July 22, 2002 Observer Newsletter: Eric Bischoff makes his WWE debut

WWE hit the reset button for about the seventh time over the past year with a new storyline of feuding Raw and Smackdown General Managers featuring the debut of Eric Bischoff on the 7/15 Raw at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ.

In the new storyline, Vince McMahon will phase down his television presence, with Bischoff playing the slimy heel GM of Raw, and Stephanie McMahon playing more of a ruthless babyface GM of Smackdown. The idea of the new storyline is that the rosters will be shaken up, with both sides making trades and also raiding the other roster, so there will be a more frequent change of the talent mix. The feuding GM storyline was an idea those in the company are crediting to Vince (McMahon, not Russo, although there is a story there as well), who came up with it right after the last reset just five weeks earlier when Vince destroyed the feuding owners gimmick in a desperation move by killing the Ric Flair as owner storyline in an attempt to take focus away on 6/10 in Atlanta from the fact that Steve Austin had left the company.

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