Eric Bischoff Downplays Vince McMahon’s “Creative Genius” Label

Eric Bischoff is setting the record straight on Vince McMahon’s creative legacy.

The former WCW president turned WWE Hall of Famer addressed the long-running narrative that McMahon was a “creative genius” on his 83 Weeks podcast with Conrad Thompson. While Bischoff said he respects McMahon’s impact on the wrestling business, he pushed back on the idea that WWE’s most famous boss was always the man behind the ideas.

“I have the utmost respect for the accomplishments of one Vincent K. McMahon. You and I would not be doing this podcast were it not for Vincent K. McMahon. There’s no question in my mind when I say that. However, anybody that thinks that this guy was like the creative genius, Vince was good at picking out other people’s ideas and figuring out what might work.”

Bischoff, who famously created the nWo in WCW before McMahon later brought the faction into WWE, explained that he never personally witnessed McMahon generating groundbreaking ideas on his own.

“Coming up with his own, I’m not so sure about. I never really saw that. Maybe he was. I just never saw it. I did see him, however, filtering a lot of other people’s ideas and then taking either one or maybe a couple of them and merging them and melding them together, and coming up with his version of some of the things that were being presented to him.”

Bischoff even referenced how McMahon’s 2002 storyline of bringing the nWo to WWE didn’t land with fans, calling it “stupid” and confusing.

The former WCW boss’s comments add to the debate over how much credit McMahon deserves for WWE’s most iconic creative moves versus simply approving or shaping other people’s pitches.