WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff ‘wasn’t interested’ in friendship with Vince McMahon

Eric Bischoff has opened up on working for Vince McMahon in WWE – and why a ‘mutual respect’ was never going to blossom into a close friendship.

The World Championship Wrestling (WCW) legend – who was one of the masterminds for the rival promotion during the infamous Monday Night Wars – will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame tonight.

The honour comes after he also enjoyed an on-screen career with real life rival Vince as his boss, as fans were treated to a stellar run with Bischoff as Raw General Manager.

Reflecting on the moment he was offered the job, he exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘You know, on the call, I spoke to Vince and it was the first time Vince and I had really spoken at any length.

‘Vince called me, we had a nice couple of minute chat, just generally speaking and getting caught up, so to speak.

‘And then once Vince laid out what he was thinking, I knew within about two minutes that I would take the job. I was excited about it. For me, it was an opportunity to end my wrestling career on a positive note.

‘Prior to that, I’d gone through the whole TimeWarner thing, our opportunity to buy WCW fell apart at the last minute. I had a little – I don’t wanna say a bitter taste in my mouth, but a bad taste in my mouth about wrestling.’

The 65-year-old pioneer noted that the offer to join WWE also gave him another chance to go out there in front of a live crowd, which is an environment Eric has always thrived in.

He said: ‘When the call came from Vince, it was like, this is an opportunity to get out there and perform, which I knew as I was good at. Not to brag, but I knew I was.

‘It made sense from a story point of view, I knew the audience would react to it in a really powerful way so I was excited about that. But most of all I was just excited to work with a bunch of people I’d never worked with before.’

After their long ratings war at the head of WCW and WWE respectively, Eric and Vince had certainly developed a ‘mutual respect’, even if there wasn’t any chance of real personal relationship between them.

‘We battled pretty hard for a while, and it turned out good – for Vince, especially. I think even overall – wrestling became healthier. Wrestling as a business became healthier because of the Monday Night Wars, it’s just a fact,’ he pondered.

‘I think Vince knew that, and I knew that, and he knew I knew that, and I knew he knew that. I think there was a little bit of respect there. But I wasn’t interested in becoming friends with Vince McMahon.

‘I’m not sure Vince has too many friends outside of his immediate family, a small handful of people.’

He smiled: ‘But the opportunity to work with Vince? Absolutely, I was very excited about that.’

*Check out Eric Bischoff’s 83 Weeks podcast on AdFreeShows.com. Watch Eric get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame tonight (April 6) at 1am on the WWE Network.

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