Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Eric Bischoff at C2E2 2019

Eric Bischoff has had an interesting career. While he has his share of critics, nobody can deny his success.
Bischoff started in the sales department with the American Wrestling Association in 1989. When the need arose for an emergency fill-in on-air personality, Bischoff was recruited. When the AWA folded, Bischoff went to World Championship Wrestling as an announcer on one of their lesser shows. He eventually worked his way to become Senior Vice President. That in itself is quite an accomplishment, but it would get even better for Bischoff.
WCW was getting solidly and consistently beaten in the ratings by the WWE. Under Bischoff's leadership, WCW soared in the ratings, mostly on the back of the New World Order angle, one of the biggest storylines ever in any promotion. Bischoff's exact part in initiating the story is a bit unclear, but at least he was in charge while it all happened.
WCW raced ahead of the WWE and stayed on tiop for a while. Unfortunately, the NWO angle got bloated and stale, leading the WWE to jump back in the lead. WCW was eventually sold to the WWE in another series of complicated moves. Since then, Bischoff has worked for the WWE, Total NonStop Action Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling in various roles.
This is a real short version of his story. Whether you like wrestling or not, it's a much longer, fascinating story of success and failure.
I was kind of neutral to Bischoff, but when I met him at C2E2 2019, I found him to be very nice. Of course, he was engaging, but based on his career, that wasn't a surprise. I was a bit pleasantly surprised by how much time he spent talking to us about his career. While it was all through his point of view (obviusly), it was interesting to get an insider's look at some of the big events.
C2E2 2021 runs December 10-12. Go to C2E2.com for more info and updates on the great convention.
Eric Bischoff and me in Chicago, IL-March 2019.

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