Controversial WCW And WWE Personality Says He Wishes He Never Joined TNA

Although best known for his work with WCW and later WWE, Eric Bischoff worked for Impact Wrestling, then called TNA, for two years between 2010 and 2012. The controversial character recently appeared as a guest on The Underground Australia podcast and spoke about leaving WCW, his time in WWE, and how he feels looking back on his run with TNA.

Bischoff said that when he left WCW after the company was bought by Vince McMahon in 2001, he’d worked hard to let go of the resentment that he had for the wrestling business:

“Enough time had gone by. I had been out of wrestling, it was in my rear view mirror. I wasn’t thinking about it anymore. And I left all of that resentment and all of that baggage, and I left it all in my past. And I didn’t think about it anymore”.

In spite of this, Eric said he was relieved at getting a second chance when Vince McMahon offered him a job as a WWE on-screen character in 2002:

“When Vince [McMahon] called me and offered me a job, I realized in that moment that it was an opportunity for me to end my career on a high note. I knew that if I went into the WWE as a character, because I was very confident in my abilities as a performer, I was very confident in the history that I had with the WWF would make it even easier for me that it would for anybody else. My character would be more interesting, because everybody knew my history with the company. So, I knew all of the conditions were right for me to be very successful, and to have the opportunity to end my career on a positive note. And, because of that, I felt like a kid at Christmas morning.”

After leaving WWE in 2005, Bischoff would largely stay out of the wrestling business with the exception of a few sporadic appearances. However, he signed for TNA in 2010 and was once again featured prominently as an on-screen personality.

Speaking of his run with Impact, Bischoff said he was hugely unhappy with his work there, and said he even regrets joining the promotion altogether:

“For the most part, it is very regrettable. Looking back, I wished I wouldn’t have done it, with one or two exceptions. It was an opportunity for me to work with my son, and for my son to get an opportunity to work in the wrestling business, which is something that was a goal of his as a young boy and a teenager growing up. He’s fantasized having an opportunity to work in the wrestling business with his father, and being in TNA gave me that opportunity to provide to him. And I’ll forever be grateful for that, because that is a memory that my son and I share to this that day, that is very special to both of us. And I’ll never, ever minimize that. But, other than that? Eh. Eh.”

Thanks to WrestlingInc. for the transcription.

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