It’s no surprise that former WCW and WWE creative mind Eric Bischoff is no fan of the AEW product. Or rather, he isn’t a fan of the decisions being made. It makes sense as he was in the business for decades, remained on television the whole time, and having experienced each part of wrestling.
Eric Bischoff Doesn’t Believe AEW Collision Will Succeed
His strengthens were more on the business and creative sides and he’s admittedly made mistakes in both arenas. Some of those mistakes are ones he sees Tony Khan making two decades after WCW was purchased by WWE.
With the anticipation of AEW Collision, Bischoff voiced that he felt the show wouldn’t succeed. It wasn’t totally on the product but Bischoff believes that Collision will prove to be a bit much for Khan to handle. At the moment, the company has Dynamite and Rampage on the air. With Collision comes a house show schedule in addition to PPVs and big events.
Needless to say, it’s a lot to book and produce—plenty of pots on the stove. While Bischoff juggled Nitro and Thunder, there was at least a booking team of sorts. He didn’t have to be involved with the syndicated programming and Saturday Night.
Still, there was a lot on his plate as there were sponsors and a network to please and a hobbled budget for two programs running for two-hours. In Tony Khan’s case, that expense is from his funds. However, he’s juggling two separate shows as well as some unresolved issues on the roster. The split is in part because of those issues.
There’s also the issue of a locker room anxiety because of the changing schedule. There are definite obstacles for the AEW executive with a double shot of two hours during prime time. Bischoff, who likened the situation to booking a PPV every week, wished AEW the best on Collision:
“I hope for them [it] works out. My experience has been that it won’t. I haven’t seen anything that suggests otherwise out of that organization. But one of the reasons I feel as strongly as I did is because of ‘Thunder,’ because of the issues, some of which I created for myself. I know what it’s like to not have creative resources. We didn’t have a well-oiled creative machine that allows say, ‘Okay. We’ve got another two hours,’ which is almost like a pay-per-view every week in terms of what goes into figuring out how to pull it off and actually executing it. Just from a physical perspective, I mean putting on live shows and all that, it’s a lot.” (h/t: Wrestling Inc)
You can catch AEW Collision June 17, 2023 live from Chicago’s United Center. The show will mark the start of the company’s “soft” brand splits well as the return of CM Punk to AEW television.
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