WWE: 4 of Eric Bischoff's business roles outside of wrestling
Love him or loathe him, one thing you can say about the former President of World Championship Wrestling: Eric Bischoff is dang versatile. Before even getting into the pro wrestling business, he involved himself in a number of different professional ventures. At one point he was a veterinary assistant, owned a landscaping company, and even ran a butcher shop that offered home delivery - or, as Hulk Hogan so disparagingly referred to it, "selling meat from a truck in Minneapolis."
While Bischoff has had a pretty prolific career in the wrestling business since WCW folded in 2001 - including on-screen roles with both WWE and TNA Impact - he's also used that experience to branch out into other ventures, as well. Remember, he wasn't just in charge of WCW from a booking perspective - he was also the head of television production for the company, as well.
Bischoff took that production experience and has done quite well for himself outside of sports entertainment. It's hard to argue that he doesn't love pro wrestling, considering he keeps coming back to it despite a) not needing to and .) the abuse he's taken from both wrestling fans and industry types over the years. Sure, having his son, Garrett, in the wrestling business is a bit of an incentive to come back, but there's no way that's the only reason.
With the announcement that, along with Paul Heyman, Bischoff will be shaping the direction of WWE television for the foreseeable future, we thought this would be an opportune time to take a look at some of his other non-wrestling ventures. Not all of them are detached from wrestling completely - after all, might as well work with what you know, right? But, they're still work done with a company that's not a wrestling promotion.
Just keep reading, you'll get the idea.
But first: Eric Bischoff did a TEDx talk!
We're going to start off with a bonus entry, since it's not really a business venture. It does, however, demonstrate just how Bischoff utilizes his experience in wrestling in other areas. It's actually a pretty fascinating watch. Once you get past the rather vicious heel promo he cuts on the Naperville, IL audience watching him.
The presentation, held last year outside of Chicago, is a look at the similarities between how both pro wrestling and the news media present themselves. Bischoff argues, and persuasively so, that in the same way wrestling tries to generate emotion as opposed to thinking, so do news outlets like CNN.
"[T]he networks realized it is far less expensive," Bischoff explained in his speech, "when have you three or four people sitting around arguing or discussing the news as opposed to having people going out and reporting it."
It's just a touch over fifteen minutes and, if anything, it's always fun to at least watch and look at just how old Bischoff looks now.
(Just pulling your chain, Eric. We love ya.)