Eric Bischoff has long been ridiculed by long-time wrestlers and behind the scenes executives for his lack of authority back stage for decades. Rumours of Bischoff having little to no control date back to his early days in WCW and it appears not much has changed. It was announced on Tuesday that the WWE had replaced Bischoff as Executive Director of Smackdown. Panic seems to have set in at WWE after Smackdown’s incredible drop in viewers between its debut on Fox and second episode. Sports fans can find the latest odds for the top football matches in Europe at soccer-betting.pro and wager on the biggest games.
According to reports, Bischoff didn’t do “a whole lot in his role” as Executive Director of Smackdown. Bischoff has been replaced by long-time Vince McMahon right-hand and ‘yes’ man Bruce Prichard. The former Brother Love was on the outs with the WWE when Stephanie McMahon and Triple H took power of the company. However, Prichard’s popularity thanks to the Something to Wrestle With podcast saw him brought back to the WWE.
Bischoff’s sacking as Executive Director of Smackdown doesn’t mean he is leaving the company. There is the possibility he could be moved to another area of the WWE. It was hoped Bischoff could bring fresh ideas to the Smackdown show and do the same thing he did with WCW in the 1990s.
While Bischoff’s own podcast seems to paper over the cracks of his management and running of WCW, it appears his style of operating a wrestling company hasn’t changed much. Many former WCW wrestlers have appeared on shoot interviews criticising Bischoff over the years. However, the former WCW boss’s 83 Weeks podcast has given him the chance to tell his own side of the story, whether true or not.
The former WCW president’s legacy has taken another hit with his sacking. Bischoff had recovered much of his reputation in the last decade especially with appearances on podcasts prior to launching his own. However, Bischoff has long been a controversial figure and not due to taking on the WWE in the Monday Night Wars. It was long stated that Bischoff embellished his WCW resume when applying to run the brand in the early 1990s.
Bischoff may not make a statement on his podcast about leaving the WWE’s Smackdown show due to contractual reasons or a gag order. So, there may not be much clarification from either the WWE or Bischoff on the personnel move.
The WWE’s appointment of Prichard as Executive Director of Smackdown continues to show the company using veterans of wrestling rather than attempting to use new personnel. Bischoff’s success as President of WCW came over 20 years ago and his failures with the WWE shows how things have changed. Prichard may not do much better as the former wrestling manager hasn’t been in an executive role in the sport in years. Prichard could face an uphill battle as he attempts to win back fans that walked away from Smackdown following the first episode on Fox.