Eric Bischoff

Early life

Eric Bischoff was born on May 27, 1955, in Detroit, Michigan, where he attended Dort Elementary School in suburban Roseville and grew up as a wrestling fan. Just before high school, his family relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he began competing in amateur wrestling. Bischoff later moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for his senior year of high school, continuing his amateur wrestling career at Minnetonka High School until a knee injury ended his season. Bischoff is of German and Scottish descent. Before getting into professional wrestling, Bischoff had a number of occupations. He acted in a training video for bank employees regarding fair lending practices, owned a successful landscape construction company, worked as a veterinary assistant, competed as a professional kickboxer, and ran a butcher shop, where he sold meat via van delivery. Hulk Hogan would famously refer to this time in his life during his heel promo at the end of the 1996 WCW pay-per-view event Bash at the Beach in Daytona Beach, Florida, saying, "If it wasn't for Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff would still be selling meat from a truck in Minneapolis."

Professional wrestling career

American Wrestling Association (1986–1991)

Bischoff started in wrestling working for the Minneapolis, Minnesota based American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1987 under the ownership of Verne Gagne. In 1989, Bischoff would become an on-air interviewer and host of the AWA until the company folded in 1991. Bischoff at first worked in the sales department on the AWA's syndicated programming, and became an on-air personality virtually by accident and at the last minute. Larry Nelson, whom at the time was employed by the AWA as an announcer, was arrested under suspicion of a DUI. Because of Nelson's sudden unavailability, Verne Gagne and his son, Greg opted to recruit Bischoff (who initially had no desire to be in front of the camera) to fill-in on the interviews. Bischoff believed they thought he would be a good replacement due to his immediate availability in the television studio, and the fact that he was already wearing a suit and tie.

During the gradual demise of the AWA, the company was unable to meet payroll, and Bischoff auditioned for an announcer's position with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1990 but was not hired. During his audition, Bischoff was asked to do an on-camera interview to a broom, which Bischoff would later consider a huge embarrassment for himself.

In his autobiography Controversy Creates Cash, Bischoff mentions working in his office during his time in the AWA when he had heard a legitimate fight outside of his door. He said he had looked up just in time to see wrestler The Sheik's head come breaking through the wall. He said despite this, the Sheik continued the fight while a stunned Bischoff looked on.

World Championship Wrestling (1991–2001)

In 1991, Bischoff joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as a C-show announcer, recognized by many as “B-dawg on the C-show”, debuting at The Great American Bash. As an announcer, Bischoff reported to producer Tony Schiavone and WCW's Vice President of Broadcasting, Jim Ross. In 1993, after WCW Vice President of Wrestling Operations and marketing Bill Watts resigned from WCW, Bischoff went to TBS executive and WCW President Bill Shaw and WCW Executive Vice President Bob Dhue to apply for the job of Executive Producer. Ross and Schiavone seemed to be the two top candidates, however, Bischoff was hired in Watts's place. Schiavone remained a producer and commentator until WCW's demise, but Ross was granted his release from WCW and went to work for the WWF. Initially, Bischoff and Dhue worked together as partners, but frequently clashed over the direction of WCW.

In 1994, Bischoff was promoted from Executive Producer to Senior Vice President, putting him in charge of everything WCW. Dhue resigned, as did event manager Don Sandefeur and junior vice president Jim Barnett. Bischoff convinced Turner executives to better finance WCW in order to compete with the WWF. He moved WCW production to Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. Hulk Hogan, who was filming a show called Thunder in Paradise at Disney-MGM Studios, was approached by Bischoff and Ric Flair and signed to a contract with WCW. He also invested money in production values and increased the number of WCW pay-per-views (first seven a year, then 10, and then once a month). He also started a weekly live program on TNT, WCW Monday Nitro, that went directly against WWF's flagship Monday Night Raw. Bischoff remained an announcer on Nitro, regularly spoiling Raw results (as the latter show was not always aired live) to boost ratings. This created what became known amongst fans as the Monday Night War, as both WCW and WWF fought for viewers and in the process kick-started a new level of mainstream popularity for pro wrestling. The changes paid off, and in 1995, WCW turned a profit for the first time in WCW's history. By 1997, Bischoff's official job title was President of World Championship Wrestling.

In 1996, Bischoff signed WWF superstar Scott Hall, better known at the time as "Razor Ramon". Two weeks later on Nitro, Hall was joined by Kevin Nash, most previously known as "Diesel" in the WWF, to become "The Outsiders". Bischoff intentionally depicted the duo as WWF rebels who were not under contract to WCW. To avoid legal action by the WWF, Bischoff in a worked interview at The Great American Bash, asked point blank if they worked for the WWF, which both Hall and Nash denied. The Outsiders expanded and became the New World Order (nWo) when perennial fan-favorite Hulk Hogan aligned himself with the Outsiders in July 1996.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–2007)

In 2002, Bischoff was hired by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, formerly WWF) to be the general manager of Raw. Although primarily an on-screen role, Bischoff had a wide range of contacts within WWE to whom he could pitch creative ideas. He debuted as the first Raw general manager on the July 15 episode of Raw. He resurrected his characteristic brand of smarminess with the general manager position, again playing the arrogant heel character he had employed as the nWo boss in WCW. During his debut on Raw, he told the audience about how he was president of WCW, creator of the nWo and how he forced Vince McMahon to change the ways he does business. Bischoff is in second place of the longest reigns as general manager in WWE history, with three years in total. Former rival and former general manager of SmackDown Theodore Long surpassed Bischoff's record with a combined number of six years. Bischoff's wrestling innovations in WWE included the "Raw Roulette" and the Elimination Chamber, as well as feuds with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shane McMahon, John Cena, SmackDown! general manager Stephanie McMahon, and former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) owner Paul Heyman. On June 15 at Bad Blood, Bischoff appeared during a segment along with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mae Young where she stripped herself in the ring and shared a passionate kiss with Eric Bischoff and performed a bronco buster on Bischoff before being stunned by Austin. At Taboo Tuesday, Bischoff had his head shaved after failing to beat his (kayfabe) nephew Eugene. Bischoff then began a face turn after his head got shaved. He favored face wrestlers such as Randy Orton, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. By the end of 2004, Bischoff subsequently took a vacation after allowing Randy Orton's Survivor Series team to become general managers for up to four weeks with every member being the general manager once a week.

On the May 16, 2005 episode of Raw, Bischoff began a vendetta against an impending ECW revival, turning heel once again in the process. Bischoff later began a feud with John Cena (who was drafted to Raw in the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery), for Cena's refusal to "play politics" in regards to the Anti-ECW Crusade and citing disdain for Cena's rapping and "thug nature". Bischoff made wrestlers such as Chris Jericho, Christian and Kurt Angle try to take the WWE Championship away from Cena. Following several months of Raw and SmackDown! invasions, Bischoff lost to SmackDown! general manager Theodore Long at Survivor Series after The Boogeyman helped Long beat Bischoff.

On the December 5 episode of Raw, Bischoff was (kayfabe) "fired" as general manager, when Cena body slammed him and Vince McMahon tossed him into a garbage truck – following a "trial" where his history of unscrupulous actions were listed – and had him driven out of the arena. Bischoff then sat out the remainder of the year and spent the start of 2006 writing a book that would become Controversy Creates Cash. Bischoff was against writing a wrestling book initially, as he believes "most are bitter, self-serving revisionist history at best—and monuments to bullshit at their worst."

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2010–2014)

In October 2009, Bischoff helped negotiate a deal among Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Hulk Hogan, and himself. According to Bischoff, Hogan gave Bischoff the power to sign contracts on his behalf. He pointed that TNA only wanted Hogan, but Hogan wouldn't go to TNA without Bischoff. Bischoff also said that he went with Hogan to oversee his creative. He premiered alongside Hogan on the January 4, 2010, episode of Impact! as part of an alliance to take over and rebuild the franchise. Behind the scenes, he was also appointed TNA executive producer.

Despite being a heel when dealing with the likes of Jeff Jarrett, Mick Foley and Abyss, Bischoff refereed his first TNA match at Against All Odds, favoring the face challenger Samoa Joe over the heel champion A.J. Styles in a match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, as part of the storyline, Bischoff punched out Styles's manager Ric Flair, after he interfered in the match, but the distraction led to Styles retaining his belt. On the March 15 episode of Impact!, Bischoff attempted to shave Foley bald as a punishment for trying to help Jarrett in a handicap match the previous week, but was shaved bald himself, when Foley turned the tables on him. At Lockdown, Bischoff turned face by helping Team Hogan defeat Team Flair in the Lethal Lockdown match. The next months Bischoff worked with Hogan, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Bischoff and Hogan were up to something. During this time, Abyss turned on Hogan and went on a rampage, which included attacking the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the title, all the while claiming that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA. After he manhandled TNA president Dixie Carter on the October 7 episode of Impact!, Bischoff presented Carter with the paperwork that would have Abyss fired after his match with Van Dam at Bound for Glory, which she then proceeded to sign.

At Bound for Glory, Bischoff turned heel with Hogan, as the two of them helped Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Bischoff, Hogan and Hardy then aligned themselves with Abyss and Jarrett. On the following episode of Impact! it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Flair's Fortune stable. On the November 4 episode of Impact!, Bischoff took part in his first match in TNA, challenging the concussed Mr. Anderson to earn his shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, only for Matt Morgan to take his spot and beat Bischoff to become the number one contender. Carter returned on the November 25 episode of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA. On January 31, 2011, at the tapings of the February 3 episode of Impact!, Fortune turned on Immortal, explaining that they were not going to let TNA suffer the same fate as WCW. Hogan, having won the court battle against Carter, returned to TNA on the March 3 episode of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of the promotion.

Sporadic WWE appearances (2016–present)

Bischoff inducted Diamond Dallas Page into the WWE Hall of Fame. On the 25th Anniversary of Raw on January 22, 2018, Bischoff made a guest appearance on the show, during a segment with other former Raw general managers and on July 22, 2019, on the Raw Reunion.

In June 2019, WWE announced that Bischoff would be the executive director of SmackDown, and part of Bischoff's role is to act as an intermediary between WWE and Fox executives due to his background in the television industry, but he was replaced on October 15 by Bruce Prichard, and with immediate effect he had left WWE. Bryan Alvarez reported that he heard "zero good things" about Bischoff and that Bischoff did not know the product nor the wrestlers. According to Fox, Bischoff was released since "[s]ignificant promises were made that we don't feel were upheld".

In March 2020, Bischoff reflected on his WWE departure, stating "I knew about six weeks in, eight weeks in, it just wasn't going to work out. [...] I knew I wasn't fitting and it wasn't a secret. [...] It just wasn't right. [...] I had to fit in the system and I wasn't able to do it in the timeline it needed to be done". In June 2020, Bischoff further reflected on his departure by saying "it was on me" and backs his profession by blaming his failure to adapt to the new job for why his tenure was so short and described the problem as being more of a "chemistry issue" than anything else. Bischoff also pointed out that he had little creative control over SmackDown but was more of an overseer for Vince, who had the most say in WWE's creative direction at the time.

On April 6, 2021, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He also appeared on the December 27 episode of Raw, as the officiator for the renewal of The Miz and Maryse's vows, and on the January 21, 2022 episode of SmackDown, during a backstage segment with Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville.

Bischoff appeared via a video on the November 26, 2024 episode of NXT to speak to Trick Williams and Ridge Holland. Bischoff appeared live in person on the December 4 episode of NXT, praising the brand and its potential and again talking with Trick Williams and Ridge Holland.

All Elite Wrestling (2020–2021)

On the August 5, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Bischoff appeared on TNT for the first time since 2000, when he moderated a debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy. He referred to his appearance as a cameo and he has not signed with All Elite Wrestling. However, on the October 28 episode, Bischoff would later return to Dynamite to ask Jericho and MJF questions during a "town hall meeting", provoking the two wrestlers and setting up a match at Full Gear. On the March 3, 2021 episode of Dynamite, he appeared as part of an Inner Circle press conference. On the May 28 episode, Bischoff returned to Dynamite to host a party for the Inner Circle. During the event, members of the Inner Circle were ambushed by MJF and others in The Pinnacle.

Television production career

Bischoff, with actor Jason Hervey, ran his own production company, Bischoff Hervey Entertainment, which primarily produced reality TV shows, through 2017. They produced a live Girls Gone Wild pay-per-view event from Florida in 2003 with WWE and another pay-per-view about the Sturgis, South Dakota motorcycle rally in 2004. They also executive produced the VH1 reality shows Scott Baio Is 45...and Single, Scott Baio Is 46...and Pregnant, I Want To Be a Hilton, and Confessions of a Teen Idol, along with the CMT show Billy Ray Cyrus...Home At Last. Bischoff-Hervey Productions also produced a wrestling reality show called Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling in which ten celebrities were trained to wrestle and one celebrity is voted off weekly. Bischoff also appeared as one of the "judges" on the show. In November 2009, Bischoff helped produce Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin tour to Australia. Bischoff, also had a show in development with Food Network called "Food Fight" where pro wrestlers take on celebrity chefs in cooking and then tag-team with them in a wrestling match. In January 2013, Bischoff and Hervey produced the television series Hardcore Pawn: Chicago.

Video game production career

In 2013, along with partners Jason Hervey and Ike McFadden, Bischoff formed the online gaming company MX Digital. The company develops and distributes online and mobile celebrity-themed games in Europe and North America. Among the company's first released games were Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania, which debuted on SkyVegas in November 2012. Their next game, The Hoff, featuring actor-singer David Hasselhoff, was released widely in Europe in February 2013.

In early 2014, his online-gaming company announced a deal with actor Dan Aykroyd to launch a Blues Brothers online casino game in Europe. Later that year, MX Digital launched their games on Facebook, under the moniker "MX Casino". Slot-machine-style games playable upon launch as a Facebook app included "socialized" versions of Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania, as well as a similarly Facebook-friendly version of The Hoff. Also debuting in October of that year were a batch of new celebrity-themed games, this time starring the likes of Dennis Rodman, James Dean and Chuck Norris.

Personal life

Bischoff currently resides in Cody, Wyoming with his wife, Loree (married since 1984). Bischoff has previously lived in Scottsdale, Arizona; Stamford, Connecticut; and Los Angeles, California. He has two children: son Garett (born April 20, 1984); and daughter Montanna (born November 7, 1985). Garett, under the ring name Jackson James, made his debut for TNA Wrestling on November 7, 2010, as a referee at Turning Point, before later becoming a wrestler under his real name.

On May 5, 2011, Eric Bischoff announced that he was starting a brewing company in Cody, Wyoming. Their first beverage, called Buffalo Bill Cody Beer, featured the tag line "The Spirit of the Wild West".

On July 27, 2016, Bischoff premiered his first podcast show, Bischoff on Wrestling, on MLW Radio. After October 17, 2017, he quit the show due to being shortchanged on money. In April 2018, Bischoff returned to podcasting with 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff alongside co-host, Conrad Thompson.

Bischoff helped launch Real American Freestyle (RAF) on April 30, 2025, and currently serves as their chief media officer.

Bischoff is a longtime fan of Vermont-based jamband Phish and collects live recordings of their concerts.

Legacy

Bischoff is one of the most polarizing and controversial figures in professional wrestling history. He was instrumental in the creation of the New World Order, which played a major role in WCW's success and peak during the Monday Night War. Mike Johnson of Pro Wrestling Insider wrote: "His place in history is this and it will always be this - he's the only person to come along and kick Vince McMahon hard enough that he forced WWF's product to evolve and get better. No matter whether he won the ratings for 83 weeks or one week, his legacy is that he made pro wrestling change for the better in the mid-1990s." However, R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez, the authors of the book titled The Death of WCW, were critical of many of the decisions Bischoff made as head of WCW and believe that he contributed to the decline of WCW. Despite their criticisms, Reynolds attributes the death of WCW to have been the result of decisions made by Jamie Kellner.

Although critical of the time that they spent working together in WCW and TNA, Vince Russo said Bischoff has "contributed [to professional wrestling] in a tremendous way ... dating all the way back to his early days at the AWA". AEW promoter Tony Khan credits Bischoff with paving the way for his promotion, stating: "I wouldn't be here and there would not be an AEW without [Bischoff] and there would not be wrestling on TNT right now without [him]." WWE describes Bischoff as a "pioneer behind the scenes in sports-entertainment, as well as an incredibly entertaining performer in front of the camera", further stating that he achieved "success everywhere he went in the business".

Filmography

Championships and accomplishments

George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame

Jack Brisco Spotlight Award 2025

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Feud of the Year (1996) vs. Vince McMahon

Feud of the Year (2002) vs. Stephanie McMahon

World Championship Wrestling

WCW Hardcore Championship (1 time)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Best Gimmick (1996) – nWo

Feud of the Year (1996) New World Order vs. World Championship Wrestling

Best Non-Wrestler (2005)

WWE

WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2021)