Originally published on ProWrestlingSheet.

Former Executive Director of SmackDown Eric Bischoff has finally gone into detail about his run with WWE last year, as well as what he believes the reason was for his ultimate dismissal.

Bischoff opened up about what went down during a bonus episode of "83 Weeks" available on Patreon only as a gift to listeners who sign up for the ad-free versions of every Conrad Thompson podcast – which includes "Something to Wrestle" with Bruce Prichard, "Grilling JR" with Jim Ross, "The Arn Show" with Arn Anderson and "What Happened When" with Tony Schiavone.

Eric begins by explaining Bruce Prichard first mentioned the idea of Bischoff returning to the company during a breakfast they had before a live podcast show they were doing together. A casual meeting was set at the corporate office in Stamford with Vince McMahon after that.

Bischoff says at this point he wasn't convinced that going back full-time was something he really wanted to do and claims he didn't need it financially either due to his podcast/other various projects he was working on. However, he had lost substantial money in years prior due to two different business investments which factored into his decision making.

Several weeks later, Eric received a call for a second meeting where he was offered the job with WWE.

"I didn't think about it enough," he added. "I had to do some internal inventory and make sure that I was mentally and emotionally prepared to make a change as drastic as picking up, moving all my sh*t from Wyoming  ... not all of it. I wasn't going to sell my house. I wasn't going to sell my furniture. Because I suspected that there was a good chance that it would be a short-term relationship. I didn't think it was gonna be quite as short-term as it WAS, but in my own mind I put kind of a two-year ticker on it."

As you'll recall, WWE announced in June of 2019 that Paul Heyman had been hired as Executive Director of Raw and Bischoff had been hired as Executive Director of SmackDown. In these roles, both would oversee the creative development of their respective shows.

Eric says the press release announcement for this went out within 24 hours of him agreeing to the job.

Bischoff explains that his role consisted of working with every department related to SmackDown and overseeing the creative process on that show. "Not being involved in the creative, that was one thing that Vince made clear to me. He was like, 'I'm not hiring you to come in here and do creative. I'm bringing you in to oversee that process,'" Eric added.

He goes on to explain, however, that he wasn't prepared for the radical change in scenery from his home in Wyoming to a corporate apartment in Connecticut. He also believes he underestimated his ability to adapt to the situation upon starting his job at WWE. 

"I didn't realize how significant of a change [it would be] going from where I had been living for twenty years and what I had been doing for the last twenty years, to jumping into a machine. And make no mistake about it, WWE is an amazing machine," he continued. 

Bischoff then admits that once his role kicked into gear he began to feel like he was drowning due to a number of things like SmackDown moving to FOX and the uncertainty of the brand split. He also talks about his frustration with the amount of unproductive downtime they'd have at the office to fit someone else's schedule and how some nights he wouldn't get home until early in the morning for unnecessary reasons.

"Other people were managing it just fine," Eric said. "Paul Heyman is a f*cking rock star! I gained more respect for Paul Heyman in the four short months I was with WWE than I had ever had in my life. He really is a machine. And a very talented one at that. Not just because he can endure it, and overcome the challenges of it, but very, very creative guy."

"I knew about six weeks in, eight weeks in, it just wasn't going to work out. I knew I wasn't fitting and it wasn't a secret. It just wasn't right," he went on to add. "Vince wanted it to work. I believe that. I absolutely believe that. There was no reason for him to set me up this way. The opportunity that he gave me was amazing." 

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, Bischoff says his ultimate failure was in his inability to adapt and flip the switch in his head that would allow him to work well in the WWE machine.

"I knew it. Vince knew it. We both knew it. That's why when it was time for them to let me go, I was more relieved than disappointed. I was disappointed because I didn't live up to Vince's expectations."

Regarding his actual dismissal, Eric says he was told after coming into the office on a Tuesday morning by someone other than Vince McMahon. He was not able to say what he was told by the person in regards to why he was let go, but makes it clear that it was more of a chemistry issue on his part rather than anything WWE may have done.

"I had to fit in the system and I wasn't able to do it in the timeline it needed to be done."

The full episode of "83 Weeks" on this topic is available as a bonus when you sign up for the ad-free version of Conrad Thompson's shows via Patreon. Additional topics covered during the episode include his response to the theory that his hiring was strictly a PR move to distract investors, reports downplaying the work he did in WWE during this run and much more. 

CLICK HERE to sign up and listen now.