During the latest edition of his “83 Weeks” podcast, Eric Bischoff commented on whether WWE and other companies should have an offseason, the impact on wrestling ratings during the summer months, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On WWE SmackDown drawing its lowest overnight audience on FOX and the summer impact on wrestling ratings: “It’s summertime. It happens every f*cking year. It’s as predictable as the sun coming up and moon going up. It’s just not that hard to figure out. Ratings almost go down by almost a consistent percentage starting probably in [March] when Daylight Savings Time kicks in and the weather starts getting nice. People go, ‘Yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna sit inside and watch TV anymore because I’ve been COVID contained. I think I’m gonna go out and grab a beer at my local tavern and not watch wrestling. Or if I’m gonna watch wrestling, I’m gonna watch it at the bar, which by the way, doesn’t have a Nielsen box. I think people are making way too much over everyone’s low ratings, whether it’s AEW, WWE, Impact. But guess what? It’s summertime. Everybody’s out. That’s what happens, and it’ll come back.”
On whether he thinks there should be an offseason in wrestling: “First of all, I wouldn’t vote for an offseason. One of the reasons wrestling works as consistently as it has since the beginning of television time is because it’s 52 weeks a year and it tours. If you take 52 weeks out of the equation and now take touring out of the equation, you’re gonna lose 60 percent of your audience over the course of five or six years.”
On whether it would benefit characters from not getting burned out: “Yeah, but you would lose your connection to the audience. Here’s the mistake a lot of television executives make because they don’t understand the audience – the wrestling audience becomes so familiar with these characters, they identify with them and live vicariously through them. They’re kind of, in their own entertainment way, addicted to them. If you take them off the air for three or four or five months, they find other shit to do and other things to be interested in. The secret sauce to professional wrestling is that it’s 52 weeks a year. If you go down to 26 and you have to start your season over again and you’ve lost that daily and weekly connection to your audience, and six months later you’re gonna come back with a new season? Good freaking luck.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
