During the latest edition of his “83 Weeks” podcast, Eric Bischoff commented on the criticism of AEW signing too many wrestlers, if it could wind up backfiring on AEW President Tony Khan, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On the criticism of AEW signing too many wrestlers: “Let’s talk about history a little bit. One of the biggest criticisms I got from the dirtsheet community was ‘he signed too many WWE guys.’ And ‘you’ve got too many people on the roster and not you’re not letting young talent get a shot because it’s bloated with too many ex-WWE guys.’ Okay, guess what? Some of that was true. Some of that I deserved. Is history repeating itself? I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. We don’t know what AEW’s strategies are. We don’t know what their plans for growth are. There’s so much that we don’t know. That being said, if there is no strategy, and if you’re simply loading up your roster for the sake of building a big roster because somehow having a big roster is your measure of success, then yeah, there’s a chance it can backfire.”
On how the strategy could potentially backfire on Tony Khan: “When you look at a roster of talent, and I experienced it in WCW, when you bring in all these people, it’s great. Guess what those people all want? Put money aside. They want to be on television. They want to perform. They want to live their dream of performing in front of a live audience in a meaningful way. That’s what drives them. That was their dream and that was their reason for getting into the entertainment business, specifically, professional wrestling. So, if you’re just loading up a roster for the sake of loading up a roster so you can say, ‘I have one of the best rosters in the business,’ big fucking deal. If you’re not using those people to the extent they feel like they’re getting their part of that dream, then ultimately you can have a challenge, and that challenge can become malignant and dangerous. But we don’t know, do we? Let’s see what the future brings. Ask me a year from now and we’ll have a better idea.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
