Eric Bischoff

Eric Aaron Bischoff (born May 27, 1955) is an American television producer, professional wrestling booker, promoter, and performer.

He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later Senior Vice President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and subsequently, the on-screen General Manager of WWE's Raw brand.

During his time in WCW, Bischoff was known as “Easy-E.” Bischoff has also worked with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) where he served as Executive Producer of Impact Wrestling.

He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021.

Bischoff started in wrestling working for the Minneapolis, Minnesota based American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1986 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.

In 1991, Bischoff joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as a C-show announcer, 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 Bill Watts resigned from the company, 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' place.

Schiavone remained a producer and commentator until the company'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 the company.

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 Wars, 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 the company's history.

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.

The nWo was depicted as a rival company engaging in a "hostile takeover" of WCW.

By 1997, Bischoff's official job title was President of World Championship Wrestling.

With an amateur background in martial arts, Bischoff also sporadically performed as an in-ring competitor, becoming a one-time WCW Hardcore Champion, and headlining the 1998 Road Wild pay-per-view event, teaming with "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan against Diamond Dallas Page and Jay Leno.

He wrote an autobiography titled Controversy Creates Cash, which was released in 2006 under WWE Books, and a second book, titled Grateful, which was released in 2022.