Eric Bischoff Explains Why His Running Of WCW Differs From What AEW Does
Eric Bischoff has done his best to explain why when he ran WCW and took shots at WWE, it was different than what AEW does.
In the 1990s, Eric Bischoff became an executive with World Championship Wrestling who eventually was the WCW President. While WCW was owned by billionaire media mogul Ted Turner, Bischoff is the man who ran WCW and came up with many of the concepts that worked.
It was Bischoff’s idea to launch WCW Monday Nitro against WWE Monday Night Raw when Nitro debuted in September 1995. For a few years, it looked like a great move, and then the tied turn by 1998 when WWE got hot and eventually led to WCW’s downfall in 2001.
These days, Eric Bischoff is a WWE Hall of Famer who isn’t shy about criticizing AEW on his podcasts.
While speaking on his Strictly Business podcast recently, Bischoff commented on how he used to take shots at WWE when he was running WCW, but it’s not the same as what AEW does.
“I want to hit on this point. Did I do those things? Hell yes. Bringing Lex Luger in when everybody in the country, including everybody at WWE headquarters, thought he was under contract. And bringing him in to crash the party on Nitro was not just a shot at WWE, it was a kick in the balls and a curb stomp when I was done. I went after them immediately, and it got better from there, but I was going head to head I was actually in a fight. I was in the ring. And the referee was a guy named Nielsen. That was a real competition.”
Eric Bischoff Feels Tony Khan And AEW Look Ignorant
As he continued, Bischoff made the point that it drives him crazy when people can’t differentiate how he ran WCW compared to how Tony Khan runs AEW. In Bischoff’s mind, AEW isn’t really competing with WWE since they avoid head-to-head competition while Bischoff’s WCW took on WWE head on.
“I’ve made this abundantly clear for so long now two years on every format or every platform that I’m on. I think if Tony had come out swinging, jumped in the ring and taking those shots, I’d be cheering him on. But to do it from the sidelines when you’re not really competing makes you look ignorant, in the literal sense of the word. No experience no knowledge. There’s a difference and it drives me crazy that people can’t understand. Well, you did it? Well. Yeah. But yeah, the circumstances were night and day, night and day.”
“So as long as people can keep that in their mind and you want to take shots that we’ve identified, go ahead and do it. I don’t care. It makes me laugh. It’s entertainment.”
“But if you really want to put things in clear perspective and understand the patterns, and start connecting your own dots, just think about it. There’s a big difference. But I keep answering that same but not that I don’t mind answering it, because you’ve given me an opportunity to dig a little deeper than I can and 280 characters. But yeah, big difference.”
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