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Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair had a lot of heat existing between the two for years to make it even more surprising that they are friends today. Flair even had Bischoff appearing at his retirement weekend roast where mostly close friends made fun of the legend. Bischoff and Flair ran into trouble in WCW that carried over into their WWE time.

The issues between Flair and Bischoff grew so bad that WCW tried to make money off it by having them feud on-screen. Flair held a grudge with Bischoff from WCW that turned into a toxic environment for Eric’s first day in WWE. The two had a physical confrontation backstage and had to make peace after. One of wrestling’s overlooked fights should be looked back at to see what happened between Flair and Bischoff.

What Caused The Fight

Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff having a scuffle in WWE due to past WCW drama seems too ridiculous to believe, but it is what caused the issues. Most fans knew that Bischoff and Flair had massive heat in WCW during a real-life rivalry that grew quite personal. Flair requested a night off from Nitro to attend his son Reid’s wrestling tournament and felt it would be fine since he wasn’t in an important storyline at the time.

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Flair's no-showing Nitro made Bischoff livid during a time when even he’d admit he was on a power trip. Bischoff sent Flair home and even tried to sue him for not following his contractual agreements. Many WCW wrestlers grew upset when Bischoff continued to make this worse by promising he was going to bankrupt Ric and his entire family by the end of the lawsuit.

Ric Flair Eric Bischoff WCW Studio

The tension existed with more courtroom drama and personal issues growing throughout a full year. WCW eventually brought Flair back and worked the situation with Bischoff into an on-screen feud. Flair and Bischoff were professional while working against each other, but they never actually cleared the air. The shocking news of WWE signing Bischoff years later saw Flair forced to work with him until losing it one night.

How The Fight Went Down

The craziest thing about the Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff fight is that nothing really sparked it. Bischoff shared that he even hung out with Flair and Arn Anderson after shows to believe that any past heat was no longer as big of an issue. Flair however felt Bischoff was being generally arrogant backstage about a project with Girls Gone Wild, and that was enough to make him act on the past issues.

Both sides of the story disagree on some things, but they shared the same consensus about what happened. Flair asked Arn to watch a door when he knew Bischoff was alone in one of the WWE offices before Raw. Bischoff was shocked when Flair confronted him while sitting on a sofa and started to get violent. Flair claimed that he hit Bischoff with a few shots, but Eric claims he didn’t get hit once.

Ric Flair Vs Eric Bischoff

Anderson didn’t realize Ric was going to get violent and left the room in fear of his job. Sgt. Slaughter was the backstage employee to enter the room first and break it up. Bischoff revealed that he never felt in danger since Flair wasn’t throwing real punches to land, but he was more confused than anything else.

Making Peace After Vince McMahon Stepped In

The follow-up to the Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair fight featured Vince McMahon getting involved and being livid at Flair. Bischoff shared that he went to Vince’s office first to avoid second-hand accounts of the story getting him heat. McMahon made it clear that WWE having a safe workplace environment was important and that this would never happen again.

Flair was called into Vince’s office for a conversation since McMahon was also confused about why two of his employees were fighting over things he didn’t know or care about. Vince essentially warned Flair that another unprofessional incident like this would lead to him getting punished. Flair agreed that it would not escalate and never had another run-in like that with Bischoff.

Ric Flair And Vince McMahon Cropped

The two have actually become friends in recent years through working in the same companies and crossing paths quite often. Bischoff was even invited to the roast of Flair since they work together with Conrad Thompson’s podcast network. The fight stemmed from Flair never getting to speak his mind during the WCW drama and feeling his confidence issues stemmed from that. It seemed like Flair getting that out of his system was enough to make peace later.