Eric Bischoff was key to the NWO success, no one other than Hulk Hogan was more important to the group.
For years wrestling "authority figures" on screen had ALWAYS been good guys who typically had their hands tied playing strictly by the rules against cunning rule breakers. Sometimes it was real life behind the scenes bosses who played that role on TV such as Bob Geigel & Jim Crockett, JR in the NWA, other times it was actors/former wrestlers who had no real position within the company simply playing an on screen role, WWF President Jack Tunney and WCW Commisioner Nick Bockwinkle come to mind as well known examples.
The initial concept of the NWO, Oustiders who wanted to orchestrate a hostile take over of WCW, pillaging it for all it was worth, was a great twist on the classic anti authority rogue heel group such as The Four Horsemen, groups that definitely wanted to protect their own piece of the pie so to speak but were not interested in destroying the company and stealing all it was worth to do it. Having two well known of not full blown super stars from WWE come in as the original members was important but as great as Kevin Nash was (plus the credibility he had as a former World Champ) any two well known WWE guys would likely have worked just as well for the initial set up. Remember that while Scott Hall was well known in WWE he had been all over the wrestling map and had some of his greatest success in the AWA a decade earlier, plus his WWE persona was basically just a slight update on the WCW character he played before joining the company. He was well known, but he wasn't a full time WWE main eventer and never a serious challenger for the World Title. He was the perfect example of how any two established guys from the WWE roster, not necessarily main event studs, could have played the initial roles of the invaders from up north. Nash though was a great choice and certainly earned his stripes.
Hogan's heel turn was a shock, maybe the greatest swerve ever in pro wrestling. There were other big names that could have joined as the anchor "super star" member, Savage, Flair was teased at one point, and there were supposedly plans for Sting if Hogan backed out of the character turn, but while all three of them were huge stars with huge followings none would have had the initial shock & awe of Hogan. Savage & Flair had both played hero & villain so many times seeing them in this role wouldn't have been a shock, it would have been entertaining, but not shocking. Sting turning heel and abandoning WCW would have been great, and set up the kind of realignment of stars and their characters that was needed to make the angle so exciting in its early days (The Horsemen becoming fan faves and putting aside their differences with Savage for instance, which they did, Luger becoming a full fledged hero dedicated to saving the company, many character realignments came out as shocks from Hogan's defection to the group that still could have come about with Sting) - But Sting, although a big star, wasn't as big as Hogan, and Hogan super star status is really what cemented the sense of urgency to stop these guys at any price. Hogan was necessary.
Bischoff was the perfect sized final puzzle piece. After all, how effective could the NWO really be at squashing careers and pillaging the company if the WCW President wasn't in their back pocket ? Typically for all the years of on air authority figures as by the book lawmen characters in televised wrestling EVENTUALLY they force the rulebreakers to play by the book, which is the draw for fans because now the evil cheaters have to fight fair against their beleaguered but superior hero characters. This was always entertaining but it was predictable. Sometimes the villain still managed to survive, such as Jack Tunney refusing to grant Flair special dispensation in the 92 Royal Rumble that would have dictated he only enter the ring among the last 10 participants (which he did for Hogan & Undertaker). Flair went into the regular draw with everyone else and had wrestle over an hour to win.....but he did. Crockett forced Flair in 1988 to wrestle Lex Luger in a title match where DQ could change the tile, because Flair had been intentionally DQ himself to protect from getting beaten by Luger. Flair didn't want to do it but Crockett forced his hand, yet Flair managed to pin Luger anyway and retain. There were numerous other examples where the villain was up ended but either way t had been done before, having Bischofff trying to protect WCW from the bad guys might have been fun to watch but it wouldn't have been cutting edge, it wouldn't have been different, and after getting Nash & Hall to come over & Hogan to switch characters it also wouldn't have seemed fresh, it would have been stale by comparison.
Now an on air authority figure who is actively aligned with the bad guys for their own personal gain, that had never been done. It also gave a new sense of power to the villains and created an even stronger sense of urgency among the WCW crew to put aside their differences and unite for the good of the company. Instead of waiting for the authority figure to finally find a way within the rule book to thwart the cheating of the bad guys you had the authority figure actively manipulating the rule book to thwart the good guys, stacking the odds even more against the faves, making the audience want to see them over come and beat the bad guys even more! It was brilliant, and it created some of the best televised moments of the Nitro era.....some of the promos between Bischoff & Flair where Bischoff insisted he didn't have to let Flair wrestle even though he had to allow him TV time were priceless.....The firing of referee Randy Anderson (and Anderson's revenge two years later) as well as Nash & Bischoff stripping the Steiners of the Tag Titles were some of the best heel moments in the Monday Nigh Wars era.
Hogan may have been the biggest piece contributing to how huge the angle got but Bischoff isn't far behind. Without the evil boss component in the end the NWO was just another heel group, albeit a very good one, but the Bischoff heel turn and on air bad guy role took the storyline to a new level. And like him or not, for any bad stories you may hear about some of his booking decisions, etc, no one can deny the Bischoff wasn't great in his on air role, he had charisma, smooth delivery, well spoken, and played the crowds like a seasoned wrestler on the mic. In fact there were a lot of wrestlers who were big at the time who weren't as good on the mic selling their character and storylines as well as Bischoff. When you look back that period in the mid 90s to early 00s there are a handful of names that stand out for their mic work.....Nash.....HBK.....Austin.....Rock.....Flair.....Hogan....Foley.....and Bischoff isn't far behind, he was very good. There is no doubt in my mind the angle never reaches the heights it did without Bischoff, In terms of importance to the storyline only Hogan's initial swerve was greater.
