Eric Bischoff Eric Bischoff ( May 27 , 1955 ) , is a former professional wrestling promoter and on - screen personality , most known for serving as President of World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) and " on - air " General Manager of World Wrestling Entertainment ' s " RAW " brand . He also worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a producer from 2010 to 2014 . He is currently working for Global Force Wrestling . Life Before Wrestling . Bischoff was a wrestling fan growing up in a rough Detroit neighborhood . He and his family relocated to Pittsburgh just before high school , where he began competing in amateur wrestling for his school . Bischoff moved to Minneapolis , Minnesota , for his senior year of high school , where he continued his amateur wrestling career until sustaining a knee injury . It is now subject to false rumor that he had attended the University of Minnesota . A short while after leaving school to pursue his interests in business , he became interested in taekwondo , eventually earning a black belt , and competing across the country in small karate tournaments . Before getting into professional wrestling Bischoff had a number of occupations . He owned a successful construction company , worked as a veterinary assistant , and , for a time , ran a butcher ' s shop where he would sell the meat by van delivery . Hulk Hogan would famously refer to this time in his life during a promo at the end of the 1996 WCW pay - per - view event " Bash At The Beach " in Daytona Beach , Florida , saying : " If it wasn ' t for Hulk Hogan , Eric Bischoff would still be selling meat from a truck in Minneapolis . " American Wrestling Assosciation ( AWA ) . Bischoff started his wrestling career in the late 1980s for the American Wrestling Assosciation ( AWA ) . Eric was a telecaster and syndicator for the company ( Verne Gagne is quoted as saying he thought Eric " had the right look for television , " but his announcing at this point was , even according to Bischoff himself , admittedly mediocre ) . Contrary to popular belief , Eric claims he never had any creative input in the company , and denies ever being a " gopher " . World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) . In 1991 , Bischoff joined World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) as an announcer , debuting at The Great American Bash . As an announcer , Bischoff reported to producer Tony Schiavone and WCW ' s Vice President of Broadcasting , Jim Ross . After WCW boss Bill Watts was fired by TBS executive Bill Shaw in 1993 , Bischoff went to Shaw and WCW Vice President Bob Dhue to ask for the job of executive producer . Although Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone seemed to be the two top candidates , Shaw and Dhue went with Bischoff . Schiavone remained a producer until the company ' s demise , but Ross was soon let go by Bischoff and ended up in the rival World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) . In 1994 , Bischoff became a Vice President , and cleared house within the WCW front office . He famously fired event manager Don Sandefeur , junior Vice President Jim Barnett , and his old boss Bob Dhue , all on the same day ( in a 10 / 14 blog entry on his website , Bischoff denied this , stating that Sandefeur and Dhue never reported to him ) . In 1996 , Bill Shaw was reassigned from WCW , leaving Eric with the title of Executive Vice President / General Manager , and by 1997 , Bischoff was promoted to President of World Championship Wrestling by the head of TBS Sports , Dr . Harvey Schiller . Bischoff convinced Turner executives to better finance WCW in order to compete with the WWF . Almost immediately he used the money allotted him to sign big names such as Hulk Hogan , Randy Savage and others away from the WWF . He also invested money in production values and increased the number of WCW pay - per - view s ( first 7 a year , then 10 , and then once a month , with the WWF following suit each time ) . The plans paid off , and in 1995 WCW turned a profit for the first time . " Monday Nitro " . During one WCW meeting in 1995 , Ted Turner asked Bischoff how the company could possibly compete with the WWF . Bischoff , taken aback by the question , told Turner to put WCW on prime time television against the WWF ' s " Monday Night RAW " . At the time , the flagship show for WCW was " WCW Saturday Night " , which ran on Saturday Nights at 6 : 05 , and as such there was no direct competition between WCW and WWF for viewers . To the surprise of many within the wrestling industry , Turner agreed , and gave Bischoff a 1 - hour prime time slot every Monday on TNT ( in 1996 , due to high ratings , it would expand to 2 hours , and eventually 3 hours in 1998 ) . Bischoff designed and produced the new show , " WCW Monday Nitro , " and showcased the company as a fresh alternative to the WWF . While new episodes of " RAW " were taped weeks in advance , " Nitro " was live each week , with Bischoff often giving away " RAW " results to encourage viewers to watch his show instead . In his book , Bischoff describes the design for Nitro as being a complete alternative to the WWE . RAW catered to younger crowds , so Nitro would in turn cater to the 18 - 35 male demographic . Character - wise , Raw featured larger than life cartoon characters , while Nitro would begin to feature edgier characters with more depth . Because WCW and TNT were both part of Turner , Bischoff was able to start " Nitro " several minutes earlier than " RAW " , as well as provide a late - night rebroadcast so viewers who opted to watch " RAW " could still see the show . With the influx of new money Bischoff also began signing wrestlers from around the world , including All Japan and New Japan , to fill the undercard with quicker paced , more action - packed matches . The plan worked as " Nitro " beat " RAW " in their first head - to - head week and ran neck - and - neck with the WWF for the remainder of the year . nWo . In 1996 , Bischoff revealed that WWF superstar Scott Hall , better known to audiences as " Razor Ramon " , was defecting from the WWF to join WCW . Hall was soon be joined by Kevin Nash , better known as " Diesel " , to become " The Outsiders " . The duo was depicted as invading WCW on behalf of the WWF to start a " war " between the two companies ( though Bischoff was later forced to clarify that Hall and Nash did not represent and were not under contract to the WWF ) . The Outsiders expanded and became The New World Order when perennial fan - favorite Hulk Hogan aligned himself with the Outsiders . Led by the nWo storyline , WCW overtook the WWF as the number one wrestling promotion in America with " Monday Nitro " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s rating defeating " Monday Night RAW " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s by a wide margin for 84 consecutive weeks . Through this Bischoff moved from a commentator to a manager type role in the nWo and enjoyed a lot of screen time . He also enjoyed some mainstream exposure in his own right at the time , appearing on the HBO series " Arli $ $ " as well as " The Tonight Show with Jay Leno " . Downfall of WCW . By January 1999 , however , the WWF had begun catching up to WCW in the ratings . On January 4 , 1999 , a live " Nitro " was scheduled to air alongside a taped edition of " Raw " . During what was likely the most competitive night in the " Monday Night Wars , " Bischoff instructed Tony Schiavone to remark , " " And we understand that Mick Foley , who once wrestled for us as Cactus Jack , is going to win their world title . Wow ! Now that ' s gonna put some butts in the seats . " " Bischoff ' s intention was to spoil the main event , causing fans to lose interest in " Raw " and stay tuned in to " Nitro " . Instead , Nielsen Ratings showed that within minutes of the announcement , nearly 300 , 000 " Nitro " viewers switched the channel to " Raw " so they could see the title change ( WCW had been ahead in the ratings until Schiavone ' s remark ) . Although both shows broke quarter - hour ratings records that night , and " Nitro " beat five of " Raw " ' s quarter hours , combined with the infamous Fingerpoke of Doom it proved to be a decisive turning point in the " Wars " ( even though " Nitro " ratings were still very solid , in the 4 . 5 - 5 . 0 range , " Nitro " never again beat " Raw " in the ratings ) . Frustrated and burnt - out , Bischoff lost his cocky attitude . His TV presence disappeared , and he began looking for an out from WCW , often missing shows so he could pitch ideas to TV executives in Hollywood , being introduced by his friend Jason Hervey as " " The golden boy who saved wrestling . " " While wandering elsewhere , Bischoff left Kevin Nash and " Nitro " producer Craig Leathers in charge of WCW , and ratings quickly tanked . Many long - time fans single out this time period as the time when Nitro ' s storylines and production became increasingly shoddy . When Bischoff returned from hiatus in April 1999 ( Bischoff had officially taken six weeks off to , according to various internet reports at the time , " take his daughter on vacation " ) , the company was in bad shape , and Bischoff ' s solution of throwing money at the problem created more problems . On top of this , he seemingly could not produce a follow - up to the nWo cash - cow that had been milked dry . He would try to unsuccessfully extend the WCW brand outside of wrestling with a restaurant called The Nitro Grill ( which went under in less than a year ) , a brand of cologne , and a poorly received line of video games for the Sony PlayStation . Storylines were confusing and guest appearances by Master P , Chad Brock ( himself a former WCW jobber ) , KISS , and Megadeth ( reportedly paid between $ 200 , 000 - 500 , 000 each to perform one song ) failed to garner the interest of the casual fan while losing the viewership of faithful fans . Bischoff Ousted / The Death of WCW . All plans were scrapped when , on September 10 , 1999 , Bischoff was suddenly relieved of his management position with WCW ( over the phone , the way Bischoff had fired so many wrestlers ) by the President of TBS Sports , Dr . Harvey Schiller , although the official decision had been made by top executives on Time Warner ' s board of directors . In August , when WCW was projecting huge losses for the upcoming months , a meeting was held with WCW ' s accountants and TBS executives in the sports and programming divisions . Presiding over this was Dr . Schiller , who shot down the prospect of firing Bischoff . Hours after this meeting ended , WCW executives Gary Juster and James J . Dillon staged a coup , going over their boss ' head and meeting with members of Time Warner ' s board of directors directly to try getting Bischoff demoted , and to everyone ' s astonishment , it worked . Bischoff was replaced with WCW accountant Bill Busch ( the title " President of WCW , " which had been created specifically for Eric Bischoff , was eliminated , with Busch being named executive - VP ) and the parent company went so far as to ban Bischoff from the WCW offices . A month long promoted contest for one million dollars and a KISS concert / wrestling PPV scheduled for December 31 , 1999 were canceled as well as a planned Nitro animated series . Many in the company were shocked to see Bischoff go , despite the level to which he had allowed his company to drop . Even for all of his failings , he was heralded as the only manager of a successful WCW , and less than a year prior was considered the kingpin of the entire wrestling business . On top of this , he had always been close with Turner Broadcasting executives and with Ted Turner himself , who considered Bischoff his wrestling visionary . When Turner ' s role within Time Warner was reduced to being a member of the board rather than acting chairman , Bischoff lost his favor . The management change went un - mentioned on WCW television . The WCW website claimed it would have more information on Bischoff ' s involvement in the coming weeks , yet the company seemed ready to quickly forget him . All images and references to Bischoff were removed from WCW programming . J . J Dillon had a connection to a WWF creative writer who was brought in to change the course of the Monday night war and save WCW . The connection was Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara Less than six months went by before Bill Busch was removed ( following in the tradition of all other persons — sans Eric Bischoff — to have controlled WCW ' s day - to - day operations , under Busch ' s watch , WCW continued bleeding money uncontrollably despite Busch ' s reputation as a numbers specialist , and ratings , which had always stayed decent under Bischoff , plummeted to embarrassing all - time lows ) , and Brad Siegel , a Time Warner programming executive , officially assumed control of WCW . Siegel ' s first order of business was to ask Eric what could be done to save the company , and because of this , Bischoff briefly came back into power in April 2000 , although not as president ; instead , he was named event and television manager , and was to be partners - in - charge with creative director Vince Russo . Unhappy with Russo ' s booking ( which Bischoff would later describe as " dark , mean - spirited , and creatively shallow " ) , Bischoff left the company after six weeks ; Russo subsequently took control of all wrestling and television operations , while John Laurinaitis became event manager . Attempted Purchase of WCW . In late 2000 , with WCW facing major financial woes , the company was put up for sale . Brad Siegel wanted little to do with the company , and his new boss in the AOL Time Warner merger was former WB Network executive Jamie Kellner , who wanted even less to do with the company . In the Turner era , WCW had always been classified as a sports division , yet under the new corporate umbrella it was overseen by television executives , many of whom hated the idea of wrestling on their station , seeing it as " low brow " , and attempted to remove it entirely . Bischoff and a group of investors , named Fusient Media Ventures , signed a letter of intent to buy the company , but later backed out when Kellner canceled " Nitro ' s " timeslot , without which , as Bischoff had said , " " WCW would only be worth . . . 20 bucks . " " Without the Fusient interest WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation for a substantially lower price ( approximately US $ 2 , 000 , 000 ) than what had been offered in March 2001 . Bischoff took some time off from wrestling to work on other TV projects . He produced several reality TV shows and signed on as president of Matrats , a youth - based wrestling company . World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) . In 2002 , Bischoff was hired by World Wrestling Entertainment to be the general manager of " RAW " , a role he played until late 2005 . His debut as RAW GM was very unexpected , especially in today ' s " internet wrestling community " , where behind the scenes deals and happenings are readily available before they transpire on television . Bischoff resurrected his characteristic brand of swarminess with the GM position , again playing the arrogant heel character he had perfected as the nWo boss in WCW . His reign as GM was longer than any other GM in WWE history , and included " innovations " like the " Raw Roulette " ( a wheel with different match possibilities on it ) , and the Elimination Chamber , as well as feud s with Stone Cold Steve Austin , John Cena , " SmackDown ! " GM Stephanie McMahon , and Extreme Championship Wrestling representative Paul Heyman . Bischoff was " removed " as General Manager in late 2005 , when Vince McMahon tossed him into a garbage truck - following a " trial " where his history of unscrupulous actions were listed - and driven out of the arena . Bischoff then sat out the remainder of the year and spent the start of 2006 writing a book that would become " Controversy Creates Cash " . Although it was widely believed that his contract expired during his sabbatical , Bischoff recently confirmed on Live Audio Wrestling that he is under contract with WWE until September 2007 . On September 25 , 2006 Bischoff appeared on WWE TV for the first time in close to a year , being brought into the ring by Jonathan Coachman where he proceeded to promote his recently finished book , " Controversy Creates Cash " ( ISBN 1 - 4165 - 2729 - X ) , and take several " cheap shots " at Vince McMahon and WWE . During his segment Bischoff stated " without " Monday Nitro " there would be no " Monday Night RAW " . . . without the nWo there would be no DX . . . and without Eric Bischoff there would be no Mr . McMahon " . After the personal crack at McMahon at the end of his tirade , Bischoff ' s microphone was turned off and he was escorted out of the building . A few days later John Bradshaw Layfield conducted a four - part interview with Bischoff , further discussing his book , on WWE . com . During the interview , Bischoff discussed various topics , such as his true feelings towards Lex Luger , his thoughts on ECW promoter Paul Heyman , his questionable decision of giving Kevin Nash booking power , and his overall reaction to the Monday Night Wars . " Controversy Creates Cash " was reportedly sold out through the official WWE webstore as early as October 3 , two weeks before its planned release . It is currently on the New York Times best seller list . Bischoff was chosen as the special guest referee for the Degeneration X vs . Randy Orton and Edge match at Cyber Sunday on November 5 , with 60 % of the vote . He then cheated DX out of the win leaving Orton and Edge the victors . On the November 6 , 2006 episode of RAW , Bischoff was reinstated as General Manager for one night only . During his time as the GM on RAW he would restart matches if he didn ' t like the outcome . He restarted the match between Jeff Hardy vs . Johnny Nitro for the Intercontinental Championship . Hardy won by DQ , but Bischoff had the match restarted with no DQ . Nitro took advantage of that using Melina to distract Hardy and Nitro striking him with the title belt , Nitro won the title due to Eric Bischoff thinking that Nitro " deserved " the title . Hardy would go on to win the belt back the following week on RAW . On March 5 , 2007 , Bischoff made a brief appearance on " Raw " in Phoenix , Arizona to give Vince McMahon his thoughts on the WrestleMania 23 match against Donald Trump . Then on December 10 , 2007 , Bischoff returned to " Raw " for its 15th Anniversary Special and was confronted by Chris Jericho , who was fired on Raw in 2005 . Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( 2009 - 2014 ) . In October 2009 , Bischoff was in charge of negotiating a deal among Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( TNA ) , Hulk Hogan , and himself . He premiered alongside Hogan on the January 4 , 2010 , edition of " TNA Impact ! " in an alliance to take over and rebuild the franchise . He currently makes regular appearances on the weekly " TNA Impact ! " program . He was also appointed TNA executive producer and has authority to book matches . Despite being a heel when dealing with the likes of Jeff Jarrett , Mick Foley and Abyss , Bischoff refereed his first TNA match at Against All Odds , favoring the face challenger Samoa Joe over the heel champion A . J . Styles in a match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship . During the match Bischoff punched out Styles ' manager Ric Flair , after he interfered in the match , but the distraction led to Styles retaining his belt . On the March 15 edition of " Impact ! " Bischoff attempted to shave Mick Foley bald as a punishment for trying to help Jeff Jarrett in a handicap match the previous week , but was shaved bald himself , when Foley turned the tables on him . At Lockdown Bischoff turned face by helping Team Hogan defeat Team Flair in the Lethal Lockdown match . The next months Bischoff worked with Hogan , Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash , who claimed that they knew that Bischoff and Hogan were up to something . During this time Abyss turned on Hogan and went on a rampage , which included attacking the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the title , all the while claiming that he was controlled by some entity , that was coming to TNA . After he manhandled TNA president Dixie Carter on the October 7 edition of " Impact ! " , Bischoff presented Carter with the paperwork that would have Abyss fired after his match with Rob Van Dam at Bound for Glory , which she then proceeded to sign . Immortal and Departure ( 2010 – 2014 ) . At Bound for Glory Bischoff turned heel with Hogan , as the two of them helped Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship . Bischoff , Hogan and Hardy then aligned themselves with Abyss and Jeff Jarrett . On the following edition of " Impact ! " it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier , were not to release Abyss , but to turn the company over to him and Hogan . Meanwhile , Bischoff ' s and Hogan ' s new stable , now known as Immortal , formed an alliance with Ric Flair ' s Fortune . On the November 4 edition of " Impact ! " , Bischoff took part in his first match in TNA , challenging the concussed Mr . Anderson to earn his shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship , only for Matt Morgan to take his spot and beat Bischoff to become the number one contender . Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 edition of " Reaction " , informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority , indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA . On January 31 , 2011 , at the tapings of the February 3 edition of " Impact ! " , Fortune turned on Immortal , explaining that they were not going to let TNA suffer the same fate as WCW . Hogan , having won the court battle against Dixie Carter , returned to TNA on the March 3 edition of " Impact ! " , declaring himself as the new owner of the promotion . However , on the May 12 edition of the newly renamed " Impact Wrestling " , Immortal lost control of the program to Mick Foley , who revealed himself as the Network consultant , who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Bischoff and Hogan took over the company , however , this angle was aborted just three weeks later , when Foley left the promotion . Also in May , Bischoff declared war on the X Division , after the legitimate firing of Jay Lethal , and on the May 19 edition of " Impact Wrestling " , wrestled his second TNA match , when he teamed with Matt Hardy in a tag team match , where they defeated Generation Me ( Jeremy and Max Buck ) . The storyline concluded on August 11 , when the Network gave the division back to the original X Division wrestlers , after the success of Destination X , which saw Immortal ' s Abyss lose the X - Division Championship to Brian Kendrick . On October 6 , it was reported that Bischoff had signed a contract extension with TNA . On October 16 at Bound for Glory , after losing control of TNA back to Dixie Carter , Hogan turned on the rest of Immortal by saving Sting from a beatdown at the hands of its members . Sting had won the match when referee Jackson James , who had earlier in the event been revealed as Bischoff ' s real - life son Garett Bischoff , reluctantly called the ring bell for a submission , which led to Eric hitting his son with a steel chair following the match , starting a rivalry between the two . On April 15 , 2012 at Lockdown , Eric and Garett captained opposing teams in the annual Lethal Lockdown match . Garett won the match for his team by pinning Eric , forcing his father out of TNA in the process . After Lockdown , Bischoff didn ' t appear on TNA Impact Wrestling to focus on backstage roles . Bischoff was sent home by TNA in October 2013 for him to await his contract to expire in early 2014 . Life Outside Wrestling . Bischoff , with Jason Hervey , runs his own production company , Bischoff - Hervey Productions , which co - produced the reality TV series " I Want To Be a Hilton " for NBC in 2005 . They also produced a live " Girls Gone Wild " pay - per - view event from Florida in 2003 with the WWE and another pay - per - view about the Sturgis , South Dakota motorcycle rally in 2004 . They also executive produced the VH1 reality show " Scott Baio Is 45 . . . and Single " , another VH1 reality show " Confessions of a Teen Idol " , and the CMT show " Billy Ray Cyrus . . . Home At Last " . Bishoff - Hervey Productions also produced a reality show called " Hulk Hogan ' s Celebrity Championship Wrestling " in which ten celebrities were trained to wrestle and one celebrity is voted off weekly . Bischoff also appeared as one of the " judges " on the show . In November 2009 , Bischoff helped produce Hulk Hogan ' s Hulkamania tour to Australia . Today , Bischoff lives in Scottsdale , Arizona , with his wife , Loree , and two children . His son Garret Bischoff is a professional wrestler currently contracted to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling .