WWE announced this week that the New World Order faction will be inducted into the Hall of Fame next year. The NWO will be represented by Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, & Syxx-Pac (Sean Waltman). Eric Bischoff played a key role in the NWO angle both on-screen and behind the scenes but was not included in the group being inducted.

“The nWo is the storyline, the angle, the moment that storyline was conceived and as it became executed, was probably one of the most important periods in professional wrestling, in this industry, in the last 30 years,” Bischoff said recently on his 83 Weeks podcast.

Does Eric Bischoff Think He Should Be Inducted With The NWO?

Sean Waltman recently discussed Bischoff’s omission from the group being included on his “X-Pac 12 360” podcast.

“I don’t even know who chooses, or how people are chosen to go into the Hall of Fame, but whatever it is, it’s very subjective,” Bischoff said. “There’s reasons behind it, there’s feelings behind it, there’s emotion behind it, there’s facts behind it, and I have no idea how those choices are made. I don’t think anybody should be in the Hall of Fame.”

Bischoff responded to Waltman’s comments on the matter as well.

“That’s nice of him to say, but he’s not calling the shots, so it really doesn’t matter. I wish he was. That’d be great. I’d like to hang out with my buddies at WrestleMania, that’d be wonderful, but I don’t worry about that. I knew as soon as I saw that, I go, ‘Oh my gosh, my Twitter feed is going to be overloaded with comments about this, I’m going to be dealing with it now for weeks.’ But I love those guys. Those four guys, especially Hulk, these are guys that I have deep affection for, and respect for, so I couldn’t be happier.”

H/T to 411mania for transcriptions

Eric Bischoff didn’t last long in his role as Executive Director of Smackdown for WWE. Bischoff’s hiring was announced by WWE in June and he was gone from the company in October. He spoke to Konnan on the “Keepin it 100” podcast recently.

“My way of looking at the business is different,” Bischoff said on the show. “My approach to creative is probably significantly different and I just don’t think it was a good fit.”

Bischoff then talked about when he knew things weren’t working out between he and WWE.

“There was a moment or two I guess while I was there the first couple of months. I think the first month and a half in particular where I went home and I told my wife Laurie, do not fall in love, do not fall in love with the furniture, do not fall in love with anything you buy here. We came here in a 5×8 U-Haul trailer, we’re going to leave here in a 5×8 U-Haul trailer, we may be leaving sooner than you think. That thought crossed my mind early on and I was right.”

Bischoff’s comments about his last run in WWE can be heard in the player below:

WWE announced recently that the New World Order faction will be inducted into the Hall of Fame next year at WrestleMania. Four members of the NWO were chosen to represent the faction: Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Syxx Pac (Sean Waltman/X-Pac). One big omission from the group being inducted is Eric Bischoff, who played a large role both on-screen and off-screen concerning the NWO angle.

Waltman commented on Bischoff’s omission from the group being inducted recently on his “X-Pac 12 360” podcast.

“I think it’s crazy, I’m bummed out that Eric Bischoff is not in on this. I feel bad for that, I actually feel bad about that. It goes without saying,” Waltman said.

Waltman also spoke about several other former members of the New World Order he feels deserves credit.

“The Scott Nortons, the Buff Bagwells, NWO Sting, Mike Rotunda, Virgil, all those guys because everybody contributed something,” Waltman said. “I’d like for everyone – I want to shout out to all of them, they deserve it.”

Big Show/Giant was also mentioned as a key member of the NWO on the show.

Sean Waltman On NWO Memories

Waltman has been posting some of his favorite memories from his time in the NWO to his Twitter account.

Hulk Hogan has been very vocal about wanting a retirement match in WWE ever since his reinstatement into the Hall Of Fame and many have been wondering if he could be thinking about wrestling a match at next year’s WrestleMania.

During his recent interview with Pancakes and Powerslams podcast, former SmackDown Executive Director Eric Bischoff talked about a number of things and he also revealed his thoughts on Hogan possibly wrestling at the Show of Shows.

The former WCW President first joked that the WWE Universe will like to see a match between Hogan and Undertaker and he then said that it’s hard for him to imagine this:

“God bless him, if that’s what he wants to do and he’s able to make that happen, I’d be the second happiest person in Florida that night. But it’s hard for me to imagine that he’ll be able to get ready for something like that. But who knows? He’s done it before.”

Hulk Hogan On Possibly Having One More Match

Hulk Hogan has been talking about possibly wrestling one more match in WWE for a while now and just recently, he had revealed that he talked to Vince McMahon about the same.

The Hulkster claimed that he doesn’t know if he could live with himself knowing that his last match was with TNA and he prays that he can fix it by having a match in WWE:

“I talked to Vince, and I said I really don’t know if I could live with myself knowing my last match was with TNA, If I can get fixed, I pray I can have one more match. I told Vince, ‘When I get through this back surgery, I’m going to get in the best shape of my life and we’re going to talk about me having one last retirement match.’ “

Hulk underwent the back surgery he mentioned in mid-Novemeber. However, the time table for his recovery is not known.

Would you like to see Hulk Hogan competing in one more match at WrestleMania 36? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Quotes via 411mania.com

Former SmackDown Executive Director Eric Bischoff recently had an interview with Digital Spy where he talked about things like the rise of AEW, NXT beating AEW in the ratings recently and more.

Bischoff’s sudden departure from WWE in October after only a 4-month long tenure is still a topic of discussion and there are a lot of stories and rumors about the reason behind his firing from the company.

The former WCW President was asked about the cause of his departure from the company during the interview, but he said that he doesn’t want to get into it too much:

“You know, I don’t want to get into it too much, I think, dare to say that WWE is an amazingly successful company, and they have their own processes, and their own way of doing things, and managing Creative, and I just don’t think I fit into that environment.”

Eric Bischoff On Possibly Joining AEW

The rise of AEW is one of the most influential events in the wrestling industry in the past year and since its inception, a number of WWE employees who left the company have ended up joining the upstart promotion.

When asked if he would consider joining the company if offered a position, the former WWE stat said that he still like the wrestling business. He then claimed that he would take the job if the situation is right:

“You know, I don’t know. I still like the wrestling business. I still have an interest in it and an affection for it. I think I’m pretty good at it. If the right situation came along, and by right, I mean a situation where I felt – specifically after my recent stint with WWE – the chemistry has to be there.”

Eric Bischoff went on to explain that chemistry is 90% of the equation and he would be interested in joining if the process is constructive and positive and he enjoys working with the people there.

Apart from this, Eric Bischoff also talked about CM Punk’s return, WWE having a world-class production team and more. You can check out his full interview at this link.

Former executive director of SmackDown, Eric Bischoff, recently gave his thoughts on All Elite Wrestling’s Dynamite and WWE NXT’s ratings and viewership numbers and discussed what the AEW show should do to make their show successful in the ratings department.

On his 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff said that while the numbers that AEW does, which is under a million viewers a week, look good, they are not that great. At least not for a major cable outlet. They are also not that great from a competitive position with WWE, according to Eric.

“Let’s be realistic. They are still coming in under a million viewers a week, and they’re coming in under a million viewers a week on a major cable outlet that typically does a bigger number than that. More importantly, they’re delivering under a million viewers a week within a genre, sports entertainment, professional wrestling, whatever you want to call it, that is typically not really an advertising-friendly platform. So while those numbers look good, look great, look fantastic, from a competitive position with WWE, from an ad sales position, particularly in primetime, it’s not a pretty number yet.”

Related: AEW Dynamite & NXT TV Viewership (11/27)

Bischoff compared Dynamite to Nitro and said that Nitro had a lower viewership and it grew with time. If Dynamite can grow like that in the coming months then they’ll get attention from other networks and more advertisers.

“It’s a good number, it’s a solid number, and if they can build upon that number and grow it, like Nitro did, and I think here’s a really, here’s a better comparison. I think if you go back and look at the debut of Nitro unopposed, I think we came in around a 2.5 or 2.6, which even back then, represented almost two million viewers, two million plus viewers. But once RAW came back and we were going head-to-head, we were living in that 2.4, 2.5, 2.8, 2.9, 3.0, 3.3, we were growing, our audience was building as opposed to staying flat, and what I’ve seen so far from AEW is, they’re numbers are essentially flat.”

“If AEW can go from where they are now which is, I think the last week I looked at was around 950,000 viewers or so, if they can start building upon that where six months from now or a year from now they’re at 1.5 million, now you have a viable business because other networks are going to look at that and go, ‘Wow, that audience is growing.’ If they’ve gone from 950,000 viewers on average, fluctuations week to week, but over the course of six to eight months they’ve built upon that 950,000 and now they’re doing 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, kind of like Nitro did, now they actually have something that’s real. But until that happens, it’s still kind of a wait and see for me,” Bischoff added.

He also talked about WWE NXT ratings and said that he doesn’t imagine USA Network being too happy with the show’s numbers, which is around 700,000 to 800,000 viewers. He also added that NXT has a major advantage over Dynamite which is that it is promoted on Raw and SmackDown which are the main shows of the company, but the fact that the numbers are still under a million is disappointing, according to Bischoff.

You can check out the podcast by clicking this link.

Eric Bischoff was, for a short time, the Executive Director of SmackDown. During his tenure in WWE, Bischoff had his eye on a few Superstars he knew he wanted to work with, had his time in the role lasted a little longer.

“There were certain talents like Chad Gable, I really dug him as a person and professional,” Bischoff told the hosts of the Pancakes and Powerslams podcast.

“I love Randy Orton’s work, I didn’t get a chance to work with him, but I really admire his work. He’s flawless as a performer and I would have liked to work with him.”

Bischoff confessed that “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus was another Superstar he believes has “a lot of great talent.” Bischoff noted how Sheamus was a character he would have loved to work with.

When it comes to considering other Superstars, he admitted that he only really focused on SmackDown and that he wasn’t watching NXT to monitor their talent. 

Bischoff then explained how WWE is coming to the understanding that they need to fully develop their existing roster, rather than relying on Hall of Famers and Legends. With so many Legends incapable of doing anything physical during a show, Bischoff argues WWE is “limited” in how they could use them in an entertaining way. 

You can listen to episode 400 of the Pancakes and Powerslams podcast over at BlogtalkRadio.com.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription

Former SmackDown Executive Director Eric Bischoff has addressed the controversial comments recently made by Jim Cornette. On a recent episode of NWA Powerrr, Cornette remarked how “Trevor Murdoch is the only person who can strap a bucket of fried chicken to his back and ride a motor scooter across Ethiopia. Trevor Murdoch can take care of himself!”

Speaking on the post-show of his 83 Weeks podcast, After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson, Bischoff addressed Cornette’s statement. He highlighted Cornette’s unwillingness to adapt, and that this refusal to change with the times will ultimately put him “out to pasture.”

“Jim is a guy that is reluctant to adapt, and it’s really unfortunate because he’s a talented guy, he’s an entertaining guy, and he’s a very knowledgeable guy,” Bischoff said. “But if you’re not willing to grow and evolve and to understand the implications of some of the things that you do and say and how it affects other people adversely, then you’re going to get put out to pasture. I hope that doesn’t happen with Jim. But apparently that’s kind of what it appears to be. I don’t know where he goes from here… Who’s going to hire him? At this point, probably nobody.”

In the wake of Cornette’s statement, NWA took down the episode from YouTube to remove his statement. He is no longer a part of the promotion. 

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription. 

Eric Bischoff has sounded off on AEW securing the rights to the Bash at the Beach trademark and using it for a special episode of their weekly television show on TNT, Dynamite. 

During the latest episode of After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson, Bischoff was asked what his thoughts are on AEW using the Bash at the Beach theme. 

“I have mixed emotions about it. I kind of understand it, but I also think it’s a bad choice. AEW…needs to find their own vision. They need to become their own brand. They need to become their own entity. They need to find the way that they’re really going to become the alternative. The more often they go back and kind of try to recreate the success of WCW, and align themselves with WCW’s success, I think they’re missing the mark.”

AEW Bash at the Beach: 9 Day Event Includes Jericho Cruise, 2 Episodes of Dynamite

All Elite Wrestling has already announced that they will air the January 15th episode of AEW Dynamite live on TNT with a special Bash At The Beach theme from Miami, Florida at the Watsco Center at the University of Miami.

WCW used the theme for pay-per-view events from 1994-2000 that was mostly held in Florida outside of two years. 

Bischoff recently defined what his role was as executive director of SmackDown during his latest tenure with WWE. For more on that, check it out here. 

Eric Bischoff has opened up on exactly what it meant when WWE announced him as the SmackDown Executive Director earlier this year. 

During the latest episode of After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson, Bischoff was asked what his role was as executive director, which is where he talked about while he wasn’t in the middle of creative, he oversaw the ongoings of the brand. 

He did point out that such a role had not existed prior to this opportunity for him. 

“The role, as it was originally defined to me, was to oversee the process and oversee the SmackDown brand, not to necessarily be involved in creative other than to oversee the management of it. 

Also to essentially oversee all of the other elements of the business that had anything to do with SmackDown. So it was a very broad description. Keep in mind it was a new job. It wasn’t a position that had previously existed in WWE. I’m sure a lot of thought went into it, but I think the position is most likely still evolving and being defined.”

Eric Bischoff Reveals What He Told Vince McMahon About AEW Dynamite

Bischoff is no longer under contract with WWE after his latest stint started five months ago after the company confirmed that he had been replaced by Bruce Prichard as the Executive Director of SmackDown. 

It was an unfortunate situation due to Bischoff accepting the job and moving with his wife to Stanford for the WWE job.

However, Bischoff has been positive about the departure in various interviews and will stay busy with his 83 Weeks Podcast with Conrad Thompson. 

Not many expected Eric Bischoff to be released by WWE only a few months after starting his stint but now that he has left the company, people have been talking about his future and what he could do next.

One such role people believe he might be fit for is doing commentary on AEW TV and Bischoff revealed his thoughts on this possibility while speaking to WrestlingInc recently.

The former WCW President explained that you should never say never but he went on to claim that taking the role will be like going back to the future and he is not sure it would be a good fit for anybody:

“I hate to be so coy, but never say never. But highly doubtful as it’s been there done that, If I’m gonna engage in something, it’s gotta be something that I really feel challenged by and excited about. That [AEW commentary] is like going back to the future and I’m not sure that would be a good fit for anybody.”

Apart from this, Eric Bischoff also talked about the need of authority figures in modern-day wrestling saying that such figures are still necessary.

However, he went on to say that authority figures have been overdone to a point where it has become challenging to come up with a way to do it effectively and entertainingly without feeling like it has been done before.

During WWE’s 2019 Q3 investors call, WWE Co-President George Barrios was asked about Eric Bischoff’s short stay as SmackDown’s Executive Director.

Although Barrios wouldn’t name any specific person, he stressed that WWE is committed to putting the right people into the roles.

“I think Vince has mentioned it before on the call that one of the internal projects we’ve had is just like every part of the organization,” Barrios said. “And it’s how you continually strengthen the structure and the process to accomplish the goal of that particular function. In the case of the writing there’s a lot of work done early in the year around that. One of the manifestations of that was the creation of these roles Executive Directors of each of the brands. And as Vince mentioned it allowed him to be more targeted and how he involved himself in the creative process.”

He continued, “So we’re really, really happy about the structure and continue to invest in that and strengthen it internally. I’m not going to talk about one — a particular individual. Ultimately the structure, the process loops you to create around that, if you do that really, really well over time we try to recruit the best talent possible to put into the roles and that’s what we do everywhere.”

Barrios avoided naming individuals but noted that WWE’s creative writing process hasn’t changed. He stressed that “[…] we feel really good about the changes we made to the structure in process.”

Eric Bischoff only served a short term as SmackDown’s Executive Director. He was replaced by Bruce Prichard.

H/T to Fool.com for the transcription.

Eric Bischoff discussed a number of things on the latest episode of his After 83 weeks podcast and the now-former SmackDown Executive Director also revealed an interesting conversation he had with Vince McMahon while he was still in the company.

According to Eric, the Boss talked to him after the premiere episode of AEW Dynamite. He asked Bischoff about his thoughts on the show and the former WCW President gave him an honest answer:

“Vince asked me actually, a couple of days after the first episode aired, what I thought. I was pretty honest with him. I thought the action was good but I thought what made that show really stand out to me was just how engaged the audience is,”

Eric Bischoff went on to compare the show to NXT saying that while the in-ring action of WWE’s third brand was great, putting a show inside a confined studio does not create the same big event feel and to him, the audience made Dynamite much better than NXT.

While the Full Sail University is expected to continue being the home for NXT broadcast until the end of this year, it appears that WWE Officials also understand the need of refreshment to the product.

Latest report on the matter suggests that the promotion is considering using other venues for the show time to time in future.

You can listen to the latest episode of After 83 Weeks below:

Do you think having a different and larger audience for the show gives Dynamite an edge over NXT? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Quotes via WrestlingInc

Eric Bischoff addressed his recent departure from WWE on his 83 Weeks podcast with Conrad Thompson recently. The topic of the podcast was Scott Hall’s tenure in WCW but at the end of the podcast, Bischoff addresses what happened during his recent stint working with WWE.

“I’m not gonna spend too much time clearing up the rumor and innuendo because it’s out there and I think people are smart enough to see through the b******t that they read on dirt sites and that kinda thing and honestly I don’t want to get negative.”

“I was really grateful for the opportunity to work at WWE and it was an opportunity. It didn’t work out the way I wanted it to work out, clearly, it didn’t work out the way Vince McMahon wanted it to work out, but that happens and I’m not taking any of personally.”

Eric Bischoff on the Writing Staff For Smackdown

“The writing staff for SmackDown in particular as well as a lot of the other writers who are on Raw, they are a very, very talented and unbelievably hard-working and dedicated group of people.”

“Just to have the opportunity to work with people like that in and of itself was worth this experiment. I didn’t come here thinking I was going to be in WWE for five or ten years, I looked at it as a relatively short term opportunity, meaning two or three years. I didn’t think it would be quite this short term, but sometimes that happens. WWE is a great company with a very defined culture and process and I didn’t necessarily fit into it and that’s just the way it is.”

“I’m not sad, I’m not disappointed, I’m not angry, I’m not any of those things. I’m just looking forward to the next opportunity wherever and whenever that might be.”

Bischoff’s comments regarding his departure from WWE are made in the final 10 minutes of the below podcast:

Bischoff has already been booked for Starrcast IV in Baltimore.

• Eric Bischoff Booked For Starrcast IV

All Elite Wrestling commentator Jim Ross has shared his thoughts on former WWE Executive Director, Eric Bischoff. He spoke about Bischoff’s recent dismissal from the company during a recent episode of his podcast, Grilling JR.

Ross confessed that he wasn’t surprised that Bischoff was replaced. He added, however, he wasn’t expecting it to happen within the time frame it occurred in. 

“I was not surprised. The only thing I would consider being surprised by was the timeframe,” Ross said. “This whole scenario is set up for a succession process. Do you think that Bruce [Prichard] is safe? You think Bruce got a job, like a Supreme Court Justice, for life? Are you kidding? He don’t think that. I guarantee you don’t think that he knows that his time will come. It’s like football coaches. They get hired to be fired.” 

He continued, “The bottom line was somebody took the fall. I didn’t think Vince put a bullet in Eric that quick, but all those guys that are in those top positions, none of them are gonna need to buy houses. They should be renting.”

Ross noted that he believes Bischoff would have walked away with a nice severance package, explaining that “Vince [McMahon] will take good care of you when he’s kicking you out the door.”

H/T to Fightful for the transcription.

Eric Bischoff was announced as the new Executive Director of SmackDown this summer. After only a few months on the job, however, Bischoff was let go from WWE and replaced in his role by Bruce Prichard. According to an update from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Bischoff is said to have messed up in the eyes of Fox executives on multiple occasions and this played a role in his departure from the company.

“Eric had absolutely no vision, and once we were headed into FOX, everything was falling through the cracks,” said one WWE official to the Wrestling Observer. “He messed up multiple times with FOX. Eric also had no stamina for the rigors of the job.”

It was also noted in the report that Bischoff would often be difficult to get ahold of in the evening, even though it is not unusual for WWE creative meetings to run until very late in the evening or early in the morning.

“Bischoff would work a full day, go out to dinner with his wife, and people would complain that after 7 p.m., on certain days, he would become impossible to reach,” Dave Meltzer wrote.

Eric Bischoff Booked For Starrcast IV

Fans hoping to hear Bischoff’s side of the story will only have to wait until Starrcast IV in November. The convention wasted little time announcing they have booked Bischoff for the event.

• Eric Bischoff Booked For Starrcast IV

Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff worked together in creative while both were in WCW in the late stages of the company and then again in TNA Wrestling years later. On the heels of Bischoff’s latest departure from WWE, Vince Russo appeared on Konnan’s “Keepin it 100” podcast and called his former colleague’s firing “Karma.”

“Let me make it real simple,” Russo said on the show. “Karma is a b**ch, bro. These are guys, Bruce Pritchard and Eric Bischoff, to this minute are still burying me on their podcasts. Bro, these guys just lost a million viewers in one week and you’re burying me? Seriously bro?”

“Losing a million viewers is unheard of, like unheard of,” Russo continued.

This led to Disco Inferno bringing up that many shows drop a percentage of their audience from their debut to their second episode, such as AEW.

“AEW is a new company, AEW is a brand new company, WWE is a brand that has been around for five decades bro, and that’s the problem man. They still think that they can get over on their brand.”

Konnan then issued his thoughts on WWE. “This is my assessment of WWE: They’re McDonald’s, they’re the biggest, they’re not the best.”

Russo’s comments can be heard in their entirety in the player below:

Eric Bischoff was replaced as the Executive Director of WWE Smackdown this week after only having been on the job a few months. On the heels of his departure from WWE, Bischoff has already been booked for Starrcast IV next month in Baltimore.

Starrcast sent out the following earlier today to announce Bischoff’s participation:

Eric Bischoff Booked For Starrcast IV

Bischoff’s departure from WWE was addressed briefly last night on FS1’s WWE Backstage last night. Triple H was on the show and spoke about Bruce Pritchard being named as Bischoff’s replacement.

• Triple H Comments On Bruce Prichard Becoming SmackDown Executive Director

”I don’t know all the details exactly [as to how he got the job]. I’m excited for it. Bruce has been a key figure in this industry over the past 40 years … having Bruce at the helm of SmackDown, he can bring it where it needs to be … He’s going to be making some big moves.”

• Eric Bischoff Comments On WWE Departure, Additional Details

As of this writing, Bischoff has yet to comment on his departure but did Tweet a message of support to his former co-workers and replacement.

“Bruce is a great producer, good friend and I am certain he is going to thrive in his position. He’s going to be working with a great team of the most dedicated and hard working people I have had the pleasure of working with and getting to know.”

CM Punk had some fun with fans by joking about the way he departed from WWE while responding to a post sent out by Eric Bischoff. 

It’s well known that on Tuesday it was confirmed that Bischoff has been replaced by Bruce Prichard as the executive director of SmackDown. He’s also no longer under contract with WWE after his latest stint started four months ago. 

A post shared on the official Twitter account for his podcast 83 Weeks showed a shirt in the store that reads “Fired”, with a FedEx style font. This is supposed to be a joke about how wrestlers were fired by Bischoff via FedEx when he was in charge of WCW. 

Punk decided to make a joke about his own firing by asking Bischoff if he was fired on his wedding day. 

CM Punk Advised Cain Velasquez To Be A Team Player Ahead Of WWE Debut

While Punk was on sabbatical from the company, he was served his termination papers on his wedding day to former WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee. 

For several weeks now there has been speculation as to whether Punk will make a WWE return. It all started when he had a recent tryout with FOX for the WWE Backstage studio show.

He has since confirmed through various interviews the tryout as his agents reached out to him because of how much Fox is investing in WWE with SmackDown.

Additional details are available regarding Eric Bischoff’s departure from WWE. Dave Meltzer reports at F4Wonline.com that the news was “not a shock” to those familiar with Bischoff’s role in WWE.

As announced by WWE press release, Bruce Prichard has been named the new executive director of SmackDown and will report directly to WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.

Prichard and Ed Koskey will be the main people in charge of the show going forward. 

Ironically, Bischoff was brought in partially on the recommendation of Prichard. The two had been working together on the show.

It’s an unfortunate situation due to Bischoff accepting the job and moving with his wife to Stanford for the WWE job.

Wrestling journalist Tom Colohue provided these details after reaching out to a source at Fox:

In a brief statement posted on Twitter, Eric Bischoff commented on the situation. He wrote:

“Bruce is a great producer, good friend and I am certain he is going to thrive in his position. He’s going to be working with a great team of the most dedicated and hard working people I have had the pleasure of working with and getting to know.”

Bruce Prichard has been named the new Executive Director of WWE Friday Night SmackDown. He replaces Eric Bischoff, who was appointed to that role in late June at the same time Paul Heyman was put in charge of WWE RAW.

As Heyman does and Bischoff did, Bruce Prichard will report directly to WWE CEO & Chairman Vince McMahon. The shakeup comes just two weeks after SmackDown’s big move to Fox.

According to a press release sent in by WWE, “Prichard will oversee the creative development of Friday Night SmackDown on FOX and ensure integration across all platforms and lines of business, replacing Eric Bischoff.”

• Update: Eric Bischoff Comments On WWE Departure, Additional Details

The announcement touts Prichard’s ‘extensive background’ in character development and creative storytelling. He returned to WWE’s creative team earlier this year after a lengthy hiatus from the company and has been in the wrestling business for nearly four decades.

WWE has since confirmed Bischoff is no longer with the company, which is unfortunate since he and his wife recently moved from Wyoming to Connecticut for the Executive Director job.

WWE Friday Night SmackDown airs at 8 pm ET/PT on FOX.

• Related: Triple H Comments on working with Eric Bischoff & Paul Heyman in their new roles as Executive Directors of SmackDown & RAW

Triple H took part in a media call today to promote Saturday’s TakeOver show from Toronto. During the call, he was asked about Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff’s new roles with the company and whether he himself was up for either of their positions.

Triple H on his role with WWE compared to Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff’s

“No, you have to understand the way it’s laid out, their scope of what they are doing are very specific to those shows,” Triple responded when asked if he was up for or interested in the positions given to Heyman and Bischoff. “While I’m still at those shows, there’s many weeks where due to my schedule and other commitments I can’t be at every single show, I can’t be at every single RAW or I can’t be at every single Smackdown. The scope of the things that I do is way beyond that.”

Triple H Says He Already Sees Positive Changes, Talks Working With Heyman & Bischoff

Triple H continued to say he’s already seeing the positives from the changes made backstage.

“I’m thrilled and I already see the positives and the changes,” Triple H said. “As this whole thing continues to grow, it’s really a lot of it comes down to organizational processes.”

“I’m thrilled that it’s those guys and I think they are going to knock it out of the park,” he continued. “I’m excited to work with both of them. Heyman I’ve been working with for awhile. Bischoff it’s been awhile but this is the first time I’ve worked with him in this manner. So far, it’s an exciting process. So, I’m really happy and I’ve already seen positives from it.”

Eric Bischoff began his 83 Weeks podcast this week talking to Conrad Thompson about how he is getting settled into his new home in Stanford, Connecticut. Bischoff has now begun his role as the new Executive Director of Smackdown but some fans have questions as to what his appointment will mean for the product.

In the past, Bischoff has been criticized for not supporting tag-team wrestling. He clarified his stance on the subject this week as the show was focussed on 1/2 of the Steiner Brothers, “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner.

“I’ve never been a big supporter of tag-team wrestling,” Bischoff said when explaining why he broke up the Steiner Brothers. “It’s not because I don’t enjoy watching it as a fan, it’s not because I don’t think there’s not a lot of great storytelling. It’s not for any other reason other than economics.”

Bischoff continued to talk about how the cost for talent is more in a tag-team division.

Eric Bischoff On Tag Team Wrestling

“In a television environment, you’ve got one match, you’ve got somewhere between 6-15 minutes on average to fill in a segment,” Bischoff continued. “Instead of having overhead or cost in terms of talent fees, airfare, whatever else goes along with that, whatever line item is associated with talent – catering, the food that they eat, whatever. Instead of having costs associated with that 6-15 minute segment whatever it is, for two people, you’ve now got those costs for 4 people.”

“Now you’ve got double the costs because you’ve got to maintain those tag-teams in a storyline,” Bischoff would continue.

The comments regarding Bischoff’s stance on tag-team wrestling comes in at around the 1 hour mark of the episode.

“It’s not that I never respected or enjoyed tag team wrestling as a viewer and as a fan but when you are running the business of the wrestling business, you are doubling your talent costs and that was an issue for me.”

• 4 Takeaways From WWE SmackDown (7/30)

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston sat down for an interview with ComicBook.com during the recent Comic-Con International event.

During their conversation, Kingston commented on Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff’s new roles as Executive Directors for RAW and SmackDown, respectively.

He called their new positions “intriguing” as he considers them to be some of the best minds in pro wrestling history. Kofi also mentioned how, although he has never met him, he is looking forward to working with Eric Bischoff going forward.

“It is very intriguing because those guys are some of the best minds in the wrestling business, in the history of the wrestling business,” Kofi said.

“It’s always good to be always switching things up,” he continued, “and those are guys who not only think outside the box, but they live outside the box. So to have them behind the creative of RAW and Smackdown is very intriguing. I’m really looking forward to working with Eric Bischoff, he’s actually one guy that I have not met. So hopefully we get to work closely as time goes by.”

Kofi Kingston is scheduled to defend his WWE Championship against “The Viper” Randy Orton on August 11th at WWE’s SummerSlam event. Their recent rivalry has reignited a long-standing feud between the two Superstars.

SummerSlam takes place in the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada.

Eric Bischoff’s absence from SmackDown Live despite being named the Executive Director for the show has sparked a lot of rumors with some reports going as far as suggesting that he might not be involved with the creative side of the show at all.

These reports suggested that Bischoff could have been brought only to handle the corporate side of things and he might help with SmackDown’s transition to Fox. However, during the recent episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff talked about these theories and killed the rumors which have been floating around about his new position in WWE.

Bischoff said that everything he has read so far has been wrong. He said that he is not going to address anything specifically and revealed that his start date was never supposed to be before July 22. According to Bischoff, he had made this very clear. It was the understanding across the board and anything that has been reported so far has been wrong in terms of what his role actually is.

Continuing on the topic, the former WCW President explained that it’s a big job and nobody is going to walk in and take control of anything immediately. He claimed that it’s going to be a process and in his case, it’s going to be a very long process because learning about the people involved and their roles will take time.

The most interesting thing coming out of this interview was Bischoff’s mention that he is going to be present for this week’s episode of SmackDown. It will be interesting to know if he tries to make any changes to the current programming of the show during his first night as the new Director.