with Hogan and Sting, ending the NWO story there, whatever date that would have been, I still think 1998, and then using that as a springboard to launch into something new, not just another faction of the NWO, but using that outcome to set the stage for another epic confrontation between two individuals or two groups.”

Bischoff then detailed how plans changed after receiving instructions from Turner executives to create another prime-time wrestling show to complement Nitro.

“Somewhere along the line, I got a phone call from Harvey Schiller, who said he’d just gotten off the phone with Ted Turner, and Ted wanted Thursday night TBS to have its own show, just like TNT did. So I was told I had to come up with another two-hour program in prime time at the same level as Nitro.”

Faced with the challenge of producing another major weekly show, Bischoff came up with an ambitious concept that would have seen WCW and the nWo operating as separate entities.

“At the time, it’s like, what do I do? Oh, I know, I’ll give the NWO the Nitro show, I’ll give WCW the Thursday-night show, and we’ll have our own inter company rivalries, no different than Raw and SmackDown. It’s the brand-extension idea, really.”

He added that the growing size of the nWo during that period was partially connected to those long-term plans.

“The crossover, the drafts, all that nonsense makes a little internet chatter, but there’s no real money in it. That was the original plan, which was partially the reason the NWO started to get bigger without it making a ton of sense, because we were building up to whenever Thunder debuted. Partially so we could eventually do the split.”

Bischoff also discussed the financial and corporate challenges that complicated WCW’s expansion efforts during the Turner merger period. While he was tasked with creating a second flagship television show, he said budget reductions made that goal increasingly difficult.

“Things started getting ugly during the merger. Ted says, ‘Eric, go do this.’ I say, ‘We don’t have it in the budget.’ My boss says, ‘Doesn’t matter, find a way.’ Okay, that’s my job, go find a way.”

According to Bischoff, the company needed additional star power to support more weekly television, which led to signings such as Bret Hart. However, at the same time, WCW was facing significant financial restrictions.

“I had to bring in Bret Hart, otherwise I’d be looting my talent pool, filling four hours of prime-time wrestling with the same basically eight guys who drive things. So I started hiring more talent at the same time Turner corporate was slashing my budgets.”

He noted that production, travel, advertising, and marketing budgets were all reduced despite WCW outperforming revenue expectations, attributing the cuts to financial decisions connected to the merger.

“So my company was being gutted while I was being asked to produce a new prime-time show with the same level of production as TNT. It was a crossroads of bad traffic.”

While the nWo ultimately remained part of WCW programming, Bischoff’s comments provide new insight into what could have been one of the most ambitious brand split concepts in wrestling history, years before WWE formally divided its roster between Raw and SmackDown.