TNA’s Eric Bischoff was one of the featured guests on this week’s live edition of the award-winning Monday Night Mayhem
During the interview, bischoff talked about: Whether Or Not He Sees Ring Of Honor As Direct Competition To TNA After The Acquisition Of ROH By Sinclair Broadcasting, The Chances Of Seeing Him Take On Increased Duties Within TNA After The Departure Of Terry Taylor, What He Currently Sees In The X-Division That Should Give Fans Hope For The Future Of The Division, The Development Of Karen Jarrett’s On-Air Persona (And If It’s Too Early To Start Comparing Her To Vickie Guerrero), Chyna’s Return To The Ring, Plus Much More In The Return Of “The Hot Seat With Eric Bischoff” (Flavored By Sizzlin Sauces).
You can listen to an MP3 of the entire interview by clicking here.
Interview highlights courtesy of Paterson, MNM’s associate producer & official correspondent:
His reaction to the passing of Randy Savage & how he will remember “The Macho Man”: “It hit me pretty hard, and it’s still hitting me now. He was a very private individual and kind of kept to himself, and I respected that. As more information comes out the more I see it, it still shocks me, and it’s hard to believe that Randy is not with us.”
The transition from iMPACT into iMPACT Wrestling & why he believes now is the perfect time to make changes to the television program itself: “Last week, a lot of the changes you saw were cosmetic. Graphics, lighting, staging, and that sort of thing, which was part of the plan. I think anyone who had any expectations that all of sudden iMPACT Wrestling was going to be a completely different show, probably had misaligned expectations. We are going to try & improve the show in many different ways in what you are going to see throughout the summer and going into the fall. It’s a great time of year to experiment with format and experiment with different elements of the show. You’ll see those changes. Some will noticeable, and others won’t be.”
Whether or not he sees Ring of Honor as more of a direct competition to TNA, after the acquisition of ROH by Sinclair Broadcasting: “I know I am going to get a lot of heat for what I’m about to tell you, and I’ve got nothing against anybody at Ring of Honor. In fact I wish them all the best. I’m reading a lot of stuff people are writing, and I think they are kidding themselves. Sinclair is 22 television stations, however many it is, that has a 22% market penetration in the United States. 22% market penetration in the United States means you don’t exist from an advertisers point of view. 22% means Nielsen doesn’t even track you as a network, and that’s assuming they get distribution on all 22 of those stations, which isn’t guaranteed. So while I think it’s a great thing for ROH because at least they have something, I think the enthusiasm of the fact that it’s a network, people are getting excited over a lot of nothing.”
If he has ever been a fan of short title reigns (coming off the fan fallout after Christian losing the World Heavyweight Championship to Randy Orton, just days after winning the title): “It all goes back to story. What’s the circumstances? What’s the context? Where’s it going? There’s not a simple formula to answer that question. Generally speaking, short title reigns tend to be risky, because your audience never really has a chance to grasp it and to get embedded into it one way or the other.”
