Bruce Prichard reveals which WWE star was in talks to fight OJ Simpson

Both WWE (then known as WWF) and WCW reportedly wanted to work with OJ Simpson after he was cleared of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman in 1995.

According to 411Mania, Bruce Prichard has revealed that a fight between Simpson and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper was planned for WrestleMania 12 in Anaheim but did not happen due to the backlash it generated when the plans were leaked. Piper instead took on Goldust in a Hollywood Backlot Brawl.

"The backlash was deafening," Prichard said on the recent Something to Wrestle With podcast as transcribed by 411Mania. "The people were like, 'If you do this, you'll never have another sponsor.' ... So we punted."

Prichard said the match would have seen Piper beat the "s**t" out of Simpson.

"We thought the end game of OJ getting the s**t kicked out of him would satisfy some people," Prichard said. "As those words come out of my mouth, you realise how ridiculous this is today. But you always have to try something on even if it sounds ridiculous."

Prichard has said that Vince Russo was the man behind the idea to bring Simpson in for a match and pitched in the "Simpson idea" during a company meeting, in which he "acknowledged that the ratings for 'Monday Nitro' weren't good, but he said it certainly wasn't his fault".

"He put over how great the creative content was but claimed the ratings weren't reflecting it because viewers had tuned out and therefore they didn't know how great the show was. He stressed that WCW needed a publicity stunt," Prichard said. "That's when he pitched the Simpson idea."