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Former WWE RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff has opened up about his first departure from the company, and why WWE didn't offer him a new contract. Bischoff stated that his run as General Manager had "run its course" and he agreed with WWE's decision to not give him a new deal.
Eric Bischoff joined WWE in 2002 after the end of WCW. Bischoff was an on-screen General Manager of RAW, and stayed on even after being fired from that role. He left WWE in 2007 before returning in 2019 to become Executive Director of SmackDown.
In an interview with Michael Morales Torres of Lucha Libre Online, Eric Bischoff explained why WWE opted not to renew his contract.
"It was time. My character as the General Manager had run its course. There was no real new stories to tell, no new ways of telling the same stories over again. It just got to the point where it was time. I recognized it and so did WWF. When they called me and said: ‘Hey, we think we're going to let your contract expire and not renew you’. They explained why and I agreed with them a hundred percent. So I left on very good terms with WWE."
Bischoff was let go by WWE once again last year, just a few months after taking up his role as SmackDown Executive Director.
Eric Bischoff in WCW and WWE
Eric Bischoff became a household name during his stint as President of WCW and became an on-screen figure during the Monday Night Wars in the 90s.
He helped WCW beat WWE in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks in the 1990s. Bischoff had an on-screen role in WCW until 2000, a year before the company was bought by WWE.
After his first exit from WWE, Eric Bischoff moved to TNA where he played a role on screen and off it as well.
