Eric Bischoff On Considering Returning To WWE As A Manager
Former Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff was a guest on Sky Sports' Lock Up podcast to discuss a variety of topics. After ascending his way up to become President of WCW, Bischoff returned to wrestling in 2002 after WCW folded in 2001.
Bischoff's run in WWE as General Manager ended in 2005, and this was the conclusion of his full-time character in the company. Bischoff was asked whether there is any interest in returning to WWE after a 13-year absence.
"I'd love to do it if it was a situation that would work of everybody," said Bischoff. "I'm pretty subjective when it comes to certain things, and I try to be objective. And I think my opinion, you know, a character like mine [as] a General Manager, there's only so much you can do from a storytelling point of view. You could be that heel authority figure like I played for several years in WWE and certainly in WCW, and it's interesting and it's fun, but after a while, you've kind of done everything that you can do creatively. You know, I'm not a wrestler, especially in this stage of my life, I'm not gonna get physically involved in matches.
"So really the only storytelling phase in my life is that of an overbearing authority figure and we've done that, we've seen that. Not only with me, we've seen it with other characters, and I think the audience would get tired of it very quickly. I came out at the 25th Anniversary of Raw to a tremendous reaction, made me feel really good. And as amazing of a moment that was, I know deep down inside that after about two months of seeing me come out, they'd be like, 'oh my God, we've been there, we've done this. C'mon, let's move on. And besides that, he's kinda old.' So, I'm pretty realistic about the value that my character would have."
Although Bischoff feels that his character as GM would get old quickly, he did admit that he has thoughts from time to time about managing somebody in the WWE, particularly a "young talent that doesn't quite have the mic skills or seasoning."
To Bischoff, this would be fun, because he has never done it before. He feels that he still can do a pretty good job to draw heat and on the mic to get a character over. Bischoff did not have anyone in mind, but ideally it would be a person who is really good in the ring but needs some fine-tuning as a character.
If any portion of these quotes are used, please be sure to credit the Lock Up podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Lock Up Podcast