Less than four months after he was hired, Eric Bischoff was removed from his SmackDown Live Executive Director Role and replaced by long-time WWE producer Bruce Prichard.
While Paul Heyman has made plenty of notable changes to the Raw product as the brand's Executive Director, Bischoff never really got his fingerprints on SmackDown. In short time, the former WCW executive producer and GM of Raw is out, and Prichard takes over the prominent backstage role.
Fans certainly have to be wondering why WWE would let go of Bischoff so quickly, but Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live (h/t Ringside News), provided more details on the matter.
Alvarez heard that Bischoff simply "didn't know anybody," and that "he didn't know any of the talent." Not only that, but Alvarez added that Bischoff didn't exactly seem keen on learning much.
"He didn’t go out of his way to learn about anything," Alvarez said. "He would leave and nobody could get ahold of him...I don’t even know what he was doing."
Related: Bruce Prichard To Replace Eric Bischoff As SmackDown Executive Director
Bischoff took to Twitter and only offered kind words for Prichard, calling him a "great producer, good friend." So there doesn't appear to be much hostility between Bischoff and Prichard right now, and one has to wonder if Bischoff may have decided that this gig simply wasn't for him. Perhaps we'll learn even more information about WWE's decision to make the big change soon enough.
Prichard Is A Smart Hire By WWE
There's a ton of pressure on Prichard to grow the SmackDown Live product. The show was hit by a major drop in viewership last week, and it's not going to be easy to bring in a strong audience every Friday night.
Prichard is going to have to work closely with Fox executives in trying to make the SmackDown show better than ever before. Only time will tell if he succeeds, but Prichard's strong track record certainly earns him the benefit of the doubt. We'll find out soon enough if he can build this program the way Fox executives and WWE want it.