Eric Bischoff Recalls 'Frustration' Between WWE's Kevin Owens & Vince McMahon In 2019

It has now been almost a decade since the feud between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon, one that saw Owens even headbutt Shane's father, Vince McMahon, on an episode of "SmackDown." And it turns out there was some real life animosity at times to go along with the storyline animosity, at least according to Eric Bischoff. Discussing Owens' return at SummerSlam during the "83 Weeks Live SummerSlam Reaction," Bischoff segued into a story about him working in WWE during the Owens-Shane feud, and how it was a tense situation.

"It was frustrating for everybody involved..." Bischoff said. "They had tried a lot of things to continue the story. It was just a lot of frustration, and that's the situation that I got to know Kevin in. He was extremely frustrated. Vince had a very negative view towards Kevin at that time, because I think Vince was frustrated. I think it was probably a little more complicated because of Shane, and Shane and Vince. 

"There was drama, let's put it that way. And my job was to try and figure it out. And I enjoyed it. It was a challenge for all the reasons I just said, but part of the reason I enjoyed it was Kevin. Because as frustrated as he was, and he had a right to be honestly, in fact, if he would've known some of the things that I had heard, he might not have been as willing to keep trying. But he really dug in and tried. And he did things outside his comfort zone."

The feud between Owens and Shane included the two facing off in a tag team match at WrestleMania 38 prior to Bischoff's arrival. There, Owens and Sami Zayn faced Shane and Daniel Bryan, in the latter's first match since 2015, with Shane and Bryan ultimately picking up the victory.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "83 Weeks" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription