On the most recent episode of 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff, Bischoff and host Conrad Thompson spoke all about Chris Jericho. From Jericho's entry into WCW to his time in the company and his eventual departure, Bischoff and Thompson chatted for more than three hours, making sure not to miss anything important. Among the discussions, early on in the conversation, Bischoff felt the need to change the narrative on his reputation as a WCW President who was eager to spend money.

In one of Jericho's books, the Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla goes into great detail about meeting Bischoff for the first time and how his deal came to be. At the time, Jericho was still trying to make a name for himself and Bischoff had been given a good reference by a number of people, including Chris Benoit. Jericho was looking to get hired and Bischoff had already decided he wanted Jericho for the Cruiserweight Division. Jericho's book describes a scene that was unlike anything he's expected.

Outside of suggesting Bischoff was not what he had envisioned the head of WCW looking and dressing like, Jericho made it sound as though Bischoff didn't want to beat around the bush. The deal was way easier to consummate than he ever would have believed and he got to see his first sign that Bischoff had money to burn. In fact, Jericho learned, right then and there, why Bischoff was known as "ATM Eric."

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The book describes Jericho asking for what he thought was an astronomical amount of money compared to what he was making going around New Japan and ECW. He wanted $100k to which Bischoff "countered" with $135K and another $30K to relocate to Atlanta.

Jericho couldn't understand why Bischoff would not only give him what he wanted but why he offered more than he'd asked for. Clearly, Bischoff had too much money at his disposal. This story is inaccurate according to Bischoff's response.

Eric said he would say it in front of  Jericho if asked too, but claims that Jericho was extending a narrative that worked for his book, making Bischoff out to be bad with money and willing to spend it which ultimately hurt WCW. Bischoff claims that wasn't the case. Instead, he had already proven he could save WCW money by cutting out house shows and moving the production to the Disney studios. Only then did WCW give him money and there was a specific reason he offered Jericho what he did.

Bischoff envisioned Jericho as part of his Cruiserweight Division and knew he was friends with Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and others. Those guys were making $135K each and Bischoff wanted to ensure everyone was on the same playing field knowing they would eventually talk about money.

Bischoff had been part of a locker room where wrestlers were at each other over salaries and didn't want friends feeling bitter about their money situation. It was that reason and the fact that Bischoff had already proven he could improve things in WCW with no budget that got him the money to spend on bringing Jericho in.