Eric Bischoff: Wrestling's Most Controversial Figure

Eric Bishoff has made the rounds over the years since leaving WWE in 2005 to tell his tales of the business. He wrote a pretty good biography under the ‘WWE Books’ banner in 2006 called Controversy Creates Cash that ranks high up on the wrestler autobiography curve. He has done countless DVD ‘shoot’ and podcast interviews over the years, and he is currently a co-host of the 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff podcast alongside acclaimed wrestling podcaster Conrad Thompson. Needless to say, there are a lot of ways to find out about Eric’s life in wrestling. In 2016, WWE released their official BluRay/DVD with a documentary of Eric’s life and career with the standard array of full-length bonus matches and promos. It is called Eric Bischoff: Wrestling’s Most Controversial Figure (trailer).

First off, shame on WWE for that awful home video cover art. When this video was first announced it showed a serious looking Eric on the cover, but I imagine Vince McMahon must have had one last grudge he was fuming over and went out of his way to find the most smug, arrogant looking headshot of Eric and slapped it on the cover. Worst off is the disc cover art where it is modern-day Eric duct taped and hands tied. I would not put it beneath Vince to be of the mindset of ‘Dammit, if I am going to make money off of Eric we are going to at least make him the most pathetic looking person all over the box and disc artwork!’

Bizarre artwork aside, this is actually a surprisingly respectful and serious documentary about Eric Bischoff. The feature interviews Eric on his ranch in Wyoming which provides a serene backdrop throughout and it is apparent the production crew went out of their way to interview Eric in several different spots on the ranch, including a great closing scene with Eric reflecting on his legacy around a campfire. The 95 minute feature is the perfect length for covering his career. The prerequisite ‘before-wrestling’ part of the doc is handled well with Eric detailing how he bounced between Detroit and the Twin Cities and his early business endeavors in landscaping, modeling and aspiring entrepreneur. I forgot about him making a commercial deal with the AWA to promote his Ninja Star Wars game which was the catalyst to him forming a relationship with Verne & Greg Gagne that eventually lead him to receiving a job in the AWA which paved the way for him landing in WCW.

There are a lot of interviews with family, friends and peers of Eric throughout. Most prominent are Kevin Nash, Diamond Dallas Page, Sonny Onoo, WCW boss Harvey Schiller, business partner and Wonder Years alumnus Jason Hervey and Eric’s wife Loree. Nash and DDP have a lot of insight on Eric’s rise up the ranks in WCW and how he revolutionized Monday nights with WCW Monday Nitro. They and Schiller also have a lot to say about Eric lost control of WCW first with Time Warner/Turner acquisition and eventually all together with the AOL/Time Warner merger. There are also archived past clips of Eric’s detractors stating their side. I have seen countless takes and read just as many perspectives on the rise and fall of WCW, but to see Eric’s side-of-view is still worth seeing as how he ultimately blames backstage politics with the mergers and acquisitions for the fall of WCW and his eventual ousting from the company in 1999.

I dug Eric looking back on his three and a half years as the first RAW General Manager, and there is a nice montage of moments Eric was part of along with interview snippets from Steve Austin and Chris Jericho sharing their memories of Eric being their boss. I was not surprised to see them omit and not even mention Eric’s four years in TNA/Impact. I was thinking there would be a passing reference like in the Dudleyz or Sting’s WWE documentaries, but it was probably for the best that his time there trying to reignite the ‘Monday Night Wars’ with the Hulkster be best forgotten.

One part in the documentary I got a ton out of I always wanted to know more of was Eric’s friendship and business partnership with Jason Hervey. I know the two have been longtime friends and formed a business together, but not much beyond that. Here they have a candid interview with the two breaking down their history and entrepreneurial ambitions and projects they have worked on over the years. Really good stuff here and it shows how Eric is keeping himself busy. It is apparent that Eric is not dwelling on the past and has obviously moved on from his tumultuous days in WCW, especially with that pivotal closing scene with him being introspective around the campfire as a great way to close the documentary.

As with most WWE Home Video releases, the BluRay is packed with bonus content. There is 37 minutes of bonus ‘stories’ aka deleted scenes that were not deemed worthy of the main feature. Highlights include Bishoff’s hunting tales, reflecting on the Turner/Warner merger and Jericho’s memories of going 17 months in WCW without a contract. A couple years ago WWE Network ran a two part Eric Bischoff interview special with JBL that ran for just over 90 minutes combined. It hits a lot of the same bullet points as the documentary, but in a different ‘shoot’ style format with JBL pressing Eric on some of his most controversial decisions. It is highly recommended supplementary material. To finish off the first disc there is another Eric Bischoff feature from WWE Network where Eric counts down and analyzes his top ten most controversial moments.

On the second disc there is nearly four and a half hours of full-length past interviews, promos and matches from Eric’s career across AWA/WCW/WWE. About an hour and a half of those are BluRay exclusives. Some of these extras are followed up with brief, modern-day reflections on that moment/match from Eric. There is a lot of gold in here from when Eric was a junior C-list announcer for the AWA and his early WCW years with him interviewing Sid, Larry Zybysko, Vinnie Vegas, DDP, Vader and attempting to get an interview out of Missy Hyatt in the shower. There is a lot of great content here from his days leading the nWo from 97 and 98. I completely forgot how awesome the sketches with Bischoff firing referee Randy Anderson were and Eric went on in the extras to share how WCW got complaints how some fans thought it was legit. Bishoff’s calling out Vince McMahon to a match at Slamboree ’98 and Vince no-showing the match are both standout moments of the Monday Night War that I was delighted to see make the cut for this compilation.

There is a wide array of his top moments as RAW GM in their entirety, and there quite a few standout spots here I completely forgot about. Eric donning the disguise that fooled everyone as the pastor who ruined Billy & Chuck’s wedding is priceless and must-see. Austin messing with Bischoff at Judgment Day 2003 from their time as co-GMs of RAW is also amazing material. The best moment/match on this second disc is easily ‘The Trial of Eric Bischoff.’ It is 35 minutes of gold where WWE’s style of comedy rarely worked where Vince McMahon presided as the judge to determine if Eric could build a compelling argument to keep his job as RAW GM. After nearly a half hour of off and on witnesses throughout RAW, the episode culminated in one of the best sendoffs of an authoritative figure in WWE history! Amazing work that holds up tremendously today! There are a handful of matches included that Eric participated in such as his much anticipated bout with Larry Zybysko at Starrcade ’97, squaring off against Vince on a 2004 RAW and putting his hair on the line against his nephew Eugene from Taboo Tuesday ’04! Sadly, the times Eric did the honors for Ric Flair at Starrcade '98 along with celebrities Jay Leno and David Arquette in tag matches are not included.

High marks for this collection! Just keep in mind this is Eric’s take on his side of history, so expect a little bit of spin from him on justifying his actions. The documentary covers all the pivotal points of his life and career (sans-TNA/Impact) and there is a treasure trove of extra features to get lost in and relive a ton of great moments from the ‘Monday Night War’ and Eric’s run as RAW-GM. Eric Bischoff: Wrestling’s Most Controversial Figure is a worthy addition to any fan’s video library!

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