Eric Bischoff (born May 27, 1957) is a performer for World Wrestling Entertainment. He is the former president of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
He started his career in professional wrestling as an announcer in the 1980s for the American Wrestling Association. When that group folded in 1991, he joined WCW as an executive and as an announcer.
A few years later, he was named Vice President of WCW and was responsible for signing away many of the then-WWF's biggest names. He also was responsible for the groundbreaking WCW vs. nWo Feud, making WCW the most-watched wrestling promotion in North America. Because of this, in 1997, WCW created a title of President of WCW, just for him.
However, due to repetitive storylines and sharp decline of business, Bischoff was removed from power in 1999. He came back into power temporarily in 2000 to try to revitalize business, but it was to no avail.
In late 2000, Bischoff and a group of investors called Fusient Media Ventures motioned to buy WCW, but couldn't get a deal in place.
In 2002, Bischoff, despite years of bad blood, was hired by WWE to be the on-air general manager of RAW, a role he has played to this day with his characteristic brand of smarminess. His executive days may be over, but Bischoff will be around the business for a while.
Eric Bischoff on-screen
Eric Bischoff was the WCW President/announcer until 1996, playing the role of a fan-favorite. He eventually became involved with the nWo, a stable consisting of former (high-profile) WWF performers. Bischoff's on-screen role contrasted with the morals of the nWo, leading the rule-breaking entity to "powerbombing" Bischoff off-stage. Surprisingly,in October, Eric Bischoff joined the nWo, thus giving them considerable power. Since then, Eric Bischoff has remained an arrogant heel authority figure, which he played until December 2004.
At Taboo Tuesday 2004, after his loss and subsequent head-shaving to "nephew" Eugene, Eric Bischoff got angry at Evolution for not watching his back--coincidentally, his character's role helped them several times before. Since then, he has shown hints of turning face.
His new look features the short white/grey hair and stubbled beard. (Note: Bischoff looked somewhat like this once before, in WCW, after losing a "Loser gets head shaved" match against David Flair , son of the legendary Ric Flair)
