On whether he thinks the WWE will welcome Hulk Hogan back in to the company:
EB: I have no idea. I wish I did but I don’t. The whole thing was just so unfortunate at every level for every reason. Everybody involved was put in a horrible position. I hope at some point things kind of settle back down and the fans can forgive Hulk for what Hulk admitted was a horrible mistake. I hope the WWE can as well. I certainly don’t have any insight in to if they will.
On if he would have handed out a similar punishment to Hulk Hogan if he was in charge of WWE:
EB: I don’t want to answer that simply because there is no right answer. Would I have handled it the exact same way? I don’t know. I wasn’t in their shoes. I don’t know what they knew and what they had at the WWE. I am not aware what they were faced with. I’ve said this in one or two interviews before and I haven’t gone in to any detail in most of these types of interviews but people have to realize. Many people do, I don’t mean to sound condescending, but WWE is a publicly held company. Which means that the officers of that company, including Vince McMahon, have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. What that means is that the officers of the company have to make decisions and act in a way that is in the best interest of the shareholders of that company. If they don’t there’s some potentially big issues, legal and financial, facing the officers of the company. When you are faced with something like this, like the incident and all of the ensuing publicity. As an officer of any company, whether it’s Verizon or WWE, you have to take actions that are consistent with your fiduciary responsibilities. I am pretty sure that was what motivated WWE as much as anything. They have advertisers, they have sponsors, they have relationships with organizations around the world that are essential to WWE operations. Something like this or when something happens, like what happened with Hulk, you have to make a decision and sometimes it’s the decision you don’t want to make but you’re forced to do it. As close as I am with Hulk Hogan, I am, he’s still my best friend and probably always will be. I have a pretty good understanding of what he was going through at that time when all of this happened. I was there for a good portion of it. I literally lived with him part time to help him through it. I saw first hand the state of mind he was in. I understand it. I don’t approve of it. I am not making any excuses for it. I also understand it. I don’t know. I just think WWE had to do what they had to do. Like I said at the top, I hope once the Gawker thing is over and once everybody has a chance to settle down and re-evaluate. I am hoping that everybody forgives each other and moves on in a positive way. Hulk has a lot of positive things to say. He is one of the most positive people that I know. Not that he always has been, mind you. Over the last five years,his life has changed so dramatically in a positive way. He has a lot to offer and I hope he has an opportunity to do that.
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Transcribed quotes from Eric’s interview continue on the next page with his thoughts on Titus O’Neil’s WWE suspension, AJ Styles’ WWE debut and his upcoming WWE DVD.
