Eric Bischoff Discusses Bullet He Dodged From Vince McMahon While Working For WWE

Vince McMahon was infamous for making wrestlers and executives join the "Kiss My Ass Club" on WWE television, which was the ritualistic, literal kissing of McMahon's bare backside. Many have joined the club, including William Regal and Jim Ross, but WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff managed never to pucker up. On "83 Weeks," Bischoff explained that he got lucky, as humiliation was something of an onscreen regularity at the time.

"Vince humiliated his own family in the ring, as characters, consistently and in a very loud way. So it wasn't personal," Bischoff said of McMahon's oft-crude sense of humor. The former WCW President was told time and time again that he'd be humiliated on WWE television. "Look at what he did with people in his own company, the Kiss My Ass Club. I fortunately dodged that bullet, but I'm one of the very few that was asked to do it and didn't do it. It's not what people think ... I think it's reminding you that he writes a check and you need to do what he says to do, and once he establishes that control ... now we can have a great relationship."

According to Bischoff, he'd nearly been asked to join the infamous club, but managed to talk his way out of it. "I did get that in a script," Bischoff explained. "I get this email ... and I'm doing the Kiss My Ass gimmick in the ring, and this was not long after I got there." Bischoff says that he explained to the lead producer that he was willing to do as scripted, but that he didn't think it was a good idea. "I didn't know what was gonna happen ... I pushed back on it, I got to TV Monday, I got my script, and it was gone," Bischoff said. The former "WWE Raw" General Manager thinks he just asked politely and professionally enough that his request was granted.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "83 Weeks" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.