Former WCW President and WWE Executive Director of SmackDown Eric Bischoff recently appeared on AEW Dynamite. ‘Easy E’ appeared in a segment with Orange Cassidy and former AEW ‘Le Champion’ Chris Jericho.

One of the more interesting aspects of this week’s 83 Weeks podcast was Bischoff’s take on Tony Khan. Eric Bischoff and Tony Khan have previously had heated words online but after a recent Patreon-exclusive podcast the two are now on amicable terms, at least publicly.

“That was really interesting. Now, you know I got to meet Tony [Khan] because of you (co-host Conrad Thompson). You put us together to do a thing on Patreon” Eric Bischoff would begin on 83 Weeks.

Eric Bischoff on Tony Khan

“I enjoyed talking to him then. But when I was backstage, and it was most noticeable for me… I hope Tony doesn’t mind me sharing this! I doubt that he would, but in case you do Tony I apologize” Bischoff continued.

Bischoff would then discuss the time just before he appeared for the segment on AEW Dynamite. “But while I was getting ready to go out? We’ll call it in the ‘gorilla position,’ but when I was standing backstage? Ready to be introduced for the segment? I was within earshot of Tony when he was at at the gorilla position and on monitors.”

• Cody Rhodes On What AEW Looks For In Indie Talent, Completed TNT Championship

“I couldn’t help overhear Tony” Bischoff would elaborate. “[He was] talking to probably Keith Mitchell in the truck or somebody in the truck. I’m assuming it was Keith. Tony’s…into this. Tony’s the guy with the chequebook who’s a big fan who’s ALSO a good producer. And more importantly, loves producing.”

Bischoff would finish by praising Khan further, saying “It is his passion in the product. He’s obviously a very intelligent and experienced businessman so check those boxes. But when you have passion, and you like producing and you’re willing to grab it by the balls? As opposed to putting someone else in that position and hoping that they’re going to do the work that you want them to do? Therein lies the magic. By the way, that’s what I did to a large degree, that’s a mistake that I made in WCW.”

Do you feel that AEW has had a good run in terms of production over their short tenure? Do you agree with Eric Bischoff? Let us know in the comments

Booker T doesn’t believe that former WCW President Eric Bischoff belongs on anyone’s WCW Mount Rushmore. As far as the Hall of Famer is concerned, Bischoff’s “not in the conversation.”

Booker T shared his thoughts on his Hall of Fame podcast. He explained how people like Bischoff who “haven’t put time in the ring wrestling for years” don’t deserve consideration. He stressed that this was just his opinion on the matter.

Extrapolating on his opinion, Booker T reflected on Bischoff’s impact on WCW and the wrestling business. He acknowledged how Bischoff did a lot for him and his career in WCW. However, he noted that when business and pleasure mingle, problems can occur.

“When Eric Bischoff stopped being the president, stopped being the boss and wanted to start being one of the boys and wanting to be one of the talents on the show, that’s when everything got clouded.”

Booker T continued, “Judgment totally didn’t come into play in certain instances because you got a lot of guys around you that you think are your friends. Eric Bischoff should have never been in a position to even be considered to be a part of Mount Rushmore.”

Booker T has previously expressed a similar opinion regarding Bischoff being inducted into WWE’s Hall of Fame.

Eric Bischoff returned to WWE from June to October of last year. His short-lived time as the Executive Director of Smackdown was recently addressed on Bischoff’s 83 Weeks podcast. He spoke about what led to him returning to the company.

“It hit me out of left field. If others felt like it was a surprise to them you should have been sitting on my deck when I got that phone call in early June or May or whenever it was,” Bischoff said.

“Bruce (Prichard) and I started talking, and I think it happened at a Starrcast event, at an event Bruce and I were both at.”

Bischoff continued to say that Prichard asked him what he would think about his name being thrown out to Vince for a potential role. Bischoff suggested he was happy with this as he would enjoy working with Bruce again.

“We worked together very closely in TNA and we kind of learned how to work together.”

Bischoff also spoke about negotiating with Vince McMahon on a deal to return to the company. He said the first meeting the two had didn’t get into specifics too much.

Eric Bischoff On Meeting With Vince

Bischoff says his meetings with Vince went very smoothly.

“More social than business is how I would characterize it,” Bischoff said about his first meeting with Vince last year about coming back.

“Vince and I hadn’t seen each other in 12 years or whatever, I think the last time I had seen Vince was in 2007 or so,” he continued. “Big bear hug, how you doing, pal? It was all very social and positive.”

Bischoff continued to say that he knew when he was invited back for a 2nd meeting that talks of him returning had gotten more serious.

“That meeting went equally as well and we were off and running.”

• Eric Bischoff On His Dynamite Cameo Possibly Being His Last TV Appearance

Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below:

Eric Bischoff was one of the key figures of the Monday Night Wars and he is still seen making wrestling appearances here and there, such as his appearance on last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite.

However, since he is not a regular character on any shows, any appearance could end up being his last televised appearance and it’s possible that we might never see the 65-year-old star on TV after this week.

Bischoff talked about this possibility during the latest episode of his 83 weeks podcast and the former WCW official said that he would be okay if he never steps in front of a camera again:

“If I never step in front of a camera again, if I never go backstage again anywhere, it would be okay to me, I’m really glad that my last experience in a backstage environment watching a bunch of young talent, fresh talent and hungry talent that believe they can make a difference, that energy is something I walked away with. If that’s the last experience I have, it will be a great one.”

• Eric Bischoff Talks Paul Heyman’s Demands For TNA Role: “I Think It Was a Fantasy

Eric Bischoff also talked about the backstage environment and the creative process of AEW. He revealed that there was no writer’s room at AEW and the talents had a lot of say in their promos and characters.

The former WCW President was brought in as a guest moderator for the debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy on last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite. At this point, his appearance is expected to be a one off deal.

As expected, Eric Bischoff made an appearance on AEW Dynamite, which marked his promotional debut. 

All Elite Wrestling had previously announced that Chris Jericho would debate Orange Cassidy with a special guest moderator on Wednesday’s broadcast from Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place. It marked the first appearance for Bischoff on TNT since the summer of 2000 on WCW. 

The promotion hadn’t announced who the moderator would be, but it turned out to be Bischoff. His appearance on this show was leaked last week. 

Bischoff was behind a desk on the stage while Jericho and Cassidy were in the ring at podiums. Jericho mostly trash-talked Cassidy during the segment. 

It was revealed that Jericho will battle Cassidy next week in a singles match. The stipulation is that if Cassidy loses then he’ll have to pay $7,000 for the expensive shirt that he destroyed when he dumped orange juice on him and fellow members of The Inner Circle. 

Bischoff had been in WWE while serving as the SmackDown Executive Director for a few months in 2019. He was replaced by Bruce Prichard as the Executive Director of SmackDown. 

Since that time, he has continued his 83 Weeks podcast with Conrad Thompson. 

• Tony Khan Says There Would Be No AEW Without Eric Bischoff

Eric Bischoff was the Executive Director of WWE Smackdown from the summer of 2019 until March of 2020. He moved to Stamford, Connecticut near WWE’s headquarters for the role. Bischoff spoke about moving to Stamford on a recent edition of the 83 Weeks podcast.

“I must have known this just intuitively or whatever but I said ‘Look, we’re not going to sell the house, we’re not going to pick up and sell everything we own and start over at 64 years old.'”

Bischoff continued to say that he was hoping to make some changes to the creative process in WWE. Once that was set up, however, he figured he would leave the promotion.

“I kind of looked at WWE as a 2 or a 3-year gig. And not because I wouldn’t have wanted to work there longer, not because I devalued it in any way but I was honest about what could I really contribute that actually mattered.”

Bischoff wasn’t expecting to be in Stamford long and said he looked at the whole thing as something of an adventure.

“I’m just going to go there and we’re going to make the most of it and that’s kind of what we did. It felt like we were 21 again.”

• Eric Bischoff On RAW’s Declining Viewership, Dynamite’s Recovery During COVID-19

Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below:

Former SmackDown Executive Director and WCW President Eric Bischoff has commented on RAW’s declining viewership. Speaking with Chris Featherstone of Sportskeeda, Bischoff addressed pro wrestling’s current viewership and ratings. He also discussed how AEW is growing and recovering despite the difficulties of the coronavirus.

Bischoff explained how no promotion bar AEW is “starting to show real signs of life,” pointing to how the promotion was recently “knocking on a million viewers again.”

It’s a number he noted wasn’t too far from what they were achieving during Dynamite’s debut. He called this “a really good sign” for AEW’s future during COVID-19.

Turning his attention to WWE’s RAW and SmackDown shows, Eric Bischoff talked about how “SmackDown hasn’t fallen farther than it has, it’s not gonna sound like anything to cheer about. I think that’s a good sign.”

He believes SmackDown has “stabilized” during this time. Bischoff pointed out how SmackDown is still “delivering over two million,” which puts them where WWE wants it to be for their key demos. According to him, “they’re more than treading water in that regard.”

RAW, however, is a different story.

Bischoff acknowledged how RAW seems to be “suffering.” He stressed how seeing AEW grow and SmackDown maintain steady viewership and “not dropping like a rock” unlike RAW can only be interpreted as a good thing for those brands during a pandemic.

Eric Bischoff is reportedly making his AEW debut next week.

Reddit user SpaceForce1, who previously provided correct Dynamite spoilers after being a member of the crowd at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, reports that Bischoff will appear during next Wednesday’s taped Dynamite episode on TNT.

Bischoff will reportedly appear during the debate segment between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy. AEW previously announced that the debate will feature a special guest moderator, which apparently is Bischoff.

There is no word yet on if Bischoff will work with AEW past this segment. He has been without a job in pro wrestling since being released from his role as SmackDown Executive Director in October 2019, just a few months after WWE hired him in June 2019.

AEW President & CEO Tony Khan previously praised the former WCW President during the 83 Weeks podcast hosted by Bischoff and Conrad Thompson. Khan stated that there would be no AEW without Bischoff.

“Just so you know, and over the course of this conversation I’m sure it will come across, I am such a huge fan of your work and you are such an incredible innovator in the business,” Khan said to Bischoff during the 83 Weeks interview.

“I wouldn’t be here and there would not be an AEW without you and there would not be wrestling on TNT right now without you,” Khan continued. “You gave me the opening to talk to the President of TNT to talk about the previous success you’d had on his network which he didn’t realize because it’s been 20 years.”

Here is the announced line-up for next Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite episode on TNT:

* Jon Moxley defends the AEW World Championship against Darby Allin

* The Dark Order vs. FTR and The Elite in a 12-man tag team match

* MJF delivers another State of the Industry Address

* Matt Cardona’s in-ring debut, teaming with TNT Champion Cody vs. The Dark Order’s John Silver and Alex Reynolds

* Chris Jericho debates Orange Cassidy with a special guest moderator

Eric Bischoff was recently asked on an episode of 83 Weeks if he feels WWE goes out of its way to bury or kill-off old WCW ideas or gimmicks. Bischoff feels WWE does not do this, however, and actually does a good job at cashing-in off of some of WCW’s bigger successes such as the NWO.

“No, I don’t think that,” Bischoff said when asked if he felt Vince McMahon buries WCW ideas or gimmicks. “I understand why people might think that but I don’t think that’s the case. I honestly believe Vince will take advantage of, exploit, use anything that he possibly can to make his business healthier, and generate revenue including anything that was WCW.”

“But I also do believe that there is a certain culture, a corporate culture, whereby WWE, the brand and all the things that are created as original intellectual property will always be positioned as a priority. I’m not so sure that that’s not a great idea.”

Eric Bischoff on How WWE Markets The NWO Still To This Day

Bischoff used the example of the NWO to showcase how WWE still uses and earns money off WCW creative.

“The NWO to this day is still to this day one of the most successful products in the WWE catalog in terms of merchandise,” Bischoff continued.

“The fact that WWE is promoting the NWO as much as they have and are and the fact that they are still selling their merchandise kind of contradicts the statement that they are trying to kill it. I think they are trying to make money off it. But, I also at the same time think that the NWO will always take a backseat or anything that was WCW original including Sting’s return and his positioning at WrestleMania against Triple H, it will always be positioned as secondary to anything that’s WWE. But that’s not the same as killing it.”

• Tony Khan Says There Would Be No AEW Without Eric Bischoff

Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below:

WCW Nitro increased from a 1-hour program to a 2-hour program after the conclusion of the 96 NBA Playoffs on TNT. It would later expand to 3-hours. Eric Bischoff recently discussed the decision to expand the program by an hour on an episode of his podcast.

“Who set that standard, who led the way? Who cleared the path for 120 minutes, some of the most exciting action that has ever been seen in the world? Not just here in the states but in the entire world of professional wrestling, that would be Nitro.”

Bischoff would continue to discuss how this decision has had a lasting impact in pro-wrestling.

“As you pointed out, WWF would follow suit, and then followed suit again with a 3-hour show,” he continued.

“If you write down all the ways WWF followed suit in terms of what we did at Nitro, you’ll understand why I say Nitro changed the wrestling landscape not only during the Monday Night Wars but to this very day,” Bischoff said on the show. “Our fingerprints, our choices, our decisions, our tactics, our strategies still live on today, not just in the form of the NWO merchandise, in terms of the format you are watching. You are watching live TV on Monday nights and Wednesday nights and Friday nights, when things are back to normal, because of Monday Night Nitro, just remember that.”

• Eric Bischoff On Dusty Rhodes’ Commentary Work

Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below:

Hulk Hogan once filed suit against Post Foods, the manufacturer of Cocoa Pebbles. The cereal once marketed a character named “Bulk Boulder” in commercials that was portrayed as a professional wrestler. The two sides settled out of court in 2010. No financial terms of the settlement were ever revealed but the commercial was pulled.

On a recent episode of the 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff commented on the suit.

“One of the things that people don’t realize is when you have a trademark, you have to protect it,” Bischoff said.

“If you, through your attorneys, don’t take some kind of action, affirmative action in response to it that is, in effect, abandoning your trademark.”

“Had Hulk Hogan and his attorneys not protected that trademark, they could have easily lost the rights to that trademark by not defending it.”

“I don’t think that Hulk Hogan was looking for a billion-dollar payday or any of those things. I think he just wanted a cease & desist and prove to the USPTO.gov group that he was indeed protecting his trademark.”

• Eric Bischoff Reacts to WWE’s Big Creative Shakeup, Has Advice For Paul Heyman

In 2013, Post signed a sponsorship deal with WWE Superstar, John Cena.

• Press Release: New John Cena/Post Pebbles Cereal Promotion Announced

A commercial featuring the “Bulk Boulder” character can be viewed in the player below:

Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below:

Eric Bischoff has some thoughts about WWE’s decision to consolidate the writing teams of Raw and SmackDown.

WWE announced on Thursday that Bruce Prichard is now in charge of creative for both shows. The Something to Wrestle host had been acting as the Executive Director of SmackDown, a job previously held by Bischoff. Raw’s Executive Director, Paul Heyman, will remain with WWE exclusively as an on-air talent.

Bischoff commented on the dramatic shakeup. He also offered some advice for Paul Heyman. During a conversation with Christy Olson on After 83 Weeks, Bischoff said his initial reaction is to reach out to Bruce Prichard with a cheeky congratulatory message. “My first reaction is I’m going to send Bruce Prichard a text that says congratulations, with a question mark,” he joked.

Eric Bischoff says Bruce Prichard is one of his best friends and he fully supports Bruce in this new role. “Bruce is an architect, more than a creative mind. But Bruce being a good architect will know how to take advantage of the resources within his grasp, and will do a great job.”

As for Paul Heyman’s situation, Bischoff’s reaction was a little more .. mixed.

“He’s quirky as shit. He’s got his own thing, you know. Most really creative, highly aggressive people do. Paul was a handful but in a fun and positive way for me, not in a negative or challenging way, but in a way that kind of made you better because he made you think.”

Bischoff gave some advice to Paul Heyman, who now finds himself on the outside of WWE’s chaotic creative process.

“This too shall pass,” Bischoff advised Heyman. “It’ll pass quickly, and there will be another opportunity tomorrow. So just lay low.”

Bischoff added that Paul Heyman has a cult-like following with wrestling fans to this day. Heyman is an icon to so many people who feels he can do no wrong. Bischoff says that’s simply not the case and Heyman is ‘just a human being’ like the rest of us.

“He’s a very creative talented human being, but he still a human being that has flaws. but Paul is on such a pedestal that I think people tend to give him a little more credit than they should for some things.”

Watch the latest episode of After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson and Eric Bischoff:

Former WWE SmackDown Executive Vice President and WCW President Eric Bischoff recently discussed AEW Dynamite and a potential move to Mondays for the show on After 83 Weeks w/Christy Olson.

Bischoff was posed the question on the show, being asked if he felt AEW Dynamite could eventually make a move to Monday Nights and go head-to-head with WWE RAW. The reasoning behind the question was because Monday is regarded by ‘casual’ fans as ‘wrestling night’ and AEW could potentially capitalise on that audience.

TNA made the move to Monday nights back in 2010, eventually moving back to their usual time slot later in the week. Bischoff has previously said that the reason for that move was to get fans to ‘sample’ the product, but he doesn’t think that AEW should be moving anytime soon.

Eric Bischoff on Dynamite Moving Nights

“If I were there, and I had a voice in the room? I would probably be suggesting that they stay away from Mondays until their numbers start coming up every week,” Bischoff began.

“What we’ve seen, when they debuted they came in about 1.4 to 1.5 million viewers. And pre COVID? They were hovering in that eight or 900,000 viewers category,” he continued. “That means they went from here, to here, to here (motioning downwards). And now they’re kind of flatlining at almost 35 or 40% of their premiere audience.”

Bischoff then compared AEW Dynamite’s viewership trends to that of WCW Nitro.

“If you go back and you look at Nitro’s performance when we launched? That was September I guess in ’95? We started out in the low twos or mid twos, and we crept up to the high twos. Then we crept up to a three and then we crept up to a three three over a pretty long period of time. It didn’t happen overnight, It took a while.”

WCW Nitro

Eric Bischoff elaborated further, saying “But most importantly? If you looked at our ratings as a graph over the first year? It would be a slow but steady build up. What we’ve seen with AEW has been a slow but steady deterioration of the audience they seemed to have, pre-COVID. That’s now leveling out at about that 800,000 Mark 850,000 whatever it is.”

Bischoff finished by giving his own take on when AEW could even begin to consider moving their night to compete with a bigger WWE platform than they currently are with NXT on Wednesdays.

“That’s the risk, if the audience isn’t so into your product and you make a move to another night? They may or may not come with you. But if you can demonstrate by growing that audience and watching other indicators like licensing and merchandising and pay per view numbers? If you can say to yourself ‘okay for the last six months we’ve increased viewers by X percent. We’ve increased merchandise sales by X percent.’ When you can start filling in those blanks in, and it indicates an upward trend? Then I would start having a conversation about Monday nights.”

Do you agree with Bischoff? Let us know in the comments

Also Check Out:

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• FTR To Do Sit-Down Interview On Next Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite

Former President of WCW and Executive Director of WWE SmackDown Eric Bischoff recently commented on the ’empty arena’ tapings that AEW and WWE are producing.

Eric Bischoff has begun discussing TNA shows on his 83 Weeks podcast, where he and Hulk Hogan would spend some time during the start of last decade. At the time, TNA would air at Orlando Studios in Florida at a soundstage.

With the current climate of professional wrestling and the coronavirus pandemic, both AEW and WWE have had to combat the lack of ‘atmosphere’ that a building without fans creates. WWE especially have had to film at the smaller ‘soundstage’ setting that the Performance Center in (ironically) Orlando that gives the shows a much smaller feel.

Eric Bischoff on AEW, WWE & TNA

“This is where I want to draw an analogy between what we’re seeing today in WWE and AEW. And, to a degree? The challenge that TNA had” Bischoff would begin. “I think one thing that we can all agree on right now? Is that wrestling doesn’t work without an audience.”

Eric Bischoff would compare the smaller stages that AEW and WWE are having to work in, with WWE utilizing the Performance Center in Florida. “Nobody has to be a rocket scientist to come up with that observation. But one of my concerns with TNA and one of the reasons I wasn’t excited about doing it? Is because it was in a soundstage.”

Bischoff would claim that having a tiny soundstage with fans who were entering for free was a huge detriment to the TNA product. “Now, while a soundstage arguably is a live audience is just a little bit better than having cardboard cutouts in the seats with piped in fake noise? It’s not a real audience. The audience, for the most part, didn’t really understand, weren’t really engaged.”

‘Easy E’ would also talk about how the company did have some die hard fans who would attend, but for the most part the causal audience that entered the ‘IMPACT Zone’ would often not be enough to add to the product.

• Related: Okada Recalls The Language Barrier Hindering His Run With TNA

Owen Hart tragically fell to his death in Kemper Arena on May 23rd, 1999. On May 7th, 2000, WCW held Slamboree in the same arena. During the show, Mike Awesome tossed Kanyon off the Ready To Rumble cage to the ramp 20-feet below. Some fans have since expressed that doing such a stunt in the same building as the Owen Hart tragedy had taken place in less than a year earlier was in bad taste.

Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson recently discussed this on an episode of the 83 Weeks podcast.

“In hindsight, do you think that maybe this wasn’t the best idea to do in this arena given this is where the Owen Hart tragedy happened a year before?” Thompson asked Bischoff.

“No, I don’t feel that way,” Bischoff said. “I’ll try to explain why. In any other form of entertainment/sport, or sports-entertainment or sports. Let’s just take NASCAR. When someone is killed in a NASCAR event, do they stop turning left at 180 miles per hour? Do they quit racing? Do they stop for 6-months or a month or if someone is unfortunately killed at Talladega, do they not race at Talladega anymore?”

Bischoff continued to talk about wrestling being scripted violence before Thompson chimed back in.

“Well hang on now, this is a little different,” Thompson interjected. “This is the arena where he died, roughly a year later, on his actual birthday. So, there is a good chance that some of these fans in the crowd were at Over the Edge the year before and now they’re here and they see another guy flying down to the f***ing floor from up high.”

Bischoff rejected the comparison, however.

“I disagree,” Bischoff said. “You can’t draw a parallel between what happened to Owen and the stunt we created and rehearsed and felt was safe here. They’re not connected.”

• Eric Bischoff Comments On Chris Jericho Not Wanting To Join The NWO

The discussion between Bischoff and Thompson can be heard in the player below:

In 1998, there were rumors that WCW wanted Chris Jericho to join the NWO. On the Nitro just after Road Wild that year, the NWO’s Giant helped him win the TV title. Many fans took that as the beginning of Jericho joining the group. It never happened, however, and Giant helping Jericho win the title was never explained.

Bischoff commented recently on Jericho not wanting to join the faction on an episode of his 83 Weeks podcast. He told Conrad Thompson that Jericho wasn’t in a position to turn anything down.

“He didn’t turn down anything, Chris didn’t have creative control,” Bischoff said on the show. “Could it have been suggested? Could he have balked? Yeah, I’ll go with that as a possibility.”

According to Jericho’s book, he felt as though he had a good thing going outside the NWO at the time.

Bischoff continued to say he has no recollection of wanting Jericho to join the NWO.

“There may have been some discussion about the NWO – which, by the way, I don’t recall because I can’t imagine that making any sense. The only thing I really recall and I’m probably fast-forwarding just a little bit is Chris really wanted to work with Bill Goldberg and that was a problem for me for a lot of reasons. There were a couple of reasons that were pretty significant.”

Bischoff continued to say that he may have suggested the idea to Jericho but it was never anything firm.

“I guarantee you I never went to Chris and said ‘Chris this is what I want you to do’ and Chris said ‘no, I’m not going to do that.’ That never happened.”

• Chris Jericho Comments On Adding Members To The Inner Circle

Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below:

Former Executive Director of WWE’s SmackDown brand Eric Bischoff recently discussed AEW and what he feels they need to improve. Whilst Bischoff was very clear in that the company have a lot of positives, he believes that more “storylines” and removing the “sameness” of some of the roster could help them exponentially going forward as a brand.

Eric Bischoff on AEW Overall

“I think they’re doing a lot of things well” Bischoff began on this week’s episode of After 83 Weeks w/ Christy Olson. “I know it’s gonna sound like a criticism I guess. I’m gonna try to make sure it doesn’t. When I look at my Twitter feed? When I read it, it’s like, people think I’m anti AEW!? I’m not at all. I mean I have a lot of friends there. And, people who I have a lot of respect for, who I may not be friends with them because I don’t really know them. But I know OF them and have a tonne of respect for them, so I’m pulling for them.”

Leveraging Social Media

Eric Bischoff would then go on to praise how the company has leveraged social media, from Being The Elite all the way to getting a slot on the TNT Network. “They’ve certainly captured the imagination. They’ve certainly figured out a way to build their brand and [have] brought/build awareness on social media. To YouTube in particular. [They have] converted that to a live event phenomenon, that they were able to convert to a television opportunity. By the way, that’s a lot to be proud of. And that’s a lot of doing sh*t right right there.”

Making Improvements

Bischoff would then move into how the company could improve, discussing the aforementioned ‘storylines’. “In terms of what I think they could do perhaps differently? Again I’m gonna qualify this because this is what I like. What I’m about to suggest, this is what appeals to me as a 65 year old guy who’s been in the business for over 30 years. Which is not the same thing that necessarily appeals to a 25 to 49 year old, or 18 to 34 year old, or 18 to 39 year old audience. So just because it appeals to me? Doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the right way to go.”

Emphasis on Story – Eric Bischoff

‘Easy E’ elaborated further, saying “I really do believe that they need more emphasis on story. I know they have stories, I’m not suggesting that they don’t. Please don’t misunderstand me, that’s not what I mean. But what I do mean is, I think the storytelling? Could be vastly improved. I think the character development could really be improved. Not AS much as the storytelling, because they’ve got some great characters. But I do believe that the characters could be developed to be a little bit more unique. To be a little more different from each other. There’s a ‘sameness’ to the characters. It’s just the way I see things, in the way I interpret things.”

WWE Also Being “Guilty of This”

Eric Bischoff would finish by pointing out that it isn’t just AEW who could improve on their storytelling. “For the most part? This is across the board, not just AEW. WWE is probably more guilty than AEW. I think the story, the emphasis on storytelling, has been abandoned for the most part. There’s a story there, yes technically, and I know that they try hard to try to create story. But in my opinion? The storytelling in WWE is no better.”

Do you think that AEW need to improve the way that they tell stories on television? Let us know in the comments

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Former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently discussed a tumultuous time in his career at the former Turner Broadcasting giant. On this week’s episode of the 83 Weeks podcast, ‘Easy E’ would talk about Spring Stampede 2000, the final iteration of the PPV before WCW folded in 2001.

Bischoff revealed some of the issues that he was facing personally around this time. To put the show into context, the PPV came just under a week after the returning tandem of Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff had vacated every Championship in the company. During the podcast, Eric Bischoff would reveal that he ‘compromised’ when it came to the creative at the time. Bischoff would also discuss how the company was “reacting too much to the internet chatter” and that WCW “were allowing the audience to dictate too much” of the product.

Eric Bischoff on Compromising

“I succumbed, I compromised here” Eric Bischoff would begin. “I think that’s, again. Looking back at the entire situation? I lived it, you know? I went through things that the audience will never know about. When I got done watching this episode and PPV? The thing that I walked away with just me personally, and, you know, 20 minutes after it was over? Was that I compromised.”

Bischoff would then elaborate further, confirming how he felt WCW ‘pandered’ too much to the audience and did not drive the narrative of their own storylines. Specifically, Eric Bischoff was referring to the Millionaire’s Club vs New Blood feud. This feud pitted the younger stars of WCW against the established veterans. Bischoff mentioned numerous times on the podcast how WWF’s attempts at the time to call WCW’s talent pool ‘old’ almost directly led to the creation of the angle to try and change the narrative.

Audience Dictating The Narrative?

“While some of those compromises ended up being pretty good under the circumstances?” Bischoff continued. “Overall, this show was really about compromise. And I knew going in that we were reacting too much to the internet chatter. I knew going into this before this show. I knew, based on the creative direction? That we were allowing the audience to dictate too much to us. And we weren’t taking control of our own product. And don’t get me wrong, I listen to the fans. I was the guy in WCW that wouldn’t sit backstage in [the] gorilla [position].”

Bischoff finished by discussing how he would attempt to get the ‘pulse’ of the fans in attendance. “[I didn’t have] can headsets on and watch a little eight by eight inch monitor. That’s a bullsh*t way of, in my opinion, a ridiculous way of trying to gauge or evaluate an audience’s response to anything.”

Bischoff would go on to discuss the PPV at length during the episode.

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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.”

Do you think that AEW will bring in some of the recently released WWE Superstars? Let us know in the comments

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Eric Bischoff came into TNA Wrestling in early 2010 and was gone by the fall of 2013. At the time Bischoff came in, TNA had been using a 6-sided ring. The company would revert back to a traditional 4-sided ring shortly after Bischoff and Hogan signed. Bischoff was recently asked a question about the 6-sided ring in TNA on an episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast and the former President of WCW did not hold back his opinions.

“It was stupid, right?” Bischoff said about the ring. “Here is the logic that I heard ‘yeah but when people are flipping through the channels they’re going to see that 6-sided ring and stop and go ‘hey, what’s that? Maybe we should watch that.’ That was the entire psychology and strategy behind this 6-sided ring.”

“First of all people don’t click through channels anymore,” he continued. “Even in 2010, it was just an absurd rationale and strategy to come up with a 6-sided ring for no other reason than to capture the audience that maybe surfing channels or as it was put, clicking through channels, and stop because they were going to see something that looked odd to them. Think about that? That’s pretty fu**ing stupid. So, that was my approach coming in and I was very vocal about it.”

TNA Alumni Debate The 6-Sided Ring

• AJ Styles, Sting, & Jeff Jarrett Debate TNA’s 6-Sided Ring

On a recent episode of Table for 3, AJ Styles, Jeff Jarrett and Sting gave their opinions on the 6-sided ring.

“I grew to love it,” Styles said. “I thought it made us so different from anything anybody else was seeing. It was kind of like with cagefighting, it looked like that. It made it more sports-oriented being so different to that box ring. We had 6-sides and looked like MMA kind of, it was different. I loved that look to the point where when I heard we were going to lose it, I was mad.”

“I wasn’t complaining when it was gone,” Sting added. 

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.

Eric Bischoff on Released Talents

“Like most people? My thoughts go out and to some degree my heart because some of these people I know. And some I know quite well and have worked with and I’m friends with” Eric Bischoff began on the released and furloughed talent. “But many of them I don’t know, nonetheless you can’t help but feel bad for them. You know professional wrestling is not like any other business, really. Maybe you could draw some parallels in professional sports? But so many of the talent that get into professional wrestling get in at a very young age. Either in lieu of college or right after college. They spent 5, 10, 15, 20 years in the industry? I think reading some of the social media posts by some of the individuals let go? Some of them have been with WWE for 10 years 15 years or more.”

Transitioning To Another Industry?

Eric Bischoff would then discuss how it may be difficult for some of the performers to transition into another role in another industry. “It’s not easy to pickup and apply those job skills that you’ve acquired, perfected over the last decade or more to another line of work” Bischoff stated. “So it can be shocking anytime you get let go. I guess I can speak from experience right!? Anytime you get let go, it’s a little bit of a shock to the system and you’re kind of dazed and confused and wondering what’s going to happen next. But a lot of that talent, a lot of them if not all the talent? They wouldn’t have been there if they didn’t have a high degree of skill, talents and abilities.”

Drake Maverick

When the news broke on Wednesday 15th released talent Drake Maverick posted an emotional video on Twitter acknowledging his departure from WWE. As you can see above, Eric Bischoff responded to the British Superstar, and he referenced this on the podcast. “I said this to Drake Maverick actually in a post not too long ago. Take the opportunity to just reflect a little bit. Recharge and just get ready to return stronger than ever. Take advantage of the time off to heal up if you’ve been on the road a lot over the last year or two, or 10. Think about your career. Think about your character, think about some new ways that you can modify and evolve that character to make it even more entertaining. Take an acting class online, you don’t even have to take a class in person. Learn how to write comedy, learn how to do anything other than things you already know to to help improve your ability. To be entertaining when we all come out of this pandemic, and we will.”

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Former WWE Smackdown Executive Director Eric Bischoff recently commented on the ‘Monday Night War’ that saw TNA head to Monday nights back in 2010. On March 8th 2010, TNA would air on Monday nights head to head with WWE’s flagship RAW program. The experiment would only last until late April, when the company would move back to their Thursday night slot after losing a hefty chunk of their audience against WWE.

Eric Bischoff would claim on his 83 Weeks podcast that the move to Monday was never permanent. In fact, it was designed to give TNA a ‘kick start’ and market the product and get the wrestling audience to potentially ‘sample’ something they hadn’t seen previously.

Eric Bischoff on Competition

“It’s another strategy that we created” Eric Bischoff began. “It’s competition, it’s a way to get people to sample your product and that’s all it was. How do we make the biggest impact? How do we maximise the addition of Hulk Hogan to the TNA brand? Can we exploit that to the maximum potential? How do we do it?”

Bischoff would then describe how the ‘peripheral’ wrestling media would be instrumental to the ‘sampling.’

“We thought going head to head because we knew it would make noise. We knew that the ‘peripheral’ wrestling audiences or ‘peripheral wrestling industry’ would be buzzing about it. They’d either be ripping it apart or they’d be putting it over, one or the other. It did not matter, as long as they were talking about it, they would be encouraging people one way or the other to at least sample it out. Either to validate the criticism for going head to head or to validate the choice to do it.”

Small, Niche Product

Although some fans would argue that the pre-Hogan era of TNA was working, Eric Bischoff would comment on how the company needed to make a ‘big move.’ “TNA needed to make a big move. They were quite successful as a small niche product is in a certain segments of the country, right? TNA had some of the same problems that WCW had early on, in that they weren’t real popular on the West Coast. They didn’t have a lot of Upper Midwest kind of success. They were very popular in certain pockets of the country.”

“But for the most part it wasn’t a national kind of brand. They were pretty niche. And bringing Hulk Hogan in with Ric Flair was a way to change that perception, and that’s all going head to head was. It was ‘let’s let the world know we’re here, and we’re here to put on a good show.’ And there’s no better way to do it, in terms of getting an audience and attracting curiosity; if nothing else, it was to make a big move and go slap the giant [WWE] in the face and see what happens.”

As mentioned, TNA would eventually move back to Thursday nights on Spike TV as the experiment had failed. Or had it? Do you think that TNA were right to take the gamble? Let us know in the comments

If you use any of the quotes from this article please credit 83 Weeks Podcast with a h/t to SEScoops.com for the transcription.

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Former WCW President Eric Bischoff has commended WWE for delivering WrestleMania 36. Bischoff addressed the event during the premiere episode of his new exclusive video show Locked & Loaded. He acknowledged the difficult situation WWE was put in to due to the coronavirus pandemic. He then applauded WWE for moving forward with delivering the show. 

Bischoff stated how, for a lack of a better description, the WWE Superstars were robbed of a WrestleMania moment. He explained it was unfortunate they weren’t able to share an “emotional connection to the audience” as those are undeniably special. He noted how some Superstars may never get an opportunity to experience something similar going forward.

Eric Bischoff On Business Over Emotion

Eric Bischoff stressed that the business is ultimately more important than emotional connection. He argued how the business has to take priority over personal feelings before applauding WWE for their decision.

“So I applaud WWE for moving forward in trying and quite honestly, in my opinion, successfully integrating some innovations to the industry that here before have not really been seen to the level that they were,” Bischoff said.

For him, WrestleMania 36’s cinematic matchups made ‘Mania “worth it.”

Bischoff added how talents losing out on a moment wouldn’t have influenced his decision to go ahead with the event. He did confess that, though it would make him feel bad, it wouldn’t have affected his choice to deliver the event in the way Vince McMahon did. 

Both the cinematic matches at WrestleMania 36 received high praise from the fans and the Firefly Fun House match sparked a lot of discussion due to its various references.

One such call-back was the reiteration of the nWo storyline with John Cena in place of Hulk Hogan and Bray Wyatt in place of Eric Bischoff who was the mind behind the angle.

During a recent episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff talked about the match and revealing his reaction to the inclusion of the nWo storyline, Bischoff said that time stopped for him when they started introducing those elements in the match:

“When they started introducing the NWO stuff, time stopped for me. It was such a bizarre feeling, it was like I was in this suspended state of animation and I was frozen in time. It was almost an out of body, out of my head experience. I got such a big kick out of it.”

• Also Read: Goldberg Opens Up About Roman Reigns Backing Out Of WrestleMania

The former WCW President went on to explain that he was blown away by the angle because it was an inside shoot. It wasn’t being creative just for the sake of it and the angle was done in a way that took the story to the next level.

Eric Bischoff then said that the cinematic matches are probably the catalyst for the next evolution of storytelling in wrestling and WrestleMania 36 may have had more impact on the business than any other WrestleMania in a long time.

Eric Bischoff remains outspoken about All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and company president Tony Khan.

Bischoff’s 83 Weeks podcast released a video on YouTube this weekend featuring the former President of WCW answering questions from fans. One of the questions was from a fan who was hoping to get a response from Bischoff on comments Tony Khan made in an interview with the Financial Times.

To recap, Khan told the Financial Times that he looks to mistakes WCW made for lessons.

“I’m not taking positive business lessons from other companies. Most of the lessons I’m taking are examples of what not to do…WCW was badly mismanaged. They teased audiences with matches that never materialized and lost tens of millions of dollars on talent, some earning six figures without ever working. It was a real disservice to fans.”

Eric Bischoff did not take kindly to Tony Khan’s remarks and had this to say in response:

“That’s an interesting thing for Mr. Khan to say,” Biscoff began. “He’s been in the professional wrestling business for…what time is it? It’s about a cup of coffee, I think. I think your coffee could still be warm at this point.”

“So far he’s spent – from what I’ve heard, I don’t know if its accurate or not, I want to make sure I say that- somewhere between $30 and $50 million to prove that he can be competitive with WWE’s developmental territory.”

“Call me in a couple of years and tell me what you’ve done that’s really unique. Call me in a couple of years when you’ve changed the industry.”

Bischoff continued:

“Call me in a couple of years when you’re #2, #3, #4 in all of cable programming for the night in primetime and then let’s talk about it.”

Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below: