7 Overdue inductions into the WWE Hall of Fame

#3 Eric Bischoff

Eric Bischoff: Should be going into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the nWO

The nWo are due to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2020. It is inexplicable that Eric Bischoff, the mastermind behind the formation of the group and the onscreen advocate of the influential faction from 1996 to 1998 will not be enshrined as part of the nWo.

In fact, it is unbelievable that Bischoff has not been inducted already.

Bischoff is best know as the former head of WCW who came closer than anybody ever has or ever will, to putting Vince McMahon out of business. t

Bischoff was given the reins of WCW after a revolving door of bookers such as Bill Watts, Dusty Rhodes, Jim Herd and others had failed to make the company a profitable entity and serious competition for McMahon.

Looking to Japan for inspiration, Easy E happened upon a storyline with which he would base the nWO upon. He also identified Light-Heavyweight stars such as Jushin Liger and Chris Jericho. Forming the Cruiserweight division, these stars along with the likes of Rey Mysterio Jr and Dean Malenko wrestled a style never before seen by Western audiences.

In combination with aggressively pursuing former and current WWE talent such as Hogan, Hall and Nash to main event the shows, Bischoff’s WCW became a financial juggernaut and hot-bed of creativity not seen in the sterile family friendly WWE programming of the mid-nineties.

Although Bischoff lost his grip on the promotion in 1999, he remains one of the most influential figures in wrestling history, one which beat the WWE in the Monday night ratings war for 83 weeks straight. He resurfaced in WCW in 2000 and again in WWE, this time in 2002 in an on-screen capacity as Raw General Manager. He left the company in 2006, before he joined TNA in 2010.

As recently as 2019, he was employed by WWE as part of the creative team on SmackDown. That relationship was short lived and Bischoff was shown the door in October after only three months at the helm. Despite his firing, Bischoff and WWE remain on good terms.

In some ways, it isn't that surprising his induction hasn't occurred yet due to the fact by inducting him, WWE would have to admit that Bischoff was good at his job, when WCW was defeating WWE week after week. However, his fingerprints are all over wrestling and no Hall of Fame in wrestling is complete without Bischoff in it.

If the WWE Hall of Fame was an independent entity, this induction would have happened long ago. As it is, we may have to wait a little longer for this overdue enshrinement to occur.