WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff took to an episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including how he thinks Vince McMahon is coping up with his departure from WWE.
Bischoff said, “I mean, that was his life, man. I mean, from the time he was a kid, when his dad was running the business and Vince was learning the ropes, literally putting up rings and everything else that Vince did, that’s been his life. And to be persona non grata at this point, where if he tried to walk into the office he’d probably be escorted out by security? How weird is that? It’s still so hard for me to comprehend.”
Bischoff also talked about people and the company trying to distance themselves from McMahon:
“He’s such a complicated individual. I mean, there’s so many weird — not weird — there’s so many aspects of Vince McMahon’s personality that are conflicting. I mean, I don’t want to make this all about Vince McMahon, but Vince McMahon has done some pretty big things for people that others don’t even know about. I’m not going to publicize it, because Vince decided and the other people involved decided that they didn’t want it known. But I’m firsthand aware — and some of this happened long before I ever went to work for Vince. So I’m not saying this because I had an insight while I was there. But there are parts of Vince McMahon that are gracious, and generous and kind. And every once in a while, you’d get a glimpse into an aspect of Vince’s personality or at least I did, where I went, ‘Wow, this guy really does have a heart. He really does, this facade that we see isn’t completely true and accurate. There is a real human being deep down inside.’ And I’ve had that thought a number of times in my interactions with Vince. I remember sitting in his office one night at one o’clock in the morning when I was there back in 2019. And subject of conversation came up, and Vince got a phone call in the middle of that conversation. From his mother, actually. And once I realized it was a personal call — it was one o’clock in the morning, I was begging for a reason to get the f**k out of there. But I started you’d up to walk out, and Vince put up his hand and, ‘Just wait a second,’ you know. And I sat there and I listened to his side of the conversation. And I thought, ‘What a wonderful son this man is. He does have a heart.’”
“And then there’s the other side. There’s the business side that we all know of, at least. I experienced firsthand, competing against him legitimately. And that hard, super hardcore, aggressive, ‘take no prisoners’ — he was a killer when it came to business. He was like Genghis F**king Khan when it came to business. Very complicated guy, very complicated. And I — you know, it makes me also wonder what — aside from not being able to gain access to the WWE headquarters building, which just sounds weird even saying it really. But I wonder what his situation is with the family. Stephanie, Shane, grandkids. Linda and Vince have had a unique relationship for quite some time, nothing new there. But I’m just wondering what the relationship — is it healing, can it heal? Or maybe it’s really not that damaged as we all think it is. But wouldn’t it be interesting to follow Vince McMahon around for a couple of days now and see what he’s up to? And how he’s reacting to all of this?”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
