10 Most Despised Men In Wrestling History
5. Eric Bischoff
Eric Bischoff is at least forthcoming about his transgressions. There was nothing insidious about him, at least; he was shameless in his quest to supplant Vince McMahon as the figurehead of professional wrestling in North America in the 1990s.
Bischoff ordered Madusa to bin the WWF's Women's Championship when she debuted on Nitro when he snapped her up. Raiding talent is hardly a despicable act - the current model was built by McMahon himself with that tactic - but Bischoff ruthlessly giving away the results of the WWF's pre-taped Monday Night RAW show was a low blow, a warning shot fired in the direction of wrestling's wartime conventions.
Bischoff was hated by McMahon, obviously, but he wasn't a shamanic Paul Heyman-like figure, unifying his locker room against a common enemy. Many of the men in that locker room despised him for his cold, borderline sociopathic grasp of talent relations. Steve Austin created an embryonic version of his "Stone Cold" persona because he was so p*ssed off at being fired, when injured, over the phone. Chris Jericho left WCW because he felt Bischoff had stifled his career by retconning a much-anticipated programme with Goldberg at the behest of his favourite, main event guys. Unlike even Vince McMahon, Bischoff gave nothing back to the ECW league he plundered. Bischoff was a magpie, systematically collecting talent, storylines and philosophies from other leagues to create a derivsative amalgam of a wrestling league.
Bischoff's storied history with Ric Flair essentially defined the essence of the man; a disrespectful and lamentable executive who would p*ss on tradition for even the most minor of advancements.