14. On This Day In Pro Wrestling History (July 15, 2002) – Hell Freezes Over On Raw

On this day in Pro Wrestling history on July 15, 2002, one of the most shocking moments in WWE history happened when Eric Bischoff became the new general manager of Monday Night Raw. This was Eric Bischoff’s WWE debut. Vince Russo could’ve been the one in his place but that idea was nixed.

Bischoff did not arrive into the building until about 15 minutes before the show began and spent most of the first hour in a limo in the parking lot. Here’s what Eric Bischoff told WWE.com regarding the deal:

“We’ve been talking unofficially through third parties for almost a year now. We’ve come close to doing something a couple of times, but for a variety of reasons it’s just never worked out. About a month or two ago, we’d gotten a little bit more serious in our conversations, and I got a chance to talk directly to Vince McMahon. I think we were able to break a lot of ice, just over the phone. Once we did that, it just seemed like it was much easier to move forward and get a deal done for sure. Really, this just came together within the last week or 10 days.”

Below are the results from this edition of Raw:

– Tommy Dreamer def. Steven Richards in a Singapore Cane match

– Molly Holly def. Trish Stratus

– Booker T def. Big Show

– Johnny Stamboli def. Bradshaw to win the WWE Hardcore Title

– Bradshaw def. Johnny Stamboli to regain the WWE Hardcore Title

– Brock Lesnar & The Undertaker def. Ric Flair & Rob Van Dam

You can watch Bischoff’s WWE debut below: