The news that Eric Bischoff was released by WWE and replaced by Bruce Prichard as Executive Director of SmackDown took many in the wrestling world by surprise.
Even Jim Ross, who has worked in pro wrestling for the last four decades, admitted on the most recent episode of his Grillin' JR podcast that he was surprised by how quickly Eric was let go. Although, Jim would also say that jobs such as those in wrestling are never permanent and even Bruce Prichard knows not to be looking at his current position in WWE as a permanent one.
"I was not surprised. The only thing I would consider being surprised by was the timeframe," says The 2007 WWE Hall of Famer. "This whole scenario is set up for a succession process. Do you think that Bruce is safe? You think Bruce got a job, like a Supreme Court Justice, for life? Are you kidding? He don't think that. I guarantee you don't think that he knows that his time will come. It's like football coaches. They get hired to be fired."
Jim Ross would also speak about how kind Vince McMahon can be when releasing someone from the company.
"I think he got a nice little package walking away. Vince will take good care of you when he's kicking you out the door. He'll give you something to go home with you, put something in your bag to remember him by in the form of cash or some sort of payout and [Eric] deserves that." Jim would say before continuing to speak on the temporary nature of office jobs in pro wrestling, "The bottom line was somebody took the fall. I didn't think Vince put a bullet in Eric that quick, but all those guys that are in those top positions, none of them are gonna need to buy houses. They should be renting."
Speaking of Vince McMahon, Jim would conclude this portion of his podcast, embedded below, by foreshadowing how much things will change when Vince is no longer at the helm of WWE.
"The job description you have is not one that lends itself to going on long searches for real estate. Something's gonna give," Ross would reiterate. "Do you think that when Vince finally is not in the picture -- and God forbid that's anytime soon. I love Vince. I really do. But when Vince is not around to steer the wagon, there's gonna be a lot of changes there. There are a lot of famous well-known names that are in behind-the-scenes, in administration, in TV production, their asses will be gone. Eric can always say, 'I was the first one out the door.'"
JR and his legendary voice can now be found every Wednesday night on the TNT Network for AEW Dynamite.
If you use any portion of this transcription, please credit Grillin' JR with a h/t to Fightful for the transcription.
