On a recent edition of his “Strictly Business” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff discussed Will Ospreay’s first match as an AEW-contracted talent, overhauling AEW Dynamite, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On the rebranding of AEW Dynamite: “I really like the changes. I like the set, I like the colors. One of my — this hasn’t been a big issue for me, and I haven’t thought about it a great deal. But there’s been a lot as I’ve talked about that I like about the kind of gritty presentation that AEW has. I like wrestling, especially live wrestling, to feel like it’s live and anything can happen. And as I’ve said a million times before, sometimes in WWE, it’s so well-produced that one forgets that you’re watching a live performance and you feel like you’re watching Disney on Ice made for wrestling. So I like the grittier kind of ‘anything that can happen,’ slightly less-than-perfect overall visual presentation of Dynamite. The set design, the colors, the palette that they use are a lot brighter and more colorful than we’re used to. But I think I think AEW needed that. And part of it is — and again, this is gonna sound like criticism, and f**king, I don’t care — if you look at the roster, you watch — and I just got done watching the show like an hour ago… for the most part, you see guys coming out and jeans and black T-shirts and construction boots and Bermuda shorts, and who’s the f**king guy that came back that was gone for like two years? He made a surprise appearance wearing a part of, looked like he bought them at K-Mart on his way to the building? A pair of shorts, some tennis shoes and a T-shirt. It’s like, ‘What the f**k? Did you just wake up in the backseat of your car or what? [Kyle O’Reilly] Yeah, it just looks like s**t. He looked like somebody who could barely afford a ticket, and just crawled into the ring. And I get it if you have one or two characters that that’s kind of their trademark, and it’s consistent with their character, I get it. But when you’ve got just about everybody dressed in a similar tone and fashion, it’s like you’re watching an independent wrestling show up out behind a Jiffy Lube on a Saturday afternoon as a fundraiser for a local charity. I mean, that’s the way it looks sometimes.
“And I think the colors in the design, the set design, make up for some of that. I just liked it. I liked the colors, I liked it. I liked everything about it. I liked the Dynamite banner, the LED banner that the heard camera’s seeing. I think the visual of AEW needed that nice touch; it just brought it up a level or two. I liked a lot of the camera work. Somebody’s got to tell the referees to stay the f**k out of the shot unless they’re absolutely necessary, because I didn’t notice that the director — I’m assuming it was Mike Mansury, was constantly trying to shoot around a referee, who feels for whatever reason, they need to be in the shot. Even if there’s nothing going on, and selling the action like, ‘What the f**k?’ You’re not there to sell the action. You know, it’s just a little s**t like that. It is little stuff. It’s nitpicking… As a producer, I thought a lot of the shot choices were better. It moved a lot. They’ve got a little ways to go, but that’s more of a talent issue than a director issue. As I said, you got to get your referees to get out of the f**king shot. Unless you’re making a count or breaking something up, you should be as far out of that shot as you possibly can, not mugging for the camera because you feel like you’re a star. I saw a lot of that. And it’s consistent, too; it wasn’t just this week. Actually I saw less this week than I usually do when I try to watch. Sometimes it’s just so hard and annoying to me that I’ll just quit watching as a result of it, because it’s just so amateurish. But again, I love the colors, I love the set. I like a lot of the shots that we’re getting. The pacing of the direction, it’s not frenetic, we’re not just going from shot to shot to try to create the illusion of action. We’re actually following the action, and we’re doing a good job. A lot of facials; I don’t know if you’ve noticed this as of late. But I don’t watch a lot of AEW… but I did notice consistently we’re getting a lot more tight shots and emotion out of talent. And I think that’s really a big move forward that’s a positive thing. Again, wrestling fans who don’t watch wrestling as a producer would probably aren’t going to notice it. And you shouldn’t; I am not suggesting you should. It should be subtle. But it should also help create more emotion in the viewer too. And I think it will over time and with consistency. So yeah, I’m loving all of that. I mean, these are all positive things. I’m pointing out the things I find a little bit amateurish, but I’m also pointing out some of the positive aspects.”
On AEW signing Will Ospreay, Mercedes Mone and others: “You know, my first reaction was, ‘Well, this is a tough time of year to try to get some attention.’ Because WrestleMania kind of sucks the wrestling conversation air out of the room. There’s just so much focus on WrestleMania that it’s hard to really break through the noise in a way. But when is a good time, you know? You’re gonna wait till WrestleMania is over, right at the peak of the NBA Playoffs? That’s not a really good time of year. You’re gonna wait till summer time? Well, everybody’s out playing at the beach, playing softball, or drinking, whatever. That’s not a great time, because not a lot of people watch television in the summer for the most part, You’re gonna wait till the fall? Oh well, then we got football. So there’s really no great time of year, right? You could probably argue for January or February as being the best time of year to launch something new. Because WrestleMania season hasn’t really begun to peak yet. So with that in mind, I think it’s a good thing. I think there’s more interest right now — for certain on my part. And I think I probably represent a large part of the non-Kool-Aid drinking AEW fanbase. There’s some interest there, and I’m gonna give it another shot. And that’s what you want, right?
“And AEW, if you look at the last six months or a year, it’s not been great. Just because of the political infighting and nonsense it’s happened in the past. But that’s all behind them now. People have gotten it out of their system, it’s been talked about to death, everybody’s moving on. So, to have a guy like Will and Mercedes Mone, and Okada coming in. You know, Okada and Will Ospreay are not household names. It’s not like you’re bringing in Roman Reigns or John Cena, or Steve Austin. You’re bringing in people other than Mercedes, who are relatively unknown outside of the hardcore AEW Kool-Aid drinking audience. The average wrestling fan doesn’t know who Okada is, nor care. For the most part, the same is probably true of Will Ospreay. He’s relatively new to the mainstream American audience. Didn’t get a lot of exposure to wrestling in New Japan. I could get more people watching me cook a burger in my garage than they were able to get on television. So he’s new, and I think it’s a good thing. I think them all happening at once, which is a good thing. It’s going to be tricky.”
On Will Ospreay:“In watching Will Ospreay, both Revolution and then again this morning [on Dynamite], he is a very unique talent. He is special. He’s in a different category, no question about it. He’s got a great look. He is — and I don’t know where he did it, who taught him, or if it just comes naturally, but he is a gifted performer. He knows how to control the audience. He knows how to present himself so that he comes off as a big star, on top of his amazing God-given abilities in the ring. He looks like a star, he acts like a star, and he feels like a star. Oh, and he is a star.”
On keeping Will Ospreay special: “If it were me, I would use him as an attraction. For a couple of reasons. Number one, because he should be. He should be special, because he is. So he should be treated as such. Also, you should build anticipation for the audience that just, they can’t wait to see him wrestle again. You’ll lose that if we see him every week. He’ll just become one of everybody else after six months. So the advantage you have with someone like Will Ospreay is you have amazing talent — I hate to use the term generational, because it’s so overused, I’m gonna throw it in here; he’s so unique that number one, I’m sure Tony recognizes it just like we all do. But you have to protect it. Once you recognize it, you have to protect it.
“So number one, I would position the Ospreay as an attraction. You may see him on TV leading into a PPV a couple of times. But I wouldn’t put them in like, you know, we saw with Kyle this past Wednesday night, even if it was probably about a 14-16 minute match. It went through two segments. I wasn’t timing it, but it went through to commercial breaks. So I would be careful about overexposing him. I understand why they did it now; because you’re introducing him to the audience. But if — and I’ve seen this happen so many times before. Especially with inexperienced creative people, which Tony is. You can give the audience too much of a good thing, and it’s no longer that important anymore, so I’d be very, very protective of Will Ospreay if I was Tony.”
