'AEW Dynamite': Eric Bischoff Makes Surprise Return to TV

Eric Bischoff is back. On Wednesday night, the former executive producer and president of WCW made [...]

By Brian Jones

Eric Bischoff is back. On Wednesday night, the former executive producer and president of WCW made his return to television, appearing on AEW Dynamite. Bischoff was on the show to moderate a debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy. It was the first time Bischoff has been on TNT since the summer of 2000, according to AEW Dynamite commentator Tony Schiavone.

In the episode, Bischoff asked Jericho and Cassidy five questions. But despite answering just two of the questions, Bischoff declared Cassidy the winner, which led to Jericho attacking Cassidy with help from Jake Hager. Jericho and Cassidy are scheduled to compete in a match next week.

Most recently, Bischoff was the executive director for WWE SmackDown, holding the position from June 2019 to Oct. 15. After his run in WWE, Bischoff explained why it didn't last as long as he hoped. "My feelings right now are, number one, I'm really grateful for the opportunity to work in WWE," Bischoff said via ComicBook.com. "It didn't work out the way I wanted it to work out. It clearly didn't work out the way Vince McMahon wanted it to work out. But that happens. I'm not taking any of it personally."

Bischoff then said he loved the people he worked with during his time in WWE. "I'm grateful for the opportunity," he added. "Part of the reason is I am, I had a chance to work with a great team of people. The writing staff for SmackDown in particular, as well as a lot of other writers who were on Raw. They are very, very talented and unbelievably hard-working and dedicated group of people. Just to have the opportunity to work with people like that, was worth this experiment.

Bischoff made a name for himself in WCW. From 1996-1997, WCW dominated WWE in ratings thanks to Bischoff putting together the NWO. In fact, WWE didn't beat WCW in head-to-head Monday night ratings in 1997. Ultimately, WCW was bought by WWE in 2001, and Bischoff became the on-screen general manager of Raw in 2002. Bischoff then moved on to TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling) in 2010 and was named executive producer. He made sporadic appearances in WWE starting in 2016 before being named executive director of SmackDown last year.

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