A majority of fans, including yours truly, have looked at AEW and WWE at being at war with each other since AEW’s inception similar to the Monday Night Wars, and Eric Bischoff has his thoughts on that and the difference between now and then.
There’s been plenty of evidence pointing to both sides trying to get the upper hand, but it’s been far from the full fledged war we saw twenty years ago between WWE and WCW.
Jim Cornette has said on his podcast that he’s sure no one in Stamford, Connecticut cares about AEW. In fact, in his opinion they consider AEW beneath them.
Eric Bischoff has now weighed in on the idea of a war numerous times, and again with both companies talking about allowing crowds and beginning to tour again.
“I don’t think Vince cares. I know wrestling fans like to think that there’s this battle between AEW and WWE. I’m not in WWE offices, so I’m going to suggest based on my experience and the relationships that I have with people that are in WWE, the very fact that I made an appearance on AEW a month before they inducted me into the Hall of Fame suggests to me that they really don’t care. Are they aware? Sure. Is Vince McMahon walking around kicking people in the ass saying ‘God dammit, how did they beat us to the punch?’
“I know people like to think that’s the case because deep down inside they want another wrestling war, but it isn’t. It’s just not no matter how much people want to pretend it is. It’s cosplay folks. WWE is on a different planet than AEW right now. That’s because AEW is about 24 months old or so, WWE has been around for decades and decades and decades. A lot of catching up to do folks, there is no war. There is no angst or anxiety from WWE in my opinion when it comes to AEW.” – Eric Bischoff
Okay, so we’re starting to accept there really isn’t a war. It was fun thinking the glory days of yesteryear had returned even if it was brief.
Popping more balloons
He did strike to the heart of the main difference between now and then when he went on to explain how both WWE and AEW are basically living off the add revenue from their television deals.
In short, they’ve chosen quantity over quality. This is what many of us have been saying for the longest time as it’s all flash and no substance, like video game wrestling.
“WWE, AEW are very dependent on the revenue that’s coming from television. Because they’re reliant on it, they’re increasing the amount of content. More content equals more money. There’s a reason why the FOX show on Friday night isn’t a one hour show because you can get more money for a two hour show. You need that revenue but once you increase the volume but you don’t improve the process and fine tune the formula, you’re just cramming stuff in there. You’re constantly on a treadmill. You look at WWE, when it used to be a one hour show, then because of [WCW] Nitro it became a two hour show, now it’s a three hour show.
“They’ve increased the speed but they haven’t gotten in shape, they haven’t conditioned themselves to produce the same level of quality that they were producing with a one hour show or even two hour show. They haven’t conditioned themselves, developed a process or formula, that gives them a better opportunity to be successful with the stories that they’re doing. Being more dependent on television requires that you produce more content, but producing more content requires that you also evolve that other part of your business. You can’t use the same gut feeling, ‘I don’t know, this feels good to me,’ that works, when you’re producing ‘x’ amount of content. But when you’re producing ‘5x’, that doesn’t work anymore and that’s what hasn’t changed.”
This is a great way to explain what many of us have been feeling and saying for a while now, and why professional wrestling can be painful at times.
What do you think? Do you agree with Eric Bischoff’s thought? Let us know why or why not in the comments below.
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