Eric Bischoff has been involved in the wrestling business for over 30 years. From his roots with Verne Gagne in the AWA to up to where he’s at now with AdFreeShows.com, the former WCW President can look back at what he’s learned with an open heart and a sense of humor to boot.
Bischoff spoke with Dominic DeAngelo of WrestleZone and the two covered a lot of ground when it comes to taking chances and appreciating where you came from.
“Every time I’m faced with a new opportunity or a new challenge of any kind that matters, first thing I say to myself in my head is, ‘Okay, know what you don’t know.'” Eric said that’s how he starts every day. “Before you make a decision, before you make a commitment before you make a judgement, make sure you know everything you need to know.”
Starting his morning off like that helps him keep an open mind and that ability to not fear failure helped him to get his start with the AWA and how it continues to help him.
“When I’m sitting out on the deck with a cold beer in the summer time looking out over the mountains and taking stock of what I’ve done and what I want to do because I’m by no means retired at this point in my life—I’m probably more active now than I have been in the last 20 years—but when I sit back and I say ‘Okay, let’s sit back and do an inventory check. What have we done so far? What was the most important? What do I reminisce about sometimes?”
Sure enough, those days with the American Wrestling Association come charging up and how invested he was not just as a fan, but as someone who enjoyed the “one true sport” from a much broader scope.
“It was really, really special for me because I was doing something that I was so passionate about and there was so much to learn and I related to the product. I didn’t know anything about the business of the wrestling business but I related to it as a fan and I always looked at it as I got older, I’m talking about when I was in my 20s, and when my wife and I first met before we got married, Sunday I had to sit at home and watch wrestling. She was like, ‘why?’
“And at the time I was a regional sales manager for heavy equipment, an agricultural manufacturer, so it’s not like I was digging a ditch somewhere and I said, ‘Honey, this is the purest form of marketing that I know of.’ Now, I knew what I meant, I said it incorrectly: it’s the purest form of psychology that you can find on television. It’s raw, it’s kind of crude and basic and fundamental, but it’s also because of that, sometimes the most compelling and interesting to me, especially back then…”
Read More: Serendipity Knocked For John Skyler, But Determination Opened Many Doors For Him In Pro Wrestling
When asked if there is anything new he’d like to take upon in the wrestling business, Eric first mentions how much he’s looking forward to being a part of the process for the planned Hulk Hogan film on Netflix.
“That’s a hell of an opportunity. I love being a fly on the wall,” he said, mentioning director Todd Phillips, writer Scott Silver and actor Chris Hemsworth who’s slated to play Hogan in the feature film. “When I’m in the room of really successful, talented people, I’m really happy just to be the fly on the wall because you can learn a lot. You can gain so much insight just because of your proximity sometimes, not that you have any aspirations to go out and direct a movie or even write a movie, but you learn about how all the pieces come together and so many aspects of things that you may not have ever been exposed to before.”
“The opportunity to do a feature film especially at the level that I’m doing it at is like, wow what a gift,” he added. Eric also mentioned future projects in the works with Conrad Thompson and how much enjoyment he gets by interacting with his “family” on AdFreeShows.com. You factor all that in (with a casual television appearance mixed in here and there) and Bischoff is ready for some new beginnings.
“I have no desire or interest on a day-to-day basis on getting back in the wrestling business, not because I don’t respect it. I can’t express how grateful I am for what I’ve been able to experience as a result of the industry, but I’ve been there and I’ve done that and it’s in my rearview now and I respect it and I like to put my toe in the water every once in awhile,” he said, “But if I had to go every single week, ehh, not so much because it’s not new enough for me.”
Check out the full conversation below:
