INQUISITR.COM / Sports

WWE News: Eric Bischoff’s Reluctance To Work With WWE Again, Texting Vince & Booking Roman Reigns

By Andy Slawecki
Published on: 07:48 PST, Jul 15, 2016

Eric Bischoff has been the subject of many rumors lately, most of which are unsubstantiated. A simple “never say never” tweet sparked speculation across the internet that Bischoff was returning to the WWE just as the company was initiating its latest attempt at a brand split. Much like the rumors surrounding Goldberg, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio rejoining the WWE, this one was shot down as well.

Interestingly, when asked on Twitter who he would appoint as the new General Managers of RAW and Smackdown, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline picked Chael Sonnen and Eric Bischoff because Sonnen is “new and never been seen before” while Bischoff has been “off WWE TV long enough.” Daniel Bryan appears to have the Smackdown gig locked up, and while Stephanie McMahon hasn’t hinted at her GM, Bischoff seems like a long shot.

But while the former president of WCW likely won’t be returning to WWE television, he was a recent guest on the JBL Show on the WWE Network which led into the DVD, Eric Bischoff – Sports Entertainment’s Most Controversial Figure. The DVD was produced entirely by the WWE, which sparked his initial reluctance to get involved, as he told Jim Ross on The Ross Report (Thanks to Wrestling Inc for the transcription).

“I was tentative at first because, as we all know, history is written by the victors and WWE has their own point of view about history, as they should. And we’ve all heard it. We’ve all seen it. But I was a little reluctant to just kind of completely open up and particularly bringing in my personal life to the extent that I did and my family and not having any control at all over anything, just hoping for the best and hoping that it would be a well balanced and thoughtful documentary…”

The WWE has a long history of well-produced content, separate from their fundamental business of wrestling. This Eric Bischoff feature was no exception and turned Bischoff from a skeptic into a fan as well.

“…and it was more than I could have hoped for. I think the WWE and the entire team that worked on the project really made an effort to produce something that was a little different than what the audience has seen before, at least when it comes to my career, so I texted Vince [McMahon] after I saw it, the final cut, and told him that I was both very proud and very grateful that they produced it because it’s something that’ll live, it’ll be around long after I am.”

Whether Roman Reigns will be around much longer in the current state that his character is presented remains to be seen. If it were up to Bischoff, who was in charge of a lot of the booking decisions during WCW’s heyday, he claims he would have already made changes to Reigns’ direction after soaking in the fans’ reactions.

“I’d like to think that what I would do is I would watch the reaction, much like I used to do when I’d sit up in the stands, behind the curtain, kind of find the cheapest seat in the house and just try to feel like a fan is. I would sit back and I would try to watch it and then I would react to it, but I would react to it in a very seamless way that felt organic and natural as possible and I would let the story and character go where the story and character needed to go based on the kind of social interaction that I was seeing even if it was not the direction I wanted to go in in the first place. You have to adjust. At some point, you’ve got to go, ‘okay, I wanted to go left, but I kind of need to go right,’ but I’d do it slowly and gradually and make it feel organic.”

[Image via WWE]

Share this article: WWE News: Eric Bischoff’s Reluctance To Work With WWE Again, Texting Vince & Booking Roman Reigns
roman reigns eric bischoff Vince McMahon
More from Inquisitr