Former WWE SmackDown Executive Director Eric Bischoff recently discussed what is now being billed as ‘Black Wednesday.’ WWE released a significant number of on-air and backstage talent earlier this week and Bischoff would weigh in on the situation for the After 83 Weeks w/ Christy Olson podcast. As part of the discussion, Bischoff would also talk about AEW and whether they would be likely to hire a number of talents from the released list.
Eric Bischoff on Released Talents
“I mean let’s take a snapshot of reality as it exists today” Eric Bischoff began. “Where can they [the released talents] go? They could, theoretically at least, go to AEW. But how bloated can that roster get? They don’t do house shows, they don’t tour. They do a pay per view once a month or whatever it is.”
Comparing AEW and WCW
Eric Bischoff would then shift the conversation into a comparison between WCW, saying “nobody’s really talking about it. As opposed to WCW when guys like Dave Meltzer and everybody couldn’t wait to disclose internal information about WCW that was leaked to them by talent. You don’t hear any of that coming out AEW. I have a pretty good idea what some of the talent are making. And, it’s astronomical sums of money compared to what even some of them have ever made at the peak of their careers in WWE or WCW.”
AEW’s Talent Budget
Eric Bischoff then clarified that statement, saying that AEW clearly has a ‘substantial’ talent budget to work with. “There’s a substantial talent budget there. It’s a talent budget for a roster that isn’t generating a lot of revenue, other than television. And, of course, pay per view. So how many top talents, how many of those names from WWE can AEW afford to hire? If they bring in three, four, or five or maybe they only bring in one?”
Bischoff finished by discussing a talent he worked with in WWE that he would consider bringing in. “That makes sense, one or two of the bigger names, I’m sure, Erick Rowan is a guy that I’d be surprised if they’re not looking at that got released. Super guy by the way I loved working with him in WWE. But there’s a handful of stars that I’m sure WWE or AEW are thinking about right now. But to think that they’re gonna absorb eight or nine or 10 people? It’s not realistic.”
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