Eric Bischoff has discussed his departure from WWE in 2019 after his brief spell as Executive Director for Friday Night SmackDown.
Bischoff’s return to WWE in that role was announced in June 2019. Reports at the time suggested Bischoff was brought in to work as an intermediary between WWE and Fox ahead of SmackDown’s debut on the network in October of that year. However, only eleven days after the blue brand’s Fox debut things changed once more. WWE announced that Bischoff was leaving the company to be replaced by Bruce Prichard.
Speaking on his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff detailed his second exit from WWE. Bischoff noted that he got a chance to say goodbye to his colleagues, something not all staff gets the chance to do at WWE.
Bischoff explained:
“When you’re a publicly held company and you’re as big as the WWE is, you have to follow standard procedure. There’s a reason why HR and the compliance of Human Resources is important to big companies and small ones. At that step of the process, we had the conversation and I hugged the individual [who let Bischoff know he was being let go] so he wouldn’t feel bad and as I’m walking out the door he said ‘would you like to say goodbye to your team?’”
“I thought that was so cool. Instead of just walking me out the door, but I’m guessing that HR was convinced I was going to do the right thing and be professional. Maybe they broke protocol – I don’t know. But I got to say goodbye to the 12 or 15 people that were waiting in the office next to me. Waiting to start my meeting that was scheduled for about 15 minutes from that point. I was really happy to be able to say goodbye to them and leave the room saying something very positive to each of them. That’s how I left.”
Bischoff continued, and also noted that he had been working without a contract during his short stay with the company:
“It’s kind of inconsistent with the way I said typically people are terminated. I don’t know why I got the break, but I did and I’m grateful for it, but for the most part that’s just part of life. I didn’t have a contract, by the way. So maybe that was different, I don’t know. I didn’t go to WWE on a contract; I was a work-for-hire employee. But for the most part – especially independent contractors, there is a formula, a protocol you have to follow when you terminate them. You have to let them know by mail; even if you call them, you have to let them know by mail after you call them.”
Eric Bischoff entered the WWE Hall Of Fame as part of the Class of 2021. Bischoff was inducted alongside Molly Holly, Kane, Rob Van Dam, The Great Khali, and Ozzy Osbourne. That group was joined alongside Warrior Award winner Rich Hering.
Bischoff recently discussed WrestleMania headliner Edge. The former WCW President said The Rated-R Superstar is a better performer now than he was a decade ago.