Eric Bischoff Tells Story of Being Attacked by Ric Flair at WWE Arena
Things may be cool now, but Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff have a tumultuous history. And in 2002, their real-life feud came to a head during a physical altercation backstage. And Bischoff just shared his side of the story.
Flair's version of what happened was detailed in his book, but Bischoff just dished his perspective during a recent episode of his podcast, 83 Weeks.
Both men set the story
"I had no idea because I had been out having a beer with Ric and Arn the week before after TV and had gone out a couple previous to that night right after getting there, shortly after," he said. "So my thought process, my thinking at the time was that I was sitting there on the phone with my attorney and my wife was that Arn Anderson and Ric came in, which didn't bother me and I didn't think anything about it until Ric started screaming for me to get out of the chair. For a brief
Despite Flair being furious, Bischoff couldn't tell if this was real
"Now, Ric was throwing punches, which by the way never connected. I was sitting in my chair. I wasn't defending myself. I was sitting in my chair and Ric started rifling shots at my head, which none of them connected. They were working punches. He may have intended for them to be shoot punches, but to my point I was out on television 45 minutes after the fact and didn't have a mark on me, so you can believe me, not
"Now, I did get up and I threw the phone down and I said, 'Ric, what the f—k are you doing?' He then went off on me, although I forgot what the words were. I told him that I wasn't going to fight him, there's just no way, I wasn't going to fight Ric. He came after me and threw a couple more punches, he wanted me to come after him but I wasn't going to do it. I finally got back up against the wall and I had
In the wake of Flair's madness, Bischoff felt like he needed to clarify thing with Vince McMahon before rumors spread.
1comments"As soon as it was over, I thought, 'Well, this was f—ked up.' I didn't want the word to go around and I didn't want Vince McMahon hearing it from someone else first, so I went back to Vince McMahon's office, which wasn't something that I ever did. I didn't go back and try and talk to him during the course of the show unless it was something I had a question over in a performance he was involved in I left him alone," he said. "I went back, knocked on the door and told him, 'I don't know what the f--k just happened but here's what happened, it's all cool with me. I have no issues but I wanted you to know. I didn't fight Ric Flair. I wasn't going to fight Ric Flair, not at an arena.' And he said, 'Alright, I will look into it.' I walked out and Gerald Brisco met with me. By this time he had heard what was going on and Gerald Brisco was upset. He thought that I would be a lot more upset than I was. I really wasn't upset, I was just confused more than anything. I was shocked and confused because he didn't lay a finger on me. I wasn't concerned about getting my ass beat, I was just confused more than anything."
[H/T Wrestling Inc.]