For a long time, wrestling fans wanted to know why Eric Bischoff made the bizarre decision to let go of some of his top performers. One such talent was Mick Foley.
Recently, Bischoff was interviewed by Kenny McIntosh of Inside The Ropes. During the interview, Bischoff mentioned that one of the main reasons he fired Foley was because of his need to take risks.
“Context is absolutely key. You have to look individually. I let Mick Foley go because Mick Foley was determined. I liked Mick. Mick and I were friends. We socialized outside of wrestling a little bit.Our wives… I liked Mick… But Mick was determined to do things that were so high-risk. And in some cases not only to himself, well for sure to himself. But he also put fans at risk. He put the company, Turner Broadcasting at risk. He wanted to dive-off balconies outside of the ring, on the ring apron or on the floor outside of the ring. And there’s always a chance that something could go wrong and a fan sitting at ringside could get hurt.”
Eric Bischoff compares lawsuit policies between U.S and The UK
During the same interview, the WWE Hall of Famer compared the lawsuit policies in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
“In a company like Turner Broadcasting and it’s… I think it’s different here in the UK. UK has an interesting way of dealing with lawsuits and litigation. If I decided to sue Kenny and I win, good for me, but if I lose, I have to pay his attorney’s fees. I think that’s the way it is here in the UK.
“In the US it’s completely different. If I could find some shitty scumbag f***ing creepy attorney, that’ll file a lawsuit against Kenny, he’ll say, ‘Oh I’m not going to charge you anything Eric. We are just going to try to sue Kenny. And if I win I’ll take 30%… 33%. And if we lose that doesn’t cost you any money.’ That encourages frivolous lawsuits. And there’s so much of that in the United States and the bigger the company is, the more money they have, the deeper their pockets are as they say in the States. The more likely they’re going to be hit with frivolous lawsuits.”
Firing Mick Foley was not personal for Eric Bischoff
Bischoff also mentioned that his decision to let go of Foley was a business decision and not a personal one while he thinks the Hardcore Legend may have taken it personally.
“And now I got a 300-pound guy that wants to jump of a f***ing balcony and splatter himself outside the ring and he may or may not hit somebody or hurt somebody that’s at ringside. And I expressed that to Mick. ‘Mick, we can’t do a lot of the stuff that you want to do.’ And Mick I think took that personally and as a result he left. It wasn’t personal to me. I liked Mick. It was just, he was a risk to himself. And also to the company. So that was Mick,” Eric Bischoff said.
Do you agree with Bischoff’s reasoning to fire one of the fan favorites in Mick Foley?
