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WWE SmackDown has been on FOX for a little over a year. The anniversary of the first episode of SmackDown on FOX passed by a few days ago. SmackDown's FOX debut saw Brock Lesnar challenge Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship as well as an appearance by various legends. Vince McMahon himself was on the show along with Stephanie McMahon.
Eric Bischoff on Vince McMahon at SmackDown's FOX debut and how his time as a TV character could be over
On a recent episode of his podcast, Eric Bischoff, who was an executive on SmackDown at the time, said that he felt that Vince McMahon didn't want to appear on television. Bischoff said that Stephanie McMahon had to convince Vince McMahon to be on the show and in Eric's opinion, it was the right way to go:
It was my impression that Vince didn’t really want to do it. I can understand it. There comes a point when you are getting older that you realize the strength and the credibility that you bring to television isn’t what it used to be. It is what it is, we all get older. When you spend your life on television, you are aware of how you look and how you can present yourself. It was my impression that Vince didn’t really want to do it. It was also my impression that Stephanie really did want him to do it. Guess who won? I saw it go down. I wasn’t standing inches from them, but I was a couple feet away. I saw the hesitation from Vince and I saw the pressure put on by Stephanie. First of all, it made my heart fall seeing that father-daughter relationship and that exchange. It was really important to Stephanie. When they went out and did it, it was exciting as hell. It was the right thing to do, it brought tears to my eyes. H/T: WrestlingNewsCo
Eric Bischoff went on to say that he felt that Vince McMahon's time as a television character is over and Vince knows this himself:
But I think there was some awareness on Vince’s part that his time as a television character was in his rearview mirror. H/T: WrestlingNewsCo
Eric Bischoff worked as the Executive Director of SmackDown until his release from the role in October 2019, a couple of weeks after SmackDown's FOX debut.
