Eric Bischoff Reportedly Won’t Be Returning To WWE As A General Manager
Former WWE general manager Eric Bischoff has caused quite a stir on social media over the last week by teasing that he would be one of the general managers announced on this coming Monday’s Raw, but it appears that he won’t be appearing on WWE television anytime soon.
According to Cageside Seats, Bischoff won’t be returning for the WWE draft and said that he isn’t coming back to WWE as a general manager of either brand.
Now that Bischoff’s name is out of the SmackDown general manager rumor mill, the focus has been shifted to Daniel Bryan, who is expected to be named the GM of WWE’s Tuesday show this coming Monday night.
Even though it looks like Bischoff won’t be returning to WWE anytime soon, he did express interest in returning to the company during his appearance on this week’s Ross Report podcast, saying that if WWE called him and asked him to do something, he’d accept, regardless of what the offer was.
“I miss [being involved in wrestling] tremendously. If WWE called me tomorrow and said ‘get on a plane tomorrow by noon’ I wouldn’t even ask them what I’m doing. I would be happy to do it.”
It’s been over 10 years since we last saw Eric Bischoff on WWE television, but WWE has involved him a quite a bit of programming on their network as of late. Last year, Bischoff sat down with John “Bradshaw” Layfield in a one-on-one interview that covered his entire career in wrestling. Then, just a short time later, WWE produced a top 10 list where Bischoff counted down his most controversial moments. WWE also just recently released a documentary DVD covering the former WCW president’s career.
Bischoff was one of the original general managers when WWE did their first brand split back in 2002, and he ended up being the GM of Raw for almost four years. He was extremely successful in the position, and there’s no doubt that he would be again if he were put in the same position.
As previously mentioned, it does look like Shane McMahon will select Daniel Bryan as the general manager of SmackDown, but Stephanie McMahon’s selection remains a mystery. Most people are assuming that she’ll pick Triple H, who hasn’t been on WWE television since WrestleMania 32, but there’s a feeling that Triple H being the GM of Raw wouldn’t bring much interest to the show because WWE has had him and Stephanie in charge of the show for the better part of the last three years.
This coming Monday’s show will be interesting because we’ll likely see the return of Daniel Bryan, who hasn’t been on WWE television since he retired on February 8, and we could see the return of Triple H. One thing is for sure: We won’t be seeing Eric Bischoff on the show.
Could Bischoff return to WWE in the future? Sure. We already know that he’s interested in doing so. However, he did mention during the Ross podcast that he’s not interested in working a full-time wrestling schedule, so that limits him to just being an on-screen authority figure, and if WWE isn’t planning on bringing him back as one of the GMs, then there’s really no other role for him.
Bischoff was a great commentator in the AWA and in WCW, but, because of his age (61), WWE probably isn’t looking at bringing him in as a commentator. During his conversation with Ross, he mentioned that he misses working with the younger talent, so maybe they could bring him in to do something with NXT. But it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing him in an on-screen authority role anytime soon.
[Image via WWE]
