Eric Bischoff

Eric Aaron Bischoff (born May 27, 1957 in Detroit, Michigan) is a performer for World Wrestling Entertainment. He is best remembered though for being the former president of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Eric Bischoff on-screen

Eric made his wrestling debut on AWA telecasts, playing the role of Verne Gagne's right-hand man. He next showed up in WCW in 1991, and was a C-squad announcer until Bill Shaw, President of WCW, promoted Eric to Executive Producer in 1993. Following this, Eric assumed the role of lead announcer.

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Bischoff was the WCW head announcer until 1996, playing the role of a fan-favorite. It was well known by 1996 that Bischoff headed WCW (having been promoted to Senior Vice President), making him a target of the New World Order. The nWo often attacked Bischoff, with Kevin Nash even delivering a powerbomb to the mild-mannered WCW boss at The Great American Bash 1996. Surprisingly, in November 1996, Bischoff himself joined the nWo, thus giving them considerable power. Bischoff believed that having himself (the man who was essentially controlling the company and the lives of its employees) join the nWo was perfect since it fit with the platform of the nWo being out to create anarchy.

Related Topics:
The Great American Bash - November - Anarchy

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Bischoff's nWo days (November 96 to February 99) are memorable. He played the smug boss of the rebel group to perfection. Notable altercations with Randy Savage, Larry Zbyszko, and Ric Flair resulted during this time period. Bischoff wrestled Zbyszko at StarrCade 1997 so the nWo could control Monday Nitro, but he was defeated when special referee Bret Hart revealed his allegiance to WCW.

Related Topics:
Larry Zbyszko - StarrCade - Bret Hart

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At StarrCade 1998, Bischoff defeated Ric Flair with help from Curt Hennig, but lost to Flair the next night on Nitro. By this time, Bischoff was the President of WCW, and the angle was that Flair assumed the WCW Presidency for 90 days as a result of defeating Bischoff. The two worked an entertaining feud with Flair basically humiliating Bischoff for the 90 days. Before the angle could come to a climax, however, Bischoff took himself off television, wanting to focus completely on winning the ratings war which had heated up considerably.

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Bischoff returned to WCW TV in May 1999, and turned face. He apologized to fans for his actions during his run as boss of the nWo, and promised to make WCW number one again. However, Bischoff no longer seemed interested in his TV work. He began putting on weight and his once jet-black hair was left to grow out fully grey. In September 1999, Bischoff was removed from WCW by TBS President Harvey Schiller. Six months later, shockingly, Bischoff was brought back, and he subsequently returned to TV, again playing the arrogant heel character. However, Bischoff left after six weeks, citing creative differences with Vince Russo, and never returned to WCW.

Related Topics:
May - Turned - September

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Since joining WWE in 2002, Bischoff has remained an arrogant heel authority figure.

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At Taboo Tuesday 2004, after his loss and subsequent head-shaving to "nephew" Eugene, Eric Bischoff got angry at Evolution for not watching his back--coincidentally, his character's role helped them several times before. He'd then book a Survivor Series Elimination Match and placed Triple H at a disadvantage, by pitting him with two new partners (Edge and Gene Snitsky) and an untrusted ally, Batista. At Survivor Series, Triple H's team lost.

Related Topics:
Taboo Tuesday - Eugene - Evolution - Survivor Series Elimination Match - Triple H - Edge - Gene Snitsky - Batista - Survivor Series

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Bischoff would later make stints as face, making the right decisions and giving over-advantage situations to neither face nor heel. However, this all came crashing down when he turned heel once again, during the resurrection of Extreme Championship Wrestling. Until now, Bischoff would make unpopular decisions, siding with heels such as Chris Jericho and Gene Snitsky to turn down the fan favorites, the likes of John Cena and Shelton Benjamin.

Related Topics:
Extreme Championship Wrestling - Chris Jericho - John Cena - Shelton Benjamin

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On August 22, 2005 edition of Raw, Bischoff made a "your fired match" between John Cena and Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship, the loser was fired (Jericho lost, as a way for him to take time off from wrestling for awhile). Immediately following the match Bischoff made the announcment that the new number one contender for the title was Kurt Angle. Which prompted Angle to run to the ring and attack Cena.

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At WWE Homecoming on October 3, 2005, Bischoff got pinned by John Cena and lost a chance of earning the WWE Championship. Bischoff changed the match to a No DQ Match after McMahon left RAW after being "stunned" earlier in the evening by Stone Cold Steve Austin. SmackDown's 6-man Tag team match was cancelled and during the Cena vs. Bischoff match, Long sent Superstars from Smackdown to the ring attacking Cena & Angle. Bischoff then retaliated and sent out some Superstars from RAW to the ring to start a six on six brawl.

Related Topics:
WWE Homecoming - October 3 - Stone Cold Steve Austin - SmackDown's

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