Eric Bischoff was recently interviewed by Alex McCarthy of TalkSport to discuss his departure from WWE back in 2019. The former SmackDown Executive Director assures fans that his removal had nothing to do with declining ratings, stating that if it did Raw Executive Director Paul Heyman would be out of a job as well.
I think it was just his assessment that for whatever reason, I wasn’t the right guy for the role. But I don’t think it had anything to do with the ratings. If it did, Paul Heyman would have been fired. And he’s still there. But to the point of the question, if it was a ratings issue… October 14th was the premiere on FOX. It did 3.8 million viewers. That’s a fair amount. The following week did about 2.8, 2.9 million.
Later Bischoff adds that his dismissal revolved around not meeting company chairman Vince McMahon’s expectations of filling the brand role.
I don’t think my departure had anything to do with the ratings. I think my departure had everything to do with Vince McMahon expectations of how I would fill a brand new role that had never really existed before. He saw it one way and I didn’t have that same clear understanding or picture of that role, so it was inevitable that it wasn’t going to work out.
Full interview can be found here.