After being named Executive Director of Smackdown in 2019, Eric Bischoff was let go only four months later. Bischoff has recently revealed why he was fired by WWE only after working for the company for such a short time.
Bischoff's history with WWE goes back to 2001, when his rival wrestling promotion WCW was bought out by the WWE. Eric Bischoff, as the head of WCW at the time, was part of an intense ratings battle with WWE owner Vince McMahon that later came to be known as "The Monday Night Wars." WCW came close to winning more viewers with the help of superstars such as Goldberg, Hogan, and Sting.
Although Bischoff lost the rating war with WWE, his career in the wrestling business did not end when WCW got bought out. Bischoff made a surprise debut as the new General Manager for Monday Night Raw in 2002. Seeing Bischoff on WWE television was a shock to many fans that made for a classic Raw moment. Bischoff kept the General Manager position until 2005 and stayed with the company working as on screen talent until 2007. After leaving the WWE, Bischoff helped found another rival wrestling promotion, TNA (Total Nonstop Action Wrestling), in 2009. After handing over the reins of TNA to his son Garret Bischoff in 2012, Eric started to transition away from an on-screen role into becoming more of a backstage presence.
In 2018, the WWE announced a multi-million dollar deal with Fox Sports which would move SmackDown to every Friday night on Fox. After the deal with Fox happened, Eric Bischoff came back to work for the WWE in June 2019 as the Executive Director for Smackdown. In this role, Bischoff was in charge of overseeing the creative aspect of the show while still having to report to Vince McMahon.
By the time the first episode of Smackdown premiered on Fox in October 2019, Eric Bischoff had already been replaced by Bruce Prichard as Executive Director of the show. In a recent interview with talkSport, Bischoff attempts to get the facts straight on why he was let go and replaced so soon after being hired. Bischoff that denies his employment/termination had anything to do with the company's deal with Fox or with Smackdown's ratings. This checks out, as the deal with Fox was in discussion in 2018, a year before Bischoff was even offered the job as Executive Director.
Bischoff's answer to whose fault his firing should be blamed on was simple, saying "it was on me." Bischoff backs his profession by blaming his failure to adapt to the new job for why his tenure was so short. Paul Heyman was brought on board at the same time as Bischoff, in June 2019, as Executive Director for Monday Night Raw and is still its Executive Director now, further taking the blame off anyone but Bischoff for his termination.
Bischoff described the problem as being more of a "chemistry issue" than anything else. Bischoff had been away from the WWE for more than ten years working on other wrestling promotions. It's easy to understand why adapting would be difficult for him. Having to report directly to Vince must have been a challenge after not reporting to anybody for many years. Bischoff also had little creative control over SmackDown but was more of an overseer for Vince, who unarguably has the most say in the company's creative direction.
Bischoff did not leave WWE with harsh feelings, despite his short run with the company. He was featured in the main event of this year's Wrestlemania during the "Firefly Fun House Match" between John Cena and Bray Wyatt despite his departure in October. Blaming himself for his failure to act as Executive Director feels bitter-sweet, as Vince is not to blame for this one. Bischoff deserves credit for recognizing that the Executive Director position was not a good fit and parting with the company on good terms.