Eric Bischoff Details How He Would Negotiate Edge’s AEW Contract

Eric Bischoff gave some insight into the business side of pro-wrestling as he discussed what he would do if he was the one trying to get Edge to sign with AEW.

Despite some statements from the man himself denying the rumors, the general consensus with the wrestling fandom appears to be that AEW is interested in signing Edge.

Since Edge is widely considered one of the most successful and popular wrestlers of the past quarter century, he would certainly be a useful asset for AEW. But getting him to put ink to paper might be a challenge, especially given the controversies that have been emanating from AEW for over a year now.

But if it were up to Eric Bischoff he would try and convince Edge to join the company by looking at the issue from two opposing perspectives.

Eric Bischoff proposes “glass half-full” and “glass half-empty” approaches to Edge-AEW situation

On a recent episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff proposed two different strategies to try and get Edge to sign with AEW if he were in such a position to make this happen.

His first approach, the glass half-full”, would focus on potential opportunities and what it would cost Tony Khan and in terms of authority and influence to get Edge to sign.

“I would point out the opportunities similarly to what you just did, but I would also want to have a couple conversations with Tony [Khan] and Bryan Danielson because this is the part of the Edge possibility that gets me excited.

This is admittedly a glass-half-full because this would require that Tony relinquish some creative control and let somebody else do it, at least with regard to either Edge individually in his story or on ‘Collision’ and use Edge there.

I don’t know what the personal relationship is between Bryan Danielson and Edge, but I would assume it’s good and I would assume there’s a lot of mutual respect.

If I was Adam Copeland’s manager, I would say, ‘Look, Tony, here’s the deal. My client wants to come over, but let’s be honest, [the] track record for WWE talent coming in has not been all that great.

And let Bryan and Edge work together on Edge’s creative. That’s exciting to me. And if I’m Adam’s manager, I’m going to take a little bit of comfort in that because now I’m putting my client’s career in the hands of someone that he has confidence in.”

Eric Bischoff’s second approach is a more pessimistic one, and it’s based on the presumption that Tony Khan remains in full creative control over Edge’s direction in the company.

“Tony doesn’t want to do that because he wants to be Vince McMahon. He wants to be Eric Bischoff back in the ’90s. He wants to be that guy that reinvented wrestling.

And until he’s ready to delegate and recognize what he’s good at and what he’s not, it’s never going to happen.

I wouldn’t want my client to end up in an environment much like everyone else that’s come over from WWE.

They’ve got a huge splash and a big entrance, and ‘Oh, they’re here, it’s going to change everything,’ and then three weeks later they’re gone.”

h/t WrestlingInc.