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Love him or loathe him, one thing you can say about the former President of World Championship Wrestling: Eric Bischoff is dang versatile. Before even getting into the pro wrestling business, he involved himself in a number of different professional ventures. At one point he was a veterinary assistant, owned a landscaping company, and even ran a butcher shop that offered home delivery - or, as Hulk Hogan so disparagingly referred to it, "selling meat from a truck in Minneapolis."
While Bischoff has had a pretty prolific career in the wrestling business since WCW folded in 2001 - including on-screen roles with both WWE and TNA Impact - he's also used that experience to branch out into other ventures, as well. Remember, he wasn't just in charge of WCW from a booking perspective - he was also the head of television production for the company, as well.
Bischoff took that production experience and has done quite well for himself outside of sports entertainment. It's hard to argue that he doesn't love pro wrestling, considering he keeps coming back to it despite a) not needing to and .) the abuse he's taken from both wrestling fans and industry types over the years. Sure, having his son, Garrett, in the wrestling business is a bit of an incentive to come back, but there's no way that's the only reason.
With the announcement that, along with Paul Heyman, Bischoff will be shaping the direction of WWE television for the foreseeable future, we thought this would be an opportune time to take a look at some of his other non-wrestling ventures. Not all of them are detached from wrestling completely - after all, might as well work with what you know, right? But, they're still work done with a company that's not a wrestling promotion.
Just keep reading, you'll get the idea.
But first: Eric Bischoff did a TEDx talk!
We're going to start off with a bonus entry, since it's not really a business venture. It does, however, demonstrate just how Bischoff utilizes his experience in wrestling in other areas. It's actually a pretty fascinating watch. Once you get past the rather vicious heel promo he cuts on the Naperville, IL audience watching him.
The presentation, held last year outside of Chicago, is a look at the similarities between how both pro wrestling and the news media present themselves. Bischoff argues, and persuasively so, that in the same way wrestling tries to generate emotion as opposed to thinking, so do news outlets like CNN.
"[T]he networks realized it is far less expensive," Bischoff explained in his speech, "when have you three or four people sitting around arguing or discussing the news as opposed to having people going out and reporting it."
It's just a touch over fifteen minutes and, if anything, it's always fun to at least watch and look at just how old Bischoff looks now.
(Just pulling your chain, Eric. We love ya.)
#4 Eric Bischoff makes beer
This is probably the only entry on this list that has absolutely nothing to do with pro wrestling whatsoever.
When Eric Bischoff wants to get away from the rigors of television production, Hollywood pitch meetings, or just putting up with Hulk Hogan for a few hours, he usually heads off to his ranch in Cody, WY. It's there he can kick back, relax, enjoy the beautiful scenery (say what you want about Wyoming but, I've been there and it's gorgeous) and... probably practice his kickboxing, probably. Dude loves kickboxing.
He also loves home-brewing beer, which he and his family have been doing at their Wyoming home since the 1990s. Deciding he wanted to share these delicious alcoholic beverages with the rest of the world, Bischoff started Buffalo Bill Cody Beer. It began as just something for just the town of Cody to enjoy, but eventually - like a lot of things Bischoff does - things got a little more ambitious.
Buffalo Bill Cody Beer, which is contract brewed in Montana by the Yellowstone Valley Brewing Company, is distributed across the western United States via Wyoming Territory Brewing. But, Bischoff doesn't just brew and sell beer because it's a smart business venture. Dude loves him some brewskis.
"I drink a lot of beer... and I have been for 45 years," Bischoff told the St. Cloud (MN) Times in 2015, "I consider myself an authority on drinking beer. Just ask anybody from my roommates in college to my wife."
Shortly after starting the beer in 2011, Bischoff found himself in the middle of a trademark infringement lawsuit when Buffalo Fill's Irma Hotel, a local hotel in Cody, claimed they were serving their own 'Buffalo Bill Cody's Beer" before Bischoff and his partners were. Two whole days before Bischoff and his partners. However, Bischoff's group had filed the proper paperwork, and they still have the trademark to this day.
So, the next time you find yourself in Cody, WY - or any of the other rustic areas the microbrew is made and sold - get yourself a cold glass of Buffalo Bill Cody Beer.
#3 Eric Bischoff is a successful podcaster
Like a lot of people involved in pro wrestling these days, Bischoff has taken to the podcast scene. It's a great way to directly connect with fans and there's never a shortage of fun stories to tell in the world of pro wrestling.
Plus, as a former (and now current, I guess) executive, Bischoff has a very different perspective of the business than many other podcast hosts.
Bischoff started his first podcast, Bischoff on Wrestling, in 2016 for MLW Radio. He would leave that show over a pay dispute over a year later, however, and start 83 Weeks in 2018. On the show, Bischoff and his co-host Conrad Thompson look back at the famous "Monday Night Wars" between WWF and WCW - the "83 weeks" referring to the consecutive amount of time Monday Nitro earned higher ratings than WWF Monday Night Raw.
Wrestling podcasts generally tend to do well - just ask Stone Cold Steve Austin, Chris Jericho or Lillian Garcia - and Bischoff's skills at telling a story along with his penchant for rubbing some other people in the wrestling business the wrong way, make this one especially fun to listen to.
#2 Eric Bischoff makes TV shows
Does the name Jason Hervey ring a bell for you? If you watched television in the 1990s, you may remember a show called The Wonder Years. It followed the life of teenager Kevin Arnold as he navigated life and love in 1960s America. Kevin was portrayed by a very young Fred Savage and Hervey played his tormenting older brother, Wayne. It was a pretty good show, you should go see if it's on Netflix or Amazon or something.
Anyway, the reason I bring Hervey up is that Eric Bischoff and Hervey struck up an unlikely friendship following the actor's guest appearance on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro. Hervey would actually be hired as a producer for WCW and the two would go on to form Bischoff/Hervey Productions.
And, so far, they've been pretty successful. Shows that they have produced include I Want To Be a Hilton, Scott Baio is 45...and Single (and its follow-up Scott Baio is 46...and Pregnant), and Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling, which featured celebs like Danny Bonaduce (of The Partridge Family), Frank Stallone (the brother of Sylvester), Dustin Diamond (Screech from Saved By The Bell) and Dennis Rodman (NBA Hall of Famer and eventual winner of the show) training to be pro wrestlers while living together in a Big Brother type of set-up.
It's fantastically horrible and everyone should watch it.
They also produced Hardcore Pawn: Chicago, a spin-off of the popular TruTV show set in a pawn shop. It only ran for one season. They also attempted to start a TV show featuring younger wrestlers (like, teenagers and stuff) called MatRats that, sadly, went nowhere.
With Bischoff's new role with WWE, it's hard to say how involved he'll be in TV production these days, but he has proven that he's got a bit of a knack for it.
#1 Eric Bischoff makes video games
Back in 2013, Bischoff/Hervey decided they wanted to get into the video game business. To facilitate this, they bought up a controlling interest in US-based game developer, MX Digital. And, of course, one of their first games featured Hulk Hogan.
MX Digital mainly focused on casino-style mobile games, and Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania was no exception. Here, plant your eyeballs on this:
Following this brain-melting masterpiece, MX Digital produced games - again, slot machine style casino games - featuring other celebrities such as David Hasselhoff, Dan Aykroyd (in a Blues Brothers game, of course), and (again, of course) Dennis Rodman.
MX Digital hasn't really done much since then.
So, yeah, Eric Bischoff has been keeping himself busy when he's not involved in helping run a pro wrestling company. The business is clearly in his blood though and, like him or not, he loves it and he's not going anywhere if he can help it.
Except to Cody, WY. Dude loves that town.
Can you think of any other businesses Eric Bischoff has been a part of? Are you excited about his return to SmackDown? Did you watch that Celebrity Wrestling show? It was so amazing, right?! Well, whatever you thought, share them in the comments below!
