Eric Bischoff has responded to Chad Gable’s recent comments suggesting he may have been responsible for the Shorty G gimmick, making it clear that the idea originated with Vince McMahon.
Speaking on his 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff explained that while he helped develop and execute the presentation, the concept itself came directly from McMahon.
“That was a Vince McMahon idea.”
Bischoff recalled discussing the character during one of his regular creative meetings with McMahon while serving as WWE’s Executive Director of SmackDown.
“Vince said, ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea for Shorty G or for Chad Gable, and I see him as this character,’ and he proceeded to lay out the character.”
According to Bischoff, his role was to take McMahon’s vision and work with WWE’s marketing and art departments to develop the branding, logos and overall presentation.
He described a collaborative process in which multiple concepts were created before being reviewed by McMahon.
“The art department goes to work. They come back with two or three ideas… I’d filter through them, bring them to Vince. We’d kind of go through them, filter through them. I’d take his notes, go back to marketing.”
Bischoff also revealed that he brought Gable into the process to gather his feedback, something he said McMahon encouraged.
“I brought Chad into it a little bit to get his input… Vince liked the talent engaging and being part of the process.”
While Bischoff acknowledged that his involvement naturally left “fingerprints” on the character because it was his show, he stressed that he was carrying out McMahon’s creative direction.
“Were my fingerprints on it? Of course. It was my show. But it was really a Vince McMahon idea.”
Gable recently stated on Cody Rhodes’ What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast that Bischoff was the person who informed him about the Shorty G character, though he stopped short of definitively blaming him for the gimmick. Bischoff’s latest comments provide additional context, claiming the controversial character was conceived by McMahon, with his own role limited to helping execute the vision.
