Eric Bischoff Describes Element Of AEW He Prefers To WWE

Despite recent scathing comments, Eric Bischoff has put a positive light on one aspect of AEW which he feels the company does better than WWE.

WWE Hall Of Famer Eric Bischoff has been particularly critical of AEW after making sporadic appearances for the company, including giving reasons why he feels he will never be invited back to the company. His criticism has included claiming that the company’s ratings are flatlining.

Speaking on his AdFreeShows.com Exclusive Strictly Business show, Eric Bischoff did single out that he feels like the way AEW put their show together makes him feel he is actually in the arena, and how they do a better job of this than WWE.

One of the things I like much better about AEWs production than WWE’s is that I actually feel like I’m in the arena. It’s not so pretty [compared to WWE] and it’s almost artificial when it’s done so well that I just feel like I’m in the arena. I can almost smell the popcorn. For me, that’s the part that I miss, that I enjoy the most, the experience. I really want to almost smell the popcorn, that stale beer that somebody spilled the night before because that’s what brings me back to what made me fall in love with professional wrestling.

The cleaner it gets, the more distance I feel from it and the less my experience becomes. When you create that totally artificial environment and there’s a lot of reasons why that might be a great idea, I will tell you, for me as an individual, they lost me at that point. There’s no way I’m going to spend two minutes of my life [watching] because I’m not getting anything out of it.

[It’s] one of the reasons why I love professional wrestling, and we all have different reasons why we love it, why we’re attracted to it in the first place. It’s different for everybody. For me, personally, the minute they do that, I’m out, completely out.

As well as his disparaging remarks towards AEW, Bischoff has also been critical of CM Punk by calling him the biggest financial flop in wrestling history.

With thanks to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.