WWE has announced Eric Bischoff for the 2021 Hall of Fame Class.
from WrestlingInc.com at www.wrestlinginc.com…….
Bischoff appeared on WWE’s After The Bell podcast today with Corey Graves and Vic Joseph, where WWE confirmed the induction.
Bischoff will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania 37 Week on Tuesday, April 6. The ceremony will air live on the WWE Network. He joins Molly Holly as confirmed names for the 2021 class so far.
As noted, the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame class will also be inducted during WrestleMania 37 Week this year. Names for that class include Batista, JBL, The Bella Twins, The British Bulldog, Jushin Thunder Liger and the nWo (Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman).
Bischoff last worked for WWE as the SmackDown Executive Director in June 2019. He was released from that role just a few months later in October. Bischoff has made three special appearances on AEW Dynamite since then.
Stay tuned for more on Bischoff’s WWE Hall of Fame induction. Below is WWE’s full announcement, along with a clip from After The Bell:
Eric Bischoff to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2021
Eric Bischoff, a pioneer behind the scenes in sports-entertainment, as well as an incredibly entertaining performer in front of the camera, is the latest inductee in the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021. He was surprised with the news of his induction on WWE After the Bell, which you can listen and subscribe to on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
He will enter the WWE Hall of Fame during the 2021 Induction Ceremony, which will take place on Tuesday, April 6, streaming exclusively on Peacock in the United States and on WWE Network in the rest of the world.
Bischoff broke into the sports-entertainment industry in the late 1980s for fellow Hall of Famer Verne Gagne’s AWA. He started off in sales but soon became an on-air talent, hosting the AWA’s shows on ESPN and interviewing the legendary territory’s stars. But as the 1990s arrived, the AWA was on the brink of going out of business, so Bischoff made a move that would eventually change the industry.
He joined World Championship Wrestling in 1991, hosting shows and calling the action on WCW’s weekly television shows. But by the mid-1990s, Bischoff had risen the ranks and became executive producer of WCW. He helped bring Hulk Hogan to the company and launched WCW Monday Nitro, the competitor to WWE’s Monday Night Raw that kicked off the infamous Monday Night War that helped make sports-entertainment a pop culture phenomenon.
Bischoff didn’t shy away from the camera either, joining up with 2020 WWE Hall of Fame inductees The nWo as they ran roughshod on the promotion. After WWE purchased WCW in 2001, he brought his brand of ruthless leadership to WWE in 2002 as the first General Manager of Monday Night Raw. His arrival was one of the most shocking moments in WWE history, and his time in charge of the red brand was defined by one simple phrase: “Controversy creates cash.”
Bischoff never strayed far away from controversy as General Manager, as he engaged in rivalries with the likes of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and John Cena. He continued to innovate, as well, with concepts like Raw Roulette and the Elimination Chamber, which lives on as one of WWE’s annual pay-per-view events.
For Bischoff’s innovation behind the scenes and his memorable performance in front of the camera, there is no greater honor than induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Don’t miss Eric Bischoff take his place in the WWE Hall of Fame during the 2021 Induction Ceremony, Tuesday, April 6, streaming exclusively on Peacock in the United States and WWE Network everywhere else. The ceremony will honor both the 2020 and 2021 classes.
Bio on Bischoff:
Eric Bischoff Net Worth: Eric Bischoff is an American entrepreneur, television producer, professional wrestling booker, on-screen personality, and occasional wrestler who has a net worth of $12.5 million dollars. Eric Bischoff was born on May 27, 1955 in Detroit, Michigan where he had a number of occupations before getting into wrestling. He owned a successful landscape construction company, worked as a veterinary assistant, competed as a professional kickboxer, and ran a butcher shop, where he sold meat via van delivery. In 1991, Bischoff joined World Championship Wrestling as an announcer, debuting at The Great American Bash. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later President of World Championship Wrestling and later, the General Manager of World Wrestling Entertainment’s Raw brand. Bischoff has also worked with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling where he served as Executive Producer of “Impact Wrestling”. With an amateur background in taekwondo, Bischoff also occasionally performed as an in-ring competitor, and is a former WCW Hardcore Champion. He wrote an autobiography, titled “Controversy Creates Cash”, that was released in 2006 under WWE Books. Bischoff lives in Cody, Wyoming; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Los Angeles, California with his wife, Loree. In 2011, Eric Bischoff announced that he was starting a brewing company in Cody, Wyoming. Their first beverage, called Buffalo Bill Cody Beer, featured the tag line “The Spirit of the Wild West”.
More Bio on Bischoff, a Mini-Bischoff Bio:
Eric Bischoff was born on May 27th, 1957, in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and a minor in radio, television and film. He ran a successful construction company and pitched low-level marketing ideas to buyers until joining the American Wrestling Alliance in the late 80s. The company was falling into a black hole, and AWA CEO Verne Gagne gave the company to Eric when it was beyond repair (the AWA folded in 1991). After trying in vain to get a job at the WWF, the wrestling business’s top federation, Bischoff joined World Championship Wrestling, a failing company owned by Ted Turner. After paying attention to the mistakes of those in power at WCW, Eric was promoted to Senior Vice President of WCW. In 1994, he signed the WWF’s top draw, Hulk Hogan. Subsequent signings of wrestling legends Randy Savage, Lex Luger, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, and Roddy Piper later followed. In 1995, the same year that WCW returned a profit for the first time in its history, Eric Bischoff convinced Ted Turner to give him a prime-time slot in order to compete with the WWF’s top show, “Monday Night Raw”. Thus the birth of WCW Nitro, wrestling’s first week-to-week live prime time show. Insiders predicted short and certain death for WCW, as no other wrestling company had ever successfully competed with the WWF. In its first week, Nitro beat out WWF Raw in the Nielson Ratings. Eric Bischoff served as the head commentator on the show and shockingly declared war on the WWF by giving away the results to the WWF’s taped shows and publically insulting their direction. On his 39th birthday in 1996, Bischoff revealed a WWF main-eventer, Scott Hall, to be working for WCW. It was an angle that led to the reason wrestling hit its boom period… the New World Order (or nWo, a heel faction that Bischoff eventually joined). The angle was immediately successful, and secured WCW’s spot as the new number one wrestling promotion in America. WCW Nitro defeated WWF Raw by a wide margin for 95 consecutive weeks in the ratings. In 1997, the WWF came its closest to going out of business. Their top star and champion, Bret “The Hitman” Hart, left for WCW in November, under extremely controversial circumstances which left WWF owner Vince McMahon looking shady and deceitful. Insiders predicted it as the final nail in the coffin for the WWF, but amazingly, McMahon was able to capitalize on his bad reputation by playing it off on television in a much-publicized angle with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. This, coupled with the shocking “crash TV” gimmicks developed by then-head WWF writer Vince Russo (who Bischoff would later work alongside), allowed the WWF to finally compete with WCW again. It was a see-saw battle between WCW and the WWF in 1998, with the WWF gaining the upperhand by the year’s end, and eventually being secure in its #1 spot by mid-99. Meanwhile Eric Bischoff, who was known for his smugness towards the competition, suddenly had to contend with not only the WWF growing in popularity, but also with the new “higher ups” at TNT who wanted to produce “family entertainment”. Under these crippling restrictions, anyone would (and did) fail when trying to compete with the lewd WWF: Eric was relieved of his duties as WCW president on September 10th, 1999, after years of being seen as the WCW savior, once dubbed by sheet-writer Wade Keller as “the executive with the Midas-touch”. When followers to his position only worsened the state of WCW, shockingly, Bischoff was brought back on April 10th of 2000, exactly six months after being demoted. Eric was to work alongside creative director Vince Russo (who had jumped ship from the WWF), but after disputes, Eric quietly walked away after seven weeks on the job. He returned in late 2000 with financial backers, Fusient Media Ventures, to purchase WCW from Time Warner. The deal was allegedly sabotaged, and Eric lost the company to the WWF. He then took some time off from wrestling to work on other television projects. In 2003, the unthinkable occurred: Eric was hired as an on-air talent by his old rival Vince McMahon, whose (renamed) WWE was nowhere near as popular as it had been during the famous “Monday Night Wars”. On the February 23rd addition of RAW, Bischoff is finally scheduled to face McMahon in a match. Although Eric Bischoff is a solid talent in the WWE, his arrogance is more contrived than it had been during his glory years as the young, successful, in-your-face head of the only wrestling company to ever overtake the WWF as the top promotion in the business. Eric has truly changed the wrestling world and is second only to Vince McMahon in terms of overall importance to the current landscape. McMahon credits Bischoff for lighting a fire under the WWF and forcing it to revamp its style to fit with the times. Bischoff was a visionary and an innovator whose contributions are widely acknowledged and embraced. He currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife, Loree, and two children, Garett and Montanna.