As is often the case, This Day in Wrestling History caught many of us by surprise, especially after Eric Bischoff nearly put the WWE out of business.
But Vince McMahon is the consummate businessman and he’ll hire his worst enemy, as this case may have been at the time, if it will help the WWE.
The Monday Night Wars were the peak of professional wrestling popularity, and it was thanks to Eric Bischoff taking over WCW and turning it around for the only lucrative period in its history.
After defeating and buying WCW, and following the Invasion storyline and brand split, the WWE had settled into a comfortable niche as the world’s premier sports entertainment mecha.
But that didn’t mean they were going to rest on their laurels.
To shake things up and try to increase the WWE’s audience, McMahon looked to make a splash.
He did so when he stepped out onto the Raw stage and announced the new General Manager of Raw on July 15, 2002.
Adding to the content
In a move that was awesome and slightly spoiled as we saw Bischoff backstage before the commercial break, WWE caught all of our attention.
It gave us tons of hope for what was to come since Bischoff didn’t have Warner Media looking over his shoulders and involved with contracts and other items.
And the moment wasn’t lost on either of the former rivals either.
Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the following quotes.
“You know you don’t realize this, but it takes a real son of a bitch to be successful in this business so from one son of a bitch to another. Allow me to introduce you to the new General Manager of #RAW. His name is Eric…Bischoff!” – Vince McMahon on his announcement that gave Raw their best GM ever.
Eric Bischoff has spoken about This Day in Wrestling History moment numerous times, one of which being in his book, Controversy Creates Cash:
“The crowd was in utter shock. I walked to the center of the stage and gave Vince a big hug. A very, very big hug. We milked it to the point where it was almost homoerotic. ‘That rumbling beneath your feet is a whole lot of people turning over in their graves.’, I said as we embraced.
“The audience was so surprised they didn’t know how to react. They were quiet until I started running off at the mouth. Within a few seconds, I started noticing the scowls, then the howls and the boos. It was the reaction I wanted. Once again, I’d found my inner heel.”
What are your thoughts on this moment? What were you expecting compared to what happened? Let us know in the comments below.
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