YMMV / Eric Bischoff

• Broken Base: He has plenty of defenders and detractors. Defenders say that he's the only promoter to beat Vince McMahon ever, and the fact that WWE today is booked right out of Nitro's playbook says all you need to say. He's not Vince, but he's #2 for sure, and it's miles and miles before you get to #3. Detractors say that Bischoff's TNA run proved him as a one-trick pony, and that he's like Vince Russo in the sense that back in the day, his strategies were great, but in the present day they're anything but—yet that's all he knows and will ever know.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In the early 2000s when Bischoff was an on-screen character as the General Manager, he was the heel boss who forcefully kissed Stephanie and Linda without their consent. And as revealed in subsequent interviews, Vince had his hand in the entire process, being at the scene behind the cameras where he directed Bischoff's actions and told Eric how to force himself on Stephanie and Linda. In light of the sexual assault lawsuit against Vince in 2024, Bischoff's storyline with both Stephanie and Linda can come off as a lot more eyebrow-raising, especially in light of all the allegations against Vince that he forced himself upon the accuser, assaulted her with other men, and even expressed the desire to watch her have sex with other men among other sordid accusations. Due to all the controversy Vince has now with his lawsuit, one can't help but look back at the Bischoff storyline involving both Stephanie and Linda and wonder if even way back then, there might've been something darker behind Vince's psyche than just trying to write controversial "must-see" soap-opera-for-men TV when he personally directed a storyline involving his former business enemy forcing himself on his wife and daughter.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • When he was brought back to induct Diamond Dallas Page into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017, the first thing he said was that he wished he wasn't doing the induction, because he'd rather have been sitting out in the crowd watching DDP be inducted by the late Dusty Rhodes, noting that he was DDP's mentor and would undoubtedly have been picked to do the induction if he'd lived instead.
    Eric: God bless you, Dusty Rhodes. [cheers] May you rest in peace, and may you rest happy, brother.
  • And on top of that, he was greeted with cheers and "Welcome Back!" chants after taking the stand. Eric Bischoff, one of the most despised figures in wrestling by fans, was very warmly received by a crowd filled to the brim with them.
  • Bischoff got a huge pop when he showed up for Raw's 25th anniversary show.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: The criticism towards his treatment of TNA and Impact! basically boils down to this. Nitro blew up by signing ex-WWF guys and putting them on TV. It worked with Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in the 90s. Then he went to TNA and tried to do the same thing with guys like Hogan (again), Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam and others? Then he tried to repeat history by putting Impact! head-to-head with Raw, which pretty much destroyed any credibility they had. Remember, they thought it was a good idea to go live against Raw on Monday nights. That ended after three weeks. And who can forget that horrendous Screwjob storyline with Kurt Angle a la Sting at Starrcade '97? (See Horrible.WCW.) To this day, they haven't recovered.
• Mis-blamed:
  • As far back as 2001, Konnan said Eric Bischoff was not to blame for WCW's backstage politics spiraling out of control. (And Konnan was not afraid to criticize Bischoff.) Kevin Sullivan felt that Bischoff gave away too much power. He thought he could outlast WWE, but the veterans he hired weren't interested in giving back to the company which kept them working. People like Hogan and Nash would go out of their way to bury talent (to improve their own standing during contract re-negotiations). By the end, Bischoff had no control anymore because he paid too little attention to the business side of things, which the wrestlers understood better.
  • Bischoff claims that he fired Steve Austin, not because he didn't see him as a potential star (he did), but because Austin was injury prone and had a bad attitude backstage. The straw that broke the camel's back was Tony Schiavone calling Austin on behalf of Bischoff to check up on his condition while injured, but Austin refused to go to the phone saying "Tell that sumbitch I'm not home!" And, Bischoff, who doesn't like being told Blatant Lies, fired Austin. Austin himself has admitted that while he doesn't remember saying that, this is likely what happened.
  • Following Syxx's departure from WCW and arrival in WWF as X-Pac and the newest member of D-Generation X, the narrative passed around (both in the dirt sheets and in broadcast promos) was that Bischoff fired X-Pac via FedEx while he was home on injury. While technically true, the subtext (i.e. Bischoff being a callous bastard and X-Pac being victimized) that most fans inferred from the story wasn't. Bischoff has since clarified that the Fedex firings, of which X-Pac wasn't the only recipient, were mandated by Time-Warner's HR policies, to avoid workplace confrontations. X-Pac himself has since said that he wasn't an easy man to work with at that time and how his presence encouraged The Outsiders' backstage politicking. Like Austin he has a perfectly fine relationship with Bischoff now.
  • While it's true that Bischoff thought that Jim Ross was "too Southern" for the announcer's desk, Bischoff did not fire Ross. Ross asked for his release after being demoted to syndication. Though, Bischoff admitted, he anticipated Ross quitting over it.
• Shocking Moments: His entrance as the new General Manager of Raw in 2002. Even the wrestlers were shocked, because they weren't told beforehand.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Eric Bischoff shows up on RAW for the first time, and looks directly into Vince's eyes... and they hug. This completely destroyed a tonne of potential storyline (that could deliver where the Invasion failed), and reduced Bischoff to just another GM. WrestleCrap inducted the hug itself for this reason.

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