When Eric Bischoff left WCW, nobody ever envisioned him returning to pro wrestling, especially not with WWE. WCW had been his baby, his personal and professional passion. But he burned out, making a range of huge mistakes along the way. It was expected that he wouldn't want to work for any other company, and it was also expected that no other company would want to work with him. As successful as he was at WCW's peak, he had also been guilty of overspending, mismanagement, and bad creative. So when he turned up on-screen at the July 15 2002 Raw, the entire wrestling world was stunned. Not only did fans have no idea, most of the WWE employees had been unaware. Only Vince and a select few others had been on it, and they'd brought Bischoff to the arena at the last minute. He'd then been hidden away backstage, meaning that most WWE staff only found out he'd signed when he walked out on Raw and (unbelivably) hugged Vince McMahon. He was only back in a character role as Raw GM, but that was enough to seriously annoy old WCW wrestlers like Ric Flair. It was a return that so many never thought would happen.
