Author: Anutosh Bajpai

Eric Bischoff signed with WWE in 2002 to serve as the on-screen Raw General Manager authority figure. He held this post for three years before being relieved in December 2005.

During the latest episode of his 83 weeks podcast, the former WCW president opened up about his kayfabe firing from the position and the real-life situation behind it.

Bischoff recalled how it was Stephanie McMahon who called him to discuss the situation and explain that they wanted to go in a different direction with the storyline:

\”This wasn\’t me necessarily getting fired; I got notified by Stephanie McMahon that they just decided they were going to go in a different creative direction.

I still had time left on my contract when I got the call from Stephanie, and she said \’Look, we\’re going to take a different direction, pay you through your contract.\” recalled Eric Bischoff, \”You didn\’t do anything wrong, there\’s no heat. We just need to go in a different direction.\”

• News On Pat Patterson’s Health Conditions, Official Cause Of Death

The former WWE star continued by saying that he was tired of playing the same on-screen character as well and he feels like he fulfilled his goal of ending his career in WWE as a performer on a positive note.

Bischoff made a few more sporadic appearances for the promotion after his on-screen firing from the General Manager post. He was finally released by the company in August 2007 after the expiry of his contract.

WWE announced the signing of two members of The Rascalz stable in Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz earlier this week, alongside some other signings.

This led many to wonder about the future of Trey Miguel, the third member of the Impact Wrestling stable and the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter has provided some update on his status.

According to the Observer, the former Impact Wrestling star is \”considering both WWE and AEW\” but he hasn\’t made a decision on which promotion he wants to join yet.

The Rascalz joined Impact Wrestling back in 2018 and their fan following has grown in the last couple of years. The trio also competed in various indie promotions in this time.

During a recent interview with Fox Sports, Triple H had commented on the trio saying that he is impressed with what the three stars have done so far.

• News On Pat Patterson’s Health Conditions, Official Cause Of Death

With two of The Rascalz members already being part of the WWE roster, the probability of Miguel joining the promotion in near future as well is very high.

Though since he has not made a decision yet, there is still a possibility that he can sign with AEW and it would be interesting to see what choice the young star makes.

News broke out earlier this week that WWE Hall Of Famer and wrestling veteran Pat Patterson has passed away but at the time not many details about his conditions had been revealed.

The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter provides some details on the issues the legend was dealing with and reveals his cause of death as well. According to the Observer, Patterson had been dealing with dementia for a while. People who interacted with him at Rocky Johnson\’s funeral earlier this year were said to be concerned by his condition.

The WWE Hall Of Famer first contracted bladder cancer several years ago and there is a good chance that he had cancer before his passing. The 79-year-old star had moved to an assisted living arrangement recently due to his declining health.

Pat generally liked to spend the summers in his native Montreal and the winters in Hallandale, Florida but he was \”pretty much confined\” to his place in South Florida this year due to his memory loss and the coronavirus pandemic.

The wrestling veteran was rushed to a hospital in South Beach, Miami on Friday, November 27 after suffering a blood clot in his liver. A tumour on his lung which was discovered earlier this year had also begun to spread.

Pat Patterson passed away in the South Beach hospital due to liver failure at around 1:15 am on Wednesday, December 2, according to the reports.

The WWE Hall Of Famer is remembered for his contributions as a wrestler and a backstage personality as well. He is best known for being the Inaugural Intercontinental Champion as well as the creator of the Royal Rumble match.

• Renee Paquette Announces Gender Of Her Baby

Eric Bischoff has stayed active in the wrestling business even after the folding of WCW and the former WCW President has worked backstage roles for different promotions, including a couple of runs with WWE.

His first run with the company came in the early 2000s, a time which many consider to be the peak of Triple H\’s in-ring career. On the latest episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, the former WCW official talked about Triple H\’s reign in detail.

During the interview, Eric Bischoff also revealed the one thing he hated about Triple H\’s character, calling him out for never changing his entrance:

\”So here is the infamous Triple H entrance that never changed, whether he was a heel or a babyface, I f–king hate it. I hate it. I mean, if you\’re going to be a heel, damn it, be a heel! Don\’t be a hero. Don\’t come out there like someone doing a Marvel audition for the next Thor movie. If you\’re a heel, you\’re a heel. Jesus Christ.\”

• Eric Bischoff On Sting In AEW: ‘A Motivated Steve Borden Can Be A Powerful Addition’

Bischoff continued the explanation saying that the reason Triple H never got heat from fans as a heel was because he never really wanted to be one:

\”And you wonder why he never really got any heat, because he wasn\’t really a heel, he didn\’t want to be a heel. He\’d wrestle like a heel. He would do the chicken s–t things that were requisite to be a heel within the body of a match, but the character would never change. He\’s out there spitting his water, and oh my God.\”

Though later in the interview, Eric Bischoff confirmed that he has no personal heat with the WWE Vice President and he is just having fun with the comments.

WWE star Xavier Woods was recently named the host for the revived G4 video game brand which will be relaunching sometime in the next year.

The New Day member had an interview with IGN after the announcement where he discussed things like what it means for him to be part of the G4 family and more.

During the interview, Woods also revealed his reaction to the big announcement and he claimed that his reaction was similar to the time he got a WWE contract:

\”I was losing my mind… It was incredible, I’m just a random dude from Georgia who loves video games and loves wrestling.

So getting my WWE contract while sitting in the middle of a Walgreens in Orlando, Florida at the time doing like backflips, calling my parents… I had the exact same reaction when I found out I was going to be a host on G4.\”

• Keith Lee Details Experience Of His First Month On The Main Roster

Apart from this, Xavier Woods talked about how the world of gaming has changed and he mentioned how back in the day there was a time when you got made fun of for liking wrestling.

He then explained that the same thing happened with video games in the past and he has been trying to show people that we are all the same kind of nerds.

Keith Lee impressed everyone with his performance at last year\’s Survivor Series PPV and then at Royal Rumble earlier this year, which resulted in him being called up to Raw in August after the SummerSlam PPV.

However, his transition from NXT to the main roster wasn\’t as smooth as fans were hoping. The officials changed his theme song and ring gear for his debut which made many concerned about his future in the company.

During a recent interview with ComicBook.com, the former NXT star talked about his main roster call-up and discussed how he acclimated to the changes in his first month on the Red Brand:

\”That first month was all over the place, I think that making it through that was enough for me to get an understanding of where I was and how I needed to approach things going forward.

I think that the first three weeks really kind of forced that acclimation, and if I had failed within those first three weeks, I was going to struggle going forward.\” said Keith Lee, \”But I think I\’ve done quite fine.\”

• Sting Signs Multi-Year Deal With AEW, Appears On Dynamite

The former NXT Champion then discussed the change in his theme song and ring gear for his main roster debut. He said that it\’s understandable why fans did not like the change and voiced their opinion against it.

Though he mentioned how the officials noticed the backlash from fans and asked Lee to come up with a new theme which he has since debuted on Raw.

Booker T was one of the legends who were brought in for Undertaker\’s Final Farewell segment at this year\’s edition of the Survivor Series PPV.

The former WCW Champion talked about his experience on the show and the legacy of the Dead Man in detail on the latest episode of his Hall Of Fame podcast.

Revealing his favourite moment of the segment which had many layers, Booker T picked out the spot where Undertaker paid tribute to the late Paul Bearer:

\”That guy was a legendary figure in the business. He really– people need to do their research and go in-depth, and really understand what Paul Bearer really did to the business. He wasn\’t just a character.

He was a guy that contributed more in so many ways behind the scenes than one would know… To appreciate it and give Paul those props, it was awesome.\” said Booker T, \”That was the best part of the whole thing for me, was having Paul Bearer just there with the urn. It just made me feel good.\”

• Backstage News On The Segment Between Randy Orton And Bray Wyatt On Raw

The wrestling veteran also gave his thoughts on the highly debated topic of whether it was the real send-off for Taker or we will see the Dead Man in the ring again in future.

Booker T claimed that he thinks the segment was his real send off, mentioning how he\’s coming off the Boneyard match at WrestleMania 36 which will be really hard for anyone to top, including Taker himself.

The opening segment for this week\’s episode of Raw turned a lot of heads and the segment featuring Randy Orton, Alexa Bliss and \’The Fiend\’ Bray Wyatt got a lot of people talking.

Dave Meltzer talked about the segment on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio and he claimed that WWE intends to book Wyatt and Bliss as the babyfaces in their feud with the former world champion.

He noted that while the duo has not shown any glimpse of being faces on Raw, the officials believe that Randy \’is the master heel\’ and the Viper will help his opponents complete this turn slowly over the next few weeks.

On an interesting note, PWinsider is reporting that Vince McMahon was behind this segment and the whole thing is 100% a product of the Boss\’ vision.

The site also claims that several people had even argued against this spot. The feeling was that it was a weak opening segment for the show which needed to be overhauled but their objections were obviously overruled.

• Backstage News On The Current Creative Flow In WWE, Bruce Prichard’s Position

The opening segment of Raw saw Alexa Bliss holding her “A Moment of Bliss\” show with Randy Orton as a guest. During the segment, Orton suggested that Alexa is The Fiend\’s vulnerability.

The lights then went out and Wyatt appeared in the ring but the female star was seen in Randy\’s arms. The Fiend begged Orton to hand Bliss back to him which he did. The segment ended with Randy Orton leaving the ring:

Bruce Prichard has become one of the most powerful people backstage in WWE after the removal of Paul Heyman from the creative team, according to latest reports.

According to reports from PWinsider, the current creative direction of the company falls under the Chairman Of The Boards Vince McMahon and Executive Director Bruce Prichard.

This makes the former WWE manager an important figure backstage and some people have even described him as the \’most powerful person\’ in the company right now after the members of the McMahon family.

Everything is said to be flowing through Prichard when it comes to the creative recently and the former Brother Love\’s word is said to be \”very much the gospel\” for Mr McMahon.

Though this power also seems to have its side effects as the report says that Bruce Prichard\’s position has led to a lot of frustration and heat towards him among wrestlers, at least privately.

Bruce Prichard returned to WWE in 2018. He took over the duties of the Executive Director of SmackDown in October last year, after the departure of Eric Bischoff.

Following Paul Heyman\’s removal as the head of Raw\’s creative team in June this year, it was reported that Bruce Prichard will be leading the creative teams for both the brands, making him one of the most powerful persons in the company.

• Jeff Hardy Update Following Crazy Spot On Monday’s RAW

The name of Undertaker has become synonym with the Hell In A Cell match as he has wrestled in more than a dozen such bouts and the Dead Man was also one of the two competitors of the first-ever Hell In A Cell match.

During his recent appearance on Steve Austin\’s Broken Skull Sessions, the former world champion talked about this match against Shawn Michaels and revealed the reason why they had created the bout. According to Taker, the main reason for Hell In A Cell was Kane. He explained that the whole thing was designed for keeping the interference out so then Kane can come out and do what nobody else could.

\”The main reason for Hell in a Cell was Kane,\” he revealed. \”It was all about Kane, the whole thing was designed for Kane\’s debut. You\’re gonna keep all outside interference out, and boom, here comes Kane. For Kane to come in and do what no one else could do, which is rip the door off and come face-to-face with his brother. I still think it\’s one of the most iconic stare downs ever. It\’s a story that lasted 23 years, and one of the greatest stories ever told.\”

Undertaker had been feuding with Shawn Michaels in 1997 after Michaels caused the Last Outlaw to lose his WWF world title match against Bret Hart at SummerSlam that year. The first ever Hell In A Cell match was announced between the two stars for Badd Blood: In Your House PPV with the intention of saving the bout from outside interference.

However, Paul Bearer had been teasing the arrival of Kane in the weeks prior to the event and the monster finally made his debut during the show. Kane ripped the door of the Cell structure and he then confronted The Dead Man. The event ended with Kane executing a Tombstone Piledriver on Undertaker, allowing Michaels to pick up the victory.

• Update On Planned Feud Between Roman Reigns And Daniel Bryan

Former SmackDown women\’s champion Bayley recently appeared on the Table Talk podcast where she discussed a number of things like potential future feuds for her and more.

During the interview, she again discussed how she wanted Hayley Williams from Paramore to perform her entrance at this year\’s edition of WrestleMania.

When asked about her dream opponent, the former champion took the name of the WWE Hall Of Famer Lita, mentioning how they have competed in a team before but never had a singles match:

\”Lita has always been a dream opponent just because she\’s somebody I never been in the ring with. Which is crazy to say now, but we\’ve been in a 10-woman tag match before, and this was the night after Evolution. That was so insane,\”

• Update On Planned Feud Between Roman Reigns And Daniel Bryan

Bayley continued by recalling a spot from the 10 women tag team match from 2018 where both her and Lita performed the Twist of Fate simultaneously. The SmackDown star then explained why it\’s a dream match for her:

\”I want a match against her because she\’s the one who helped me realize my dreams. She made me really see women who look different and dress differently can make it in this business and be successful. So, I would love to just pay that back to her, pay that to my 12-year-old self and have that dream match.\”

Apart from this, Bayley also talked about things like the accomplishments of her friend Xavier Woods, helping Billie Kay and Peyton Royce when they first moved to USA and more.

The much-anticipated match between Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan will be taking place at the upcoming Royal Rumble PPV according to reports from Wrestling Observer Radio.

At one point it appeared that the bout was being projected for the TLC event but then reports suggested that the company could hold it off for a later date. Officials seem to have backed out of idea in recent weeks as well.

Coming out of this Friday\’s episode of SmackDown, it appears that Roman Reigns will be defending his title against Kevin Owens at the upcoming PPV.

Owens took on Jey Uso on the latest episode of the show as a way to get Roman\’s attention. He then had an intense verbal exchange with Reigns\’ associate Paul Heyman on Talking Smack.

On the other hand, Daniel Bryan went up against the Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn on the show. He lost the bout via a count-out and Bryan will likely need to be built up for a match against the Big Dog after the TLC PPV.

Though Dave Meltzer discussed how the former world champion has been involved with SmackDown\’s creative lately and according to the wrestling journalist a lot of what\’s happened to Bryan \’is his own doing.\’

With that said, it\’s possible that Daniel Bryan has some ideas on how he wants this feud to unfold and it\’d be interesting to see how things pan out leading to the Royal Rumble PPV.

• Indie Wrestler Jimmy Rave Announces Retirement From Wrestling Due To Arm Amputation

Many wrestlers were working on plans for their grand WrestleMania entrance at the Raymond James Stadium before coronavirus forced WWE to move the show to the performance center and it appears that Bayley was one such star.

The former SmackDown women\’s champion recently appeared on D-Von Dudley\’s podcast where she talked about a number of things and also revealed the nixed plans for her WrestleMania entrance.

Bayley revealed that she wanted Hayley Williams from Paramore to perform her entrance at WrestleMania and they were trying to make it happen before the pandemic halted those plans:

\”So before the pandemic, before we knew that WrestleMania was gonna be in front of nobody and we were actually trying to figure out how to get that going and how to make it work.

Like we were having phone calls about it, and then all this happened and we couldn’t do it.\” said Bayley, \”So, we’ll see. I’m never gonna stop trying because that’s a dream moment for me and a dream WrestleMania moment for me so Hayley Williams, let’s do it, come on.”

• Also Read: Indie Wrestler Jimmy Rave Announces Retirement From Wrestling Due To Arm Amputation

The former NXT star isn\’t the only one who had to give up on her WrestleMania plans and previous reports have revealed the cancelled plans for Becky Lynch\’s entrance at the Show Of Shows as well.

Bayley has been feuding with Sasha Banks for the past few months over the SmackDown women\’s title and after the Survivor Series PPV; it would be interesting to see what the company has planned for her.

WWE did not announce any matches for this week\’s SmackDown until the last minute. According to the Wrestling Observer, this resulted in a chaotic environment backstage. Vince McMahon\’s late arrival to the Amway Center was the reason.

Nobody knew what the plan was for the show until McMahon showed. One source described the situation as a \”mess.\” According to Dave Meltzer, “We got one report that SmackDown was a mess as the show was still being worked on a few hours ago.”

Though this isn\’t the first time such situation has occurred and the update suggests that a situation where nobody knows what\’s going to happen until Mr McMahon arrived is considered \’nothing new\’.

We have also heard stories of the Boss tearing down written scripts for a show hours before it aired and more than once reports of officials still working on the ending of an episode when the show was already on air have come out.

For those who don\’t know, WWE had not announced any matches for SmackDown in advance this week. The company only confirmed the lineup for the episode 10 minutes before it went on air, making it a topic of discussion among the fans.

• Also Read: Liv Morgan Opens Up About Bizarre Wedding Segment With Lana

The storyline among Rusev, Lana and Bobby Lashley had many bizarre twists and turns and one of it was a returning Liv Morgan interrupting the storyline wedding between Lana and Lashley.

The Riott Squad member was recently interviewed by Fox Sports ahead of the premiere of her Liv Forever documentary on WWE Network this Sunday.

During the interview, Morgan talked about a number of things and opening up about the Lana wedding segment; she explained why she didn\’t say no to it:

\”It was crazy enough that I couldn\’t say no, you know, looking back, I\’ve had mixed feelings on it, too. But, looking back on it, I just think everything happens for a reason, you know?

And what we wanted to accomplish was to re-debut Liv in the biggest way possible. I definitely think that was accomplished. No one saw it coming. So, at the end of the day, I loved it and I\’m grateful for it.\”

• Cezar Bononi Reveals How Much He Was Making In NXT As A Development Talent

Liv Morgan was drafted to Raw during the 2019 draft in October and WWE subsequently started airing vignettes promoting her return which continued throughout the month of December.

She finally made her return during the December 30 episode where she interrupted the wedding of Lana and Bobby Lashley, to profess her love for Lana. However, Morgan aligned herself with Rusev after being rejected and attacked by the Ravishing Russian.