Garrett Bischoff Says His Father Tried To Talk Him Out Of Wrestling

In an interview with The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, Garrett Bischoff revealed that his father, Eric Bischoff, tried to prevent him from becoming a wrestler. Here are highlights:

On his father trying to talk him out of wrestling: “My father drilled into my head that you never put all of your eggs into one basket and always have a plan B, C, D and E. Plan A might not go the way you want it to go and for whatever reason things happen and the wrestling world is one of those things where things can end very quickly. He did everything he could to keep me from getting into the wrestling business. Obviously my parents both support and are very great about supporting my sister and I in whatever it is we wanted to do but also he’s been in the wrestling business for a long time and he sees what it does to you and to your body and the unstable nature of it sometimes. I think he realized there was no way to talk me out of it and after a few weeks or months of trying he finally realized that wasn’t going to work.”

On Kurt Angle leaving TNA: “He is such a good guy and his mission is to help guys like me and the young guys coming up. He is intense. When you are in the ring with Kurt Angle you know you are in the ring with Kurt Angle and you are not going to forget it for a few days afterwards. But it’s so much fun because his only goal in the match is to make sure that he is helping you learn and hone your craft and he is a phenomenal teacher. He loves to do it and has a passion for it and like I said I can’t say enough good things about Kurt Angle and every time I see him I tell him thank you.”

On being placed in Aces & Eights: “I think my exact words were HELL YEAH. I saw the writing on the wall and saw how people were reacting to it and was like absolutely. It was a cool, edgy and something that nobody had seen really since the nWo and D-Generation X and so it was not brand new with the idea but what we were doing with the physicality of it was. Nobody had seen it in a long time. Nobody had seen this edginess and raw just nastiness since D-Generation X and the nWo and it hadn’t been done again and in a sense it was fresh. It was a lot of fun and there was a real heat with that group that hadn’t been seen in wrestling anywhere to be honest with you in a long time and we actually had people throwing stuff in the ring at us in Europe again and nobody had done that since the nWo. With the ring literally being trashed by the time we left.”

On if the masks being removed changed the group’s dynamic: “They had to. You can’t do that forever. Everyone had to be unveiled because that was part of the hype. So yeah it changed but I don’t think it was a bad thing. Once we figured it out you can only dangle the carrot in front of people for so long before they say I’m going to find another carrot. I think that timing was right and the way we were doing things like coming through the crowd and all of that stuff it’s so subtle but it’s the same thing, nobody had seen it in forever. The backstage stuff we were doing and the taking people hostage was just a lot of fun. I think it ended too soon and there could have been a lot more we could have done with that. But my job was to show up and do what they asked me to do and that is what I did.”

On his TNA exit: “At that time I didn’t know that that was my last time I’d step foot on a TNA stage. I had no idea that was going to be it. My actual contract or actual departure didn’t take place until a little more than a year after that. But it is what it is. That is how the wrestling business is. One minute you are going 150 MPH and the next minute you are not. I say thank you to everyone that was a part of helping me out there and I had a great time while I was there and now it’s on to the next phase of my life. I don’t hold a grudge and I’m not bitter, I don’t have time for it. It is what it is and business is business and things will work themselves out however they need to in the future.”