Eric Bischoff gives his honest opinion on Vince McMahon after being released from WWE
Eric Bischoff spoke about his most recent run in WWE as the SmackDown Executive Director in 2019. The run lasted for just 3 months before Bischoff was released and Bruce Prichard took his role.
The former RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff spoke about Vince McMahon, and if The WWE Chairman has lost touch with the audience of today. Although Eric Bischoff did not say anything outrightly negative against Vince McMahon, he did admit that McMahon is reluctant to move away from his formula.
“That’s such a hard one. It’s because it’s such a complex answer. The entertainment industry is changing every single day. I think it’s true that Vince is committed to a formula that has provided an unbelievable level of success for the wrestling industry as a whole.”
Eric Bischoff on WWE's creative 'formula'
Eric Bischoff talked about how Vince McMahon's formula has been very successful in the past, so he can understand the reluctance to let it go. He said that these very formulas were responsible for the global growth of WWE over the years.
“There isn’t anybody that can look at what the WWE has accomplished in terms of its global significance in the world of entertainment and not recognize that the formulas that Vince McMahon relied upon to achieve those levels of success were unquestionably amazing success stories, and the formulas worked. Now do I think there may be some reluctance to adapt new formulas in light of the ever changing nature of entertainment? Yes, I do. Do I understand why people are reluctant to change those formulas? Of course I do.” (H/T: 411Mania)
Eric Bischoff also talked about the role the advertisers play in the creative decisions taken by WWE. He stated that WWE is like Disney in that they have to be very careful about their product so that there is no blowback or backlash.
“There are things I’m sure WWE would love to do creatively that they just can’t because they know the blowback they’ll get from advertisers. It’s a little bit like producing an action movie for Disney. You gotta be really careful how you do that. That’s probably the best analogy I could give. Does that mean he’s out of touch? Or does that mean he’s catering his business to his customer? The real customer, being the advertiser, because without the advertiser, there are no viewers.”