Eric Bischoff Reacts To Vince McMahon’s Retirement
Eric Bischoff will forever be tied to Vince McMahon in the history of pro wrestling, and the former WCW President has reacted to the now-former WWE CEO's retirement. Bischoff joined co-host Conrad Thompson for an AdFreeShows.com episode "83 Weeks," discussing the reactions and ramifications of McMahon's industry-changing announcement last Friday afternoon.
"It was shocking," Bischoff told Thompson to start the show. "I'm still processing it. It's still hard for me to believe. I woke up this morning, and I saw an image on my social media, and it was a picture of WWE Headquarters in Stamford [CT]. I thought, can you imagine what it's like walking into that building knowing you won't see Vince McMahon there ever again? At least not professionally as a leader?"
Bischoff is only a few years removed from being in the trenches with McMahon as he was designated the Creative Director of "WWE Friday Night SmackDown" when the show debuted on Fox in October 2019. He knows how the creative process operated at that juncture.
"It would be weird to walk down those halls and not anticipate his presence. It would be really weird. I try to place myself in the shoes of like Bruce [Prichard], our buddy, and a lot of other people that I know that I'm very familiar with and close to. Gonna be a weird day for them come Monday morning, man. Really weird."
Bischoff notoriously went head-to-head with Vince McMahon during the late 90s boom of pro wrestling as he competed directly against "WWE Raw" with "WCW Monday Nitro." WCW came the closest to putting WWE out of business with its 83-week ratings win streak on Monday nights. Bischoff later noted that he has the utmost respect for how McMahon elevated WWE and that it was McMahon who made the Monday Night Wars something tangible.
Monday nights will be much different as it was announced Monday that Triple H will now head WWE creative following McMahon's retirement. Stephanie McMahon, Vince McMahon's daughter and wife to Triple, will now be Co-CEO with Nick Khan. Stephanie also will be the new Chairwoman of The Board in WWE.
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