WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff has opened up about his brief tenure as Executive Director of SmackDown and why he was not in the unique role for very long.
Bischoff was hired back to WWE for the role in 2019 while Paul Heyman filled the same role on RAW but both were out of these roles by the end of 2020.
On a recent edition of his “Wise Choices” podcast, Bischoff recalled how the behind-the-scenes role was pitched to him. He said,
“The role, as it was described to me, was to oversee the creative team and make it more effective and efficient. And…I got really excited about that opportunity is because, by 2019, I had come much closer to having an actual formula that I was about ready to try and implement in a more formal way. Meaning get everyone on board, ‘Okay, here’s the story arch…here’s the three act structure.
“‘Let’s build the story arc leading to this PPV, this big live event, whatever it may be. To the end of the story. Let’s work towards building that story using the framework of this formula that I had been literally developing since 1995.’ And given the role that I was given…ultimately [it] would allow me to try to get at least part of my team on board to develop this concept more fully.”
Bischoff said he hadn’t been looking for a job at the time and joined mainly for the large paycheck and a chance to work at the highest level of wrestling. He added,
“Unfortunately, I was never able to adapt to the WWE system and culture. [I] never really had a chance to work on that, because the fire hose nature of the way things were being done in WWE at the time, with regard to creative and the way Vince liked doing things, there was really no opportunity to focus on that.”
Bischoff and Heyman were ultimately replaced by Bruce Prichard who serves as the Executive Director of WWE. Bischoff has made a handful of WWE appearances ever since.
