A few years ago WWE announced that Paul Heyman would serve as Executive Director of Monday Night Raw, and that Eric Bischoff would be returning to the company to work as the Executive Director of Friday Night SmackDown.
Unfortunately for Eric Bischoff he was only in the role for a few months before he was replaced by Bruce Prichard, and he discussed his short stint with the company during an appearance on Oral Sessions with Renee Young. According to Bischoff he was trying too hard to fit into the system, and he doesn’t think that’s what Vince McMahon wanted.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about this, partially because I get asked that a lot and it’s forced me to think about it,” Bischoff said. “Here’s where I fu*ked up. I went into WWE overly concerned about the way people perceive me. And by that, I don’t mean people I meet out on the street, but in a wrestling environment, there’s been so much narrative about how heavy-handed I can be and difficult at times. Some of that is true, I don’t deny it. But it’s been way blown out of proportion. And it was really important to me, this is my error in judgment, it was more important to me to fit into the system and eventually try to implement my ideas and the things that I wanted to do. I don’t think that’s what Vince wanted. Now looking back on it, I think ‘what if I would’ve gone in there and been the kind of alpha executive we all know Vince likes?’ And I could’ve done that because that’s not alien to my nature, to be very aggressive and focused. And sometimes it rubs people the wrong way.”
Bischoff went on to say that while he and Vince McMahon have a good relationship he actually ended up getting more face time with Vince McMahon than he wanted to.
“No. In fact, I had way more of it than I wanted to. Look, I like Vince. We’re not like ‘let’s go out to dinner’ friends. We’re not ‘ride or die’ friends, none of that. But I have a lot of respect for Vince, and I’m really disappointed in myself that I didn’t manage myself better to get more of an opportunity to work with him. Here’s where I made that mistake though because it is a catch-22 except I knew going in, based on not what I learned firsthand from Vince but the fact that I competed with the guy, I kind of knew what he was about from that perspective. Everything I’ve ever heard about Vince is he wants you to come in and take control. He wants you to take ownership. He wants to be surrounded by aggressive people who approach their business in an aggressive way. That’s who he is. Of course, he’s going to want somebody just like him, or as close to him or his approach to things as possible. And I went in taking the ‘okay, I’m just going to work my way into the system, and when the time is right (do my thing).’
H/T Wrestling Inc.
