On a recent edition of his “83 Weeks” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff weighed in on AEW holding All In 2024 at Wembley Stadium for a second straight year.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On AEW relying on UK fans too much: “I think specifically with AEW — this isn’t necessarily an opinion, it’s kind of like right there in front of you. Their crowds, their attendance outside of Wembley — attendance in the US is really suffering. It’s probably 40% of what it was 24 months ago across the board, and I’m just guessing on that. I don’t have any stats to back it up. But I bet, if we looked hard enough, your average house show attendance is down significantly from where it was even a year ago. They need to give it a break. And you know, you look at AEW, they tend to go back to Chicago a lot for obvious reasons. There’s just — number one, it’s a great wrestling market for anybody. But number two, I think there’s a sense of a hometown team in Chicago for whatever reason. But man, if you keep going back to that market, even though it’s a good market for you it’s diminishing returns over time. It’s just not a big deal anymore.
“And I think going over to Europe for AEW for some of their big pay-per-views would really benefit them. Because again, people back here in the States are going to look at that show, they’re going to look at that crowd, they’re going to look at people having fun. They’re over the top, they’re engaged, they’re bringing their signs, they’re having their fun. I mean, it’s like watching a party and you go, ‘Well, I want to go to that party. That party looks like fun.’ And you need to do that from time to time. And I think AEW certainly needs to do that. Again, Wembley looked awesome because again, outlier. It’s a one-off. But if they can replicate some of that success, whether they put 50,000 people in a building or 10,000 people in the building. If those 10,000 people are passionate, excited, and engaged, it doesn’t matter. It works. I think they need, I think they will need to do that because they’re burning up markets here in the US.”
On the importance of having a hot crowd: “The energy of that crowd is going to make that show 30% better than it would otherwise be, just because the crowd’s hot. And that’s a big part of professional wrestling. That’s what makes it great, but what makes it challenging. Because when you don’t have that energy, you don’t have that engagement. Even if you have warm, breathing bodies with a pulse, but if they’re not into the show, it’s tough. It’s tough. And people at home sense that ‘Oh, those people aren’t that excited. I guess maybe I shouldn’t be excited.’ Not consciously, but subconsciously. So yeah, crowds are everything, man. Crowd crowds are king when it comes to — they’re the third character in the ring. Or fourth I guess, if you want to include a referee.”
