83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff - Episode 321: I Pull No Punches

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

On this episode of 83Weeks, Eric and Conrad are handing the reigns over to our listeners with a "no punches pulled" edition of #AskEricAnything . Eric and Conrad cover over two hours worth of subjects such as, Eric's time in WCW, his latest observations of AEW, and the X scuffle over the weekend with FTR's Dax Harwood. All that plus so much more on this edition of 83Weeks with Eric Bischoff. MACK WELDON - Get timeless looks with modern comfort from Mack Weldon. Go to https://mackweldon.com/ and get 20% off your first order with promo code 83WEEKS. EARNIN - Download the EarnIn app today. Type in 83 WEEKS under PODCAST when you sign up. EarnIn, the most loved way to get paid as you work. MODERN MANIA WRESTLING - Modern Mania Wrestling GM is a pro wrestling general manager game for your phone or tablet. Manage your roster, create factions, compete with or control other promotions inside the game universe. It's honestly a lot of fun.  It's free to play and the developers are constantly updating the game with new characters and features. Use promo code: 83WEEKS ROCKET MONEY - Cancel your unwanted subscriptions – and manage your money the easy way – by going to https://www.rocketmoney.com//83WEEKS BLUECHEW - Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code 83WEEKS at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s https://bluechew.com/, promo code 83WEEKS to receive your first month FREE SAVE WITH CONRAD - Stop throwing your money on rent! Get into a house with NO MONEY DOWN and roughly the same monthly payment at https://www.savewithconrad.com/ ADVERTISE WITH ERIC - If your business targets 25-54 year old men, there's no better place to advertise than right here with us on 83 Weeks. You've heard us do ads for some of the same companies for years...why? Because it works! And with our super targeted audience, there's very little waste. Go to https://www.podcastheat.com/advertise now and find out more about advertising with 83 Weeks. Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCqQc7Pa1u4plPXq-d1pHqQ/join BECOME A 83 WEEK MEMBER NOW: https://www.youtube.com/@83weeks/membership Get all of your 83 Weeks merchandise at https://boxofgimmicks.com/collections/83-weeks FOLLOW ALL OF OUR SOCIAL MEDIA at https://83weekslinks.com/ On AdFreeShows.com, you get early, ad-free access to more than a dozen of your favorite wrestling podcasts, starting at just $9! And now, you can enjoy the first week...completely FREE! Sign up for a free trial - and get a taste of what Ad Free Shows is all about. Start your free trial today at https://www.patreon.com/adfreeshows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, hey, it's Conrad Thompson, and you're listening to 83 weeks with Eric Bischoff. Eric, what's going on, man? How are you? I'm doing great. I could not be a happier person. Actually, kidding aside, I'm doing pretty good, but I'm meeting my brother and sister tomorrow in Detroit. And we're going to visit some family. that I personally haven't seen in decades,

and maybe a little bit longer for my brother and sister in some respects. We're going to go and hang out with the people that live in the house currently that my brother and sister and I lived in with children. My dad actually built a house in 1958. So we're going to go hang out with Jill and her kids and cook some steaks.

It's going to be awesome. So I'm really looking forward to that. It's the first time we've done anything like this. So it should be fun. Well, I'm excited for you and your family to get to do that. And I'm excited that we are doing something pretty engaging today. We're going to press pause on one topic, which is normally what we do. We go long form on one topic.

And instead, we're throwing you guys the keys to the show. Ask Eric anything. And boy, I, I'm going to get us started here. Conrad from Huntsville wants to know. What the hell happened on Twitter last week, Eric? My God, we've had conversations off air about, hey, man. Maybe we pause on all the beating up of Tony Con.

Maybe we don't do that every segment, every episode. And even you yourself, we're like, I don't know if I want that to be my legacy. I don't really just want to be the guy to know the shit on AW or Tony Kahn. And then here we go. The whole world melts out on Twitter last week. Let's recap for those of you who missed it.

But somehow, some way, the tweets start coming pretty rapid fire. Eventually one will show up and I'll read it. I don't know when that's coming, but I got to think it's soon. Uncle Dax is responding to you and he says, I know it's your gimmick and the other guys pay you well to Barry AEW. But checking out your timeline and all the Tony

tweets and retweets, looks very stalkerish. Netflix baby reindeer would do you a bit of good, my brother in Christ. And that was from Dax with FTR. And you replied, says the chunky little monkey that studies my timeline. That's weird. I forgot about that. That was good. what what what what what what what are we doing why did you do that well number one i hate people i don't hate

people i hate it when people are dishonest i hate it when people are hypocrites and i hate it when people say stupid shit now let's break that down yeah let's look at what he wrote Let's look at what he wrote. Yeah, let's look at it. It's easier to break down. I know what's your gimmick. Okay. It's not really a gimmick.

I mean, here's the thing. I just want to time out on that because you have been getting this criticism a lot. But it's not your gimmick. People are asking the most qualified person in the room, their opinion about something that's happening in a challenger brand for WWE. Now, let's set aside for a minute, whether or not it's an actual chance. I know there's lots of gotcha right now, but I'm just saying you did that. You're uniquely qualified because you saw the WBF was kicking WCW's ass from the very

creation of WCW until you got hot with Nitro in the NWO. And then you didn't kick their ass one time. You kicked it 83 times in a row. And by the way, it's a lot more than 83 times, but 83 times in a row. nobody else you did something 83 times nobody else did one time and then you saw it all come to an end so you understand that this can be a cautionary tale and you're uniquely qualified it even tony con agrees with that it's a very small number of people who sat in that seat and you did so it's normal that people would ask your opinion about something that's happening in current wrestling like

who else would they ask if you don't get a say or in a opinion, who does. So I disagree with what Dax said, it's your gimmick. I don't know about that. But then he says, and they pay you, the other guys pay you to bury AEW. Now that to me is something that, and I like Dax, like in real life, I like the human being and I love the FDR tag team. It's my favorite tag. But, but I will say that is so off base. Like, that's the, that's the same thing that we see people say to Dave Meltzer. We're on AEW's payroll. Is it? it not? No, and that's, that's, again, I want to break it down.

You know, let's start out with stupidity. And Super Dave, if you could put that back up again, so I can, I can be accurate and concise. We'll start out with stupid. This, the dumbest thing in this short post is that the other guys pay me well to bury AEW. First of all, I'd do it for free. Oh, God.

I mean, it's because it's. It's topical. Look, as you pointed out, and thank you for positioning my role in all this. But look, I spent over 30 years of my life in the professional wrestling industry. I have been at the very, very bottom, I have been at the very, very top, and I've been everywhere in between. I've seen success. I've seen failure. Yes. I've seen the patterns that lead to success. And I've seen more importantly the patterns, in this case, at least, that lead to failure.

So when people do ask, my opinion, I am forthright. I pull no fucking punches. I broker no bullshit. I just give it to you straight. And for Uncle Deyax to suggest that somebody is paying me to do it reflects the depth of his stupidity. that was stupid and clearly not true i have no deal with wwe i don't have a legends contract with wwee i get a phone call every once in a while to sign some shit i'm happy to do because the money's really good but beyond that i have no i don't really talk to anybody in

I talked to Bruce maybe once every three or four months. We exchanged texts that usually have about three or four. I guess if you added up all the incomplete sentences, it might equal one or two sentences. That's it. That's all I got as far as my relationship with WWE. So it actually shows your ass. And you do that on a pretty regular basis I might have on social media. You might want to consider just not doing it because it's not getting your character over.

It's kind of exposing you. and all you have to do is look at a lot of the responses you're getting to figure that out. But no, I'm not being paid anything by anybody. There's no third parties involved. It's my honest opinion, Dax. And yes, it's a little brutal for some, you know, especially soft people,

people that just can't handle the truth. And they bruise very, very easily when you're not putting them over or making excuses for them. They bruise really, really bad. And yes, my commentary, sometimes draws blood, but sometimes it's necessary to make a point.

All right, enough on the stupidity. But now let's go to checking out my timeline. Now, the premise of this is Dax suggesting that I'm a stalker. He's studying my timeline. Stalking who here? Dax. Just let it go. So, I mean, I mean, it's in a hypocritical part of it, it's probably more encompassing.

I guess there's not a lot of hypocrisy in this. It's more like stupidity. Stipidity and just fucking weird. You know, so, Dax, if you don't like what I'm saying, quit following me. I know you tried, Dax, to launch your own podcast. In fact, I have a tweet that you sent me or I think it was a direct message. It may have been a tweet that you sent me a while back saying how much you appreciated my podcast and how you pattern yours after mine although yours failed miserably oh come on it didn't

and mine could act or not truth or not well it's not on the air anymore but it was it was generating truth or not it failed it's not on the air anymore and it didn't do that well when it was my point is dax rather than following me and studying my timeline just learn how to get over and let the audience take care of itself. Let your audience take care of itself, meaning don't try to get yourself over to social media because you suck at it. Get yourself over in the ring because you're actually pretty good at that.

Well, there's a lot of room for improvement because you can't cut a promo to save your life. But your work in a ring is pretty good. And I've always enjoyed the kind of throwback. And when I say throwback, I don't mean it derisively. But I like the style that I see in. I like that kind of Arne Anderson, you know, Tully Blanchard kind of style. It's a little bit of a throwback.

Again, poor choice of words, but it's the only thing that's coming to mind. So I like the style, but, Zach, you're doing yourself absolutely no favors by trying to be Tony's protector. So just focus on your own shit. Quit studying my timeline, stalker. I, um, I texted my buddy, Matt Coon and, uh, or actually I gave him a call and, and he was doing a music lesson and he couldn't answer, but he used to host that Dax podcast. And, uh, he said, hey man, I'm doing a lesson. Can I call you after? And I said, yeah, I didn't really need anything. I just wanted to say, I hate it when mommy and daddy fight. Because I like both of you guys. And I really understand both perspectives. I mean, here you are merely asking. or answering questions that you've been asked about. It's not like, you know, you're making this your mission or your life's work. We're commenting on what's happening in wrestling, just like we would if you were a beat writer

or if you were a talking head on ESPN, like, that's what everybody does. They talk about the story of the day. So you're just doing what everyone else does. You just happen to have a stronger resume than most other people who are offering their opinion. So it carries a lot more weight. but I just hate that I kind of see both sides I understand why you feel the way you do and you say the things you do but I also understand why he feels the need to defend it

because he's saying oh I know they pay you to they pay you well to bury AW well that's not true but they do pay Dax and he probably does think hey man I'm taking the check I got to defend this and I appreciate that but boy it sure did spiral the other day and the tweets you were talking about, I just want to make sure that everybody sees it because you did mention it. When Dax was starting a podcast, he tweeted out,

this is that in January of last year. So we're not talking about years ago. This is a year and four months ago. Very short notice, but we're recording FTR with Dax Hardwood in about an hour starting now. We're going to be doing a non-wrestling question of the week. He's promoting.

And you quote tweeted it and said, looking forward to it, continued success. You go out of your way to wish him well. on his podcast and his new venture. And then he replies, thank you, Eric, big fan of 83 weeks, weekly download on my phone. I steal a lot of your podcast formulas. I mean, he tweeted that himself last January. And now here we are.

And by the way, just to be clear in why this is so bizarre to me, it's not like I just started pointing out the flaws that I see in the patterns that I see in AEW. I've been pretty hard, and I haven't been kind and gentle about it. It's just not my nature. I'm not that way in any of my conversations, very, very rarely. So it's not like, you know, all of a sudden I'm doing something I never did before. I've been calling Tony and AEW out on this bullshit for the last two and a half or three years. It's not new.

So, yeah, I don't, look, to your point, though, I mean, I get it. He's passionate about the company he works for. feels a need to be a protector, I guess. It's just not very good at it. If you're going to do it, get good at it. Find a way to integrate humor or be concise, but don't start out with, if you're going to respond to somebody

and it's your intent to kind of put them in check, you don't want to come out of the shoot with a lie. Because you just look like a fucking goof. learn how to be good at it. Being effective in social media is an art form, and it evolves, especially in the world that we live in here and in the wrestling bubble, because by nature, it's very confrontational. The audience loves conflict.

They love drama. The more intense, the better. So I think just because of the nature of wrestling fans in general, and the product itself, conflict in, and drama and intensity are kind of part of what you need to do. And I think finding what to use comedy in there, which is really, really hard because so much of comedy is in body language

and facial expressions and timing and so many other things. I don't want to sound like I know a lot about comedy, but I know when I see good comedy and I see these patterns and people that are really, really good. So learn how to do it. Don't start off a response with a premise that's a lie. because you look like a goof, right? Find a way to be precise.

And if you want to draw blood, draw blood, that's okay. I'm a big boy. I can take it, tax. I've been taking it for 30 fucking years. This is no big deal to me. This is just another Wednesday morning. It's not a big deal. But learn how to do it and try to find a way to interject some comedy in there because

it'll make your posts much more interesting. you'll get a higher rate of response and people may actually hear your message instead of laughing at you because you started out saying something, I don't know, fucking stupid. Oh, God damn, this is so. So you respond with a personal jazz. It's not as fun.

This is fun. I mean, guys like tax are the same people that they remind me of standards and practices at Turner Broadcasting when Terry Tingle first showed up on a scene. And she complained because some wrestler called another wrestler stupid in a promo. And she suggested that that's so inappropriate because there are some learning disabled people out there in the audience that may be offended by that. That's the kind of that's, I mean, I'm going to have to ask Dax next time I see him if he's related to Terry Dingell.

Did they date? How, I mean, because it's kind of the same thing. What are you talking about? If you're going to come out and take shots, and that's, you know, we're going to, I'll digress. I'm not going to get into this too much. But if you're going to take shots, don't be such a fragile little puss when people start taking shots back. I didn't initiate this social media conversation. Dexter did. Out of left him alone, I very, very rarely am critical of talent in any company because they're

capable of doing things that, frankly, I've never been capable of doing. I've never learned how to become a wrestler. I couldn't put a match together to save my life. And if I could put it together on paper, I certainly couldn't perform it. I can take an ass kick in. I'm pretty durable. But I couldn't put a, or execute a match that somebody else put together. Or if I put it together myself, that is a skill set that takes years and years and years to develop.

It takes even longer to really get good at it. And then you have to compete amongst some of the best of the best in the world when you get to the WWE level and the AEW level. so I have a tremendous amount of respect for talent until they take a shot and then here I come yeah and boy you're like a fucking dog with a bone I mean after that first tweet you weren't done let's take a look at some of the other tweets that happened and came down this week Matt Hanson on Twitter said weren't you the guy constantly teasing leaving WWE now you sell out your friends for companies you quote unquote love weren't you the guys whose podcast was an issue that AEW fans would

tell you to shut the fuck up because you were constantly spreading bullshit. Aren't you a racist cornet fan? Now let's make this clear. This was Matt Hanson responding to Dax, not to me. Yes, correct. And then you, quote, tweeted it, and said,

don't be so hard on him. He's as mid as mid can get. He knows it. He's flailing away trying to prove his loyalty so he can hold on to that bag as long as possible. He knows that being a Walmart greeter is his next stop. Jesus fucking Christ.

What are we doing, Eric? We're having fun. That's not fun. No, it is. It is for me. And again, Jacks decided to take a swing. Now,

let me make something really clear. I want to be so crystal clear about this because if I'm not, it will take on a life of its own and social media. There was a point in time when I would rather fight than fuck, right? Just, it is what it is. I'm not proud of it. It doesn't make me a cooler guy. It didn't make me a badass because I often came out on the wrong end of it.

It just was part of my nature. And then as I got older and I got more skill and I went through. amateur wrestling and I wrestled on the AEU Greco and freestyle team and I got into martial arts and did some golden gloves boxing. I got pretty damn good at it and I really, really liked it. But if you talk to Sonny Ono, who is really one of the only people around that saw the way I approached fighting, both competitively and outside of competitive I never stopped until there was no chance it was going to continue. Like, I never let somebody up because I felt bad for him, or I never let somebody up because

providing I didn't get my ass kick. Now, that did happen. I'm not trying to be a really badass here. It's not my deal, especially now. But there was a long period of time where my nature as a fighter, because I grew up doing that. In Detroit, I got in a fight three times a day. Once on the way to school, once when they took my lunch money, and once when I was on my way home from school. There's usually kids a lot older than us, and I wasn't the only one.

It was just the way of life where I grew up. So it's always, you know, fighting and it has always been kind of a part of, I guess, my nature, perhaps. But I've never, ever, ever, ever let somebody up until I was absolutely sure that either by looking in their eyes, their will to continue is completely devastated or they were physically not capable. So when you say I'm like a dog with a bone, I like to make sure that I say when it's over, somebody else. Well, you kept going. Ramone on Twitter said,

Dax, Tony and Dave Meltzer openly text each other during AEW shows. That's a move. There's a move by your company's EVPs named the Meltzer driver. and you're the one calling out the other company paying people to shill for them? Let's at least be consistent here. And you quote tweeted it and said, Be gentle with him, hashtag soft. And that wasn't the end.

Edgar de Hostos says, What happened to Dax? Honestly, he's someone who'll benefit from not using social media as much as others than promoting AEW on TV. His social media has actually turned me off from liking FTR, which was once one of my favorite highlights watching AW on TV. Now he just gives me douche chills. And you quote tweeted it and said,

I think he's beginning that manifests symptoms of imposter syndrome. He knows deep down. He's on the lower end of the fringe of mediocre talent. So he flails away trying to hold on, have compassion for him. Eric, this is so crazy and off base. Like, FTR is one of the best tag teams in the world. Maybe the.

According to who? By what standard? let's let's use dave melzer speak because he's an analyst now and he studies by what metric are they one of the best tag teams in the world certainly not financially can't point to ftr and say yeah but every time they're on television look at the success they have in ratings look at their quarter hours look at their look at how much money they draw you know on the road Of course, they're not on the road because AEW can't barely can get enough people to produce a television show, much less go to a house show. So there's no metric other than emotion, which is all subjective.

It's not objective, whereby anybody can state that FTR is one of the best tag teams in the world. If you like them, great, I like them as a tag team. As I just said a few moments ago, but to suggest that they're one of the best tag teams in the world is kind of like a branding state. that we just all latch on to and continue, but it's not really true. They didn't make it in WWE. They had an opportunity. Just like I had an opportunity in 2019, I didn't make it. I got fired.

I didn't adapt. I didn't get myself over. Just like WWE and Dax and FTR. They had their opportunity. They couldn't get over. A lot of other people did. They didn't. There's a lot of reasons.

for that. But the fact is, they didn't get over. And now they're in AEW. And yes, they're swimming in a much, much, much, much, much smaller pound. So in their minds, perhaps they feel like a bigger fish. And I'm not saying that I'm not sure. I haven't, I haven't had any interactions with Mr. W. He hasn't taken to Twitter to call me out. So I'm going to leave him out of the equation. But yeah, Dax, you, you've had your opportunity in WWW. You failed. You didn't get over. You moved to eight.

Well, it is what it is. I know, it hurts. It doesn't sound nice. It's so cruel. But it's also so true. And now he's in AEW and he feels like a bigger fish in a much, much smaller pond. We're really hardly anybody's over. And I'm not suggesting it's all his fault.

But it is what it is. You asked on what metric. And I know you're going to laugh as soon as I say it. But when I said the best tag team Well, no, not cage match rankings, but you're still going to laugh or matter what it is. But I'm saying as far as critical acclaim, like they do win the awards from the sports kedia types, the PW, you know, the pro wrestling illustrated types,

the wrestling observer newsletter. Like in PWI and and the observer, they've been the tag team of the year for the last two years, 22 and 23. So I know you're, I know you're going to argue with revenue, but I just meant when I said the best tag team. I didn't say the highest drawing, highest grossing, most box office, but they have gotten critical acclaim, Eric.

Critical acclaim from the internet. Great. Keep doing that because it's working so well. Internet wrestling and creative that goes with it. Dave Meltzer, keep doing that because you're proving that it really does work. Well, you weren't done.

Man, you just kept going and going and going, but that's because he was still moving around. I sense that he was still trying to get up, but I thought, I've got to keep going. We'll do one last one, and then we'll shut it down and move on from Dax. Thank God.

But Andre Martinez says, Dax, a mediocre talent. That's ridiculous. He had my same response. I'm defending Dax, one of the, half of the best tag team going. And you quote tweet that and say,

not when one thinks about it. He and his partner came to AEW because they didn't like the way they were being used. Now they're in AEW being used. pushed further down the roster by anyone who has ever been signed by WW and comes to AEW and they job to the bucks. And eventually, my friend Matt Coon got involved and he had to say, how many people got a clean pen over MJF while he was champ, Dax, and who else?

That's not what MID means defending his pal Dax, as he should. And you quote tweeted it and just sort of bottom lined it and said, hit me up when they can draw. That's the only thing that matters. and that's really the genesis of all of these conversations that you and I have had on this show is you trying to explain the problems with the product that are keeping it from growing because I think everyone can agree that I'm not going to say that AEW's audience are shrinking but they've certainly plateaued and once for a time use the term flatlining I think that

has a negative connotation other people would say stable but whatever it's it's plateaued Like, they're not on this growth trajectory. And I think that's the genesis of all of our conversations is everybody wants to know how does AEW get bigger? No one is on here campaigning for AEW to get smaller, right? Absolutely true. And at the core of all of my responses or my perspective, sometimes I respond to things or I put out a post or make a comment that is not in response to a question. It's based on my perspective. Going back to what you said earlier, I want, and I've said this so many times, I'm not even going to say it again because I'm just fucking tired of it.

But in the hopes of AEW being successful someday and growing their audience, having a light bulb go off in some motherfuckers head go, you know, we should probably, you know, do something a little different because what we're doing isn't working, you know, like most sane people do. I want them to be successful. I really, really, really do. but to continue to go out and publicly make some of the same ridiculous comments and do some of the silly things that are being done within AW from the talent all the way up to Tony Kahn makes it really, really hard to say anything that sounds remotely positive. You know, just little things, Karan, you and I can debate this all day long, but if you look at their television ratings, they're not. stable unless you consider the downward trend that's visible when you look at Russellnomics reporting on their weekly ratings. They're going down.

That's not stable. That's the opposite of stable. Here's another part. That's opposite of stable. Russell ticks, this is all stuff that's available out there now. You can't hide this shit anymore. They can barely put 3,000 people to produce a live dynamite show. They're a show with all of their major stars.

And they are stars. They are great talents. But the vision for AEW, the ability to produce a compelling television show, which I suggest doesn't even exist. There is no ability to produce a compelling television show. There's an ability and a tendency to produce great technically based wrestling matches, which appeal to the smallest common denominator. of the global wrestling audience that they're good at but the television shows themselves

are horribly produced and only compelling to the smallest fraction of the overall wrestling audience. It just is what it is. And I'm hoping that that changes. I'm hoping I say something that pisses somebody off

inside of AEW so much that they'll think about it. And I know that's not, going to happen right because they'll resist anything that i say or anybody that doesn't put them over or make excuses for them right you'll accompany they're only five years old like me it's just i i try i really really try but when i see comments um tony on down and they're making the same mistakes they've been making since, what? 2020, when I first started calling Tony out

and told him to shut up and wrestle, doing the same things over and over again, and they're getting the same response, which is negative. It's hurting the company. Yeah, but Wimbly. Okay, great. Wembley.

Dynamite ratings. Ticket sales. How's that video game doing? Hey, let me timeout right there, because Dave Meltzer had a tweet that you quote tweeted last week. We should at least acknowledge this. Meltzer said they did for a period, not big money, but they did. Then again, AEW had many profitable months over its existence as well.

I don't think profitable years though, although it's possible 2002 was since Khan said it was without video game spending and most companies wouldn't list. Did you even understand that? Yeah, it's a typo. He's asking about was T&A ever profitable? because there has been a run lately, at least the last year or so, where Meltzer is pretty much denied that T&A ever turned to profit. And as you know, I do a podcast with Jeff Jarrett, and he's told me privately, why does Dave say that?

And I'm like, well, I don't really know what you're asking. And he goes, well, I saw all the books when I was talking to Toby about, you know, coming in and buying out the corridors. So I had to know those numbers forwards and backwards. And he's told me the numbers, but it was millions of dollars a year. in net profit. And nobody wants to hear that now. Everybody wants to act like, oh, TNA was always a money loser.

Well, if they were, they're a money loser that's still around. But back then, how would you get anybody to be interested in buying it if it was losing money, especially in astute businessman like Toby Keith? They had very, very profitable years. But Meltzer's always kind of denied that. And now here, he's saying, they had profitable months. And he's saying in reference to AEW, he said, it's possible. 2002, I think he meant 22, and that is the year that they spent a lot of money on the video game

that most people believe lost money. And then you quote tweeted it and said, no question, this is it. If you don't see, smell here, and yes, even taste the bullshit you've been paying for, I just wanted to add some context to your recent conversation with Dave about the video games expenditures. Well, EW's life, first of all, Dave Meltzer thinks that he's a really good writer because he's got some participation trophies from friends of his. So he thinks he's a little bit legitimate journals. He can't even post a fucking tweet that makes any sense.

I mean, I could go on. But the point about Dave and the reason I call Dave out so much is because for years he's able to get away with his shit, right? Before podcasts and social media, David could come out and say we spew whatever garbage he wanted to spew and people like you, Conrad, who didn't hear the other side of the story, would go, wow, he knows what he's talking about. He never has. David Meltzer is really good when it comes to history of the industry

and what happened when and with who and where. what those outcomes were. I mean, I don't think there's anybody better than Dave Meltzer at that. But that's not enough for David. Dave tries to be the analyst and the student of the business. And that's where he fucks up so badly. And one of the reasons I call him out so much is because he tries to write, he tries to make his posts and even his commentary.

I've watched him a few times on his YouTube show. He tries so hard to convince. convince people. He's unbiased because he covers both sides of an issue. But he's so fucking horrible at it. And he spends, I would say 70% of the social media posts that I see are him responding to people who say, Dave, you're full of shit. And Dave's response is, well, you can tell you really didn't read the article. No, motherfucker, they did read it. And it made absolutely no sense. And it was obvious that you're doing your best to be the surrogate. for AEW or any other promotion or talent that you're trying to put over.

It is so fucking obvious, Dave. But if you go look at Dave Meltzer, I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to be like Daxon's study Dave Meltzer's timeline. But I just know based on what I see every day because I follow this goof because he provides me with such great content, example that you just gave for being one of them, that he thinks he's actually good at it and he's doing a great job. covering is bias, but it's glaring. And I can't understand how people don't see smell here.

And yes, even taste the bullshit that comes out of Dave Meltzer's mouth or mind, is the case maybe. Well, let's move on. Let's try to. And let's take a time out and thank our sponsor today. Mack Weldon, I got to tell you, it's been an experience to read some of these tweets with you and Dax. And I feel like, man, you can't have it both ways. If you're going to call a guy out for getting paid for being critical of a company, then you've

also got to acknowledge you're getting paid to defend a different company. It's sort of like asking a zero calorie cheeseburger. That just doesn't exist. Or maybe red wine without the headache or a dog that never needs to go outside when it's cold. You know, guys tend to think that looking sharp means starchy oxfords and stiff chinos rather than effortless comfort. But it's possible to have it both ways. Mac Weldon makes timeless apparel with modern performance fabrics for guys who would look and feel sharp, but without sacrificing comfort. From their light as air underwear to innovative anti-oder teas and versatile yet comfortable pants, Mac Weldon has a full range of clothes that never go out of style. And I know you've been rocking some Mac

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our promo code, Bischoff. Eric, what have you been thinking of your new Mac Weldon threads? They are my go-to. You know, and I personally, I've had a hard time getting comfortable with ordering certain things online. Like, I got to feel it, touch it, try it on. I got to be able to assess the quality of material. Because a lot of times you look at stuff being promoted and ever, and I've fallen victim to it. I've tried it.

That's why I feel so strongly about what in my mind. to say I've ordered stuff that I see online and it looks so cool and I read the description and materials and all that and I'll order it and I'll get it home and this is like something you buy a flea market for $3 and it just pisses me off so I've become somewhat hesitant to order anything clothes right shoes anything like that I got to see it and touch it and feel it first. And that is not the case with McWeldon. They are my go-to. I've got a number of things that I got from McWeldon within the last month. My favorites, because I wear hooded sweatshirts. You ask my wife, she'll tell you. I wear them all the time. She's begging me to get

some of them. But I love my hooded sweatshirts, mostly because I like the little pocket, my phone or whatever I'm cute. I just like them. It's my thing. But my McWeldon, hooded sweatshirt, even my wife loves it. And she sees me wearing hooded sweatshers seven days a week until about the middle of June. So I love the product, the look, the feel, the comfort, the quality is unbelievable. I've got a pair of sweats that I ordered from McWeldon. I shouldn't even call them sweats. I don't like to call them sweats because they look great.

Yes. They feel great. The quality of the material is second to none. I can wear them on an airplane with a pair of good looking shoes put his sweatshirt for Mac Weldon and I look like I'm I'm looking fly but I just say fly

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be sure to use our promo code So listen, man, let's jump right back into it because we've got a ton of questions from folks who wanted to participate in our Ask Eric Anything piece of business here. Let's do one from Chance Richardson, digital marketing consultant on Twitter. He says, what story or angle did Eric think was going to be successful, but ultimately failed? So if you can, let's reach into your WCW days and then just, you know, more modern wrestling or any time. in your fandom was there one idea in wc wcd that you just had a lot of confidence in and that was a man i've never let me that's hard because i've never had a lot of i don't think anybody that's ever actually been in the business of creating television or writing television

or producing television i don't know that i've ever met anybody who is being honest with themselves or me that would say when they laid out a story they were confident it was going to it. I've never had that experience. I've always, again, I hate just always talking about one example, but it's the greatest one. The NWO story, I wasn't confident it was going to work. I had a good feeling about it. I thought there's a good chance it was going to work for a couple of months. I was not 100% confident or even 80% confident. I probably was a little bit closer to 55 or 60% confident. That's usually about as good as a good. gets for me.

Never know when you put something out. It's like a musician that puts out a song. You can't, I just, I don't think anybody puts out any work of art, whether it's a television show, a movie, music, a book. And they say to themselves, I am 100% confident this is going to be a success. Okay. Just context, right? But the other, I guess obvious example without trying to, you know, dig through my memories of

over 30 years, the 5,000 hours of television that I produced during that period of time, the one that stands out, I think, would be the whole, you know, would be Glacier and that whole idea of bringing in that Mortal Kombat kind of stylized characters presentation. I kind of thought that was going to work, and I was wrong. It might have worked a couple years previous when the Mortal Kombat thing first happened and it was Todd, I kind of, I think it came too late. Yeah. And it came in the midst of a sea change in the way that wrestling is being produced

in terms of a little bit more reality and getting away from the character. The teen and preteen character gimmicks and moving into something that was more 18 to 49. So timing was part of it. But I thought that idea was going to work. Here's one from Jack Gaffney. He says, Eric with Tony Kahn, often seen as more of a. friend to his employees, how did you navigate balancing the roles of being a boss and a friend to your employees during your time in WCW and your other business ventures? I think everybody

listening to this knows that you were, you were friendly with some talent. I mean, most notably DDP, but certainly, you know, in Hogwild and things like that. And I mean, you, you hung out with the boys. But you do have to sort of draw a line between being one of the boys and being the boss. Was that something that was tough for you to navigate or tiptoe through? Yeah. And I don't think I did an especially good job at it, to be honest. Another reason why I have a perspective that is sometimes a little harsh. Because I wish somebody would have pulled me aside and said, dude, I've been there and done what you're doing.

I've made the mistakes you're making. And here's one that you're making that I'm pretty certain is going to cause you issues. I didn't have that. I had people that resented the fact that I was friends with some of the talent and not friends with others and it got bitchy and whiny about it. But even senior management, I would have appreciated a little bit of that mentoring because it was an issue for me. But keep in mind, folks, context, I was friends with a lot of that same talent before I ever got in the management. What was I supposed to do? Well, I know what I was supposed to do.

I know what I should have done. I know what I wished I would have done. is to be conscious of it and to effectively, effectively deal with the issues. I didn't. And it became a problem, not so much because I had a hard time being hard on my friends. Ask Diamond Dallas Page. I was harder on him than I was on anybody because we were. But the perception is what really caused the issue for.

perception of my relationship with that caused a bigger issue than the actual relationships I had with said talent and it was a mistake and I wished I would have I don't wish I don't regret anything I'm here today because of everything that's happened to me up until this point and I'm so grateful for my life things that I do have the friends that I have my family my health there's so much to be grateful for I could go on all day But there are things that had I approached them differently, perhaps would have had a different impact on my life at that point. That's not to say, that's not to say it would have had any impact on the ultimate end of WCW as a part of Turner Broadcasting. It would not have.

But my life would have been a lot easier in the process. well said here's another question what's the biggest thing missing in wrestling today that we had in the past and that's a good question because I do think now is a great time to be a wrestling fan but is there something missing today that we used to have in wrestling not to me you know I think things are industry has improved so much the president of the product has improved so much, athletes, talent, talent and their athletic abilities is the best way to say that. I just, I can't, I can't, I'm not one of those guys that look back and says, oh, it was so much

better back in my day, there are elements of things that were better in my day in my day as a producer that I think are lacking, particularly in AEW, but they're consequential. You know, you could probably point to the mystery of it all. Like everybody knows how the David Copperfield magic trick works now. There's no mystery in that. So they've learned to, or evolved, I should say, to learn to appreciate it. different aspects of the industry. And I don't know that the evolution of that appreciation is any less than the

K-febara and that magic that, you know, everybody knew, this shit ain't real, but they didn't know how it wasn't real. I don't know how it's not real. And argue about its effectiveness and dissect it and break it down. Like it's a fucking football game. But I don't think that that's taking anything away. I think social media, I know it's an ugly place to be and I contribute to it sometimes because it's fun for me, the nature of the product, the nature of the people that follow me

and the nature of the people that are a part of the internet wrestling community. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to dive right in and I'm going to have fun with it. One of the reasons there was such a high volume of my responses last week is because I was traveling. It's stuck on a freaking plane. I've seen all the movies that they have on United. But I've got Wi-Fi on the plane. I'm watching this stuff and I'm having fun with it.

It makes me chuckle. So I don't think there's anything missing today. On the contrary, I think there's so much more that makes the industry more interesting than it ever has been. Let's do another question here. This is from Beyond the Script podcast. He wants to know if Tony Kahn had asked Eric to fill in for him legitimately, would he do it? Now, of course, this is a silly question, but at the same time, it's probably fair because you've been pretty critical.

Is there any part of you that would be interested in taking the reins of AEW? No. I didn't imagine. I mean, no. Look, without being redundant, I'll just, and I like to, I like to expound on my opinions and why I have them and what the basis for them are. But I've done that so much

that I'm not going to do it again. Boring. No, there's just not a chance. It doesn't make sense for me. It doesn't make sense for them. Right. I wouldn't do anything that doesn't make sense. Either makes sense because it was fun

or makes, I mean, really fun. Or it makes sense because, it was good for the industry or good for business or for charity those are examples of good reasons to do something and filling in on that role would not check any of those boxes

so no let's see if we can check some boxes here over on YouTube which you can ask a question at at 83 weeks.com David Nerdy 4323 says if the NWO were created today, what three talents would you base it around? Is there anything you would do differently? Okay.

I've answered this question so many times and I appreciate the fact that the listener may be new and perhaps didn't hear that episode. But fantasy booking is not my thing. I just don't do it. And if I had to answer that question to be really honest about it, I'd really have to sit down for a half an hour of 45. So give it some thought. Because off the top of my head, there's nobody.

They don't exist. Off the top of my head. But if I thought about it five minutes or an hour, focused on that and did a scan of everybody that's out there, I might be able to come with a casting that would kind of make sense and have reasons to discuss behind it. But off the top of my head, as much as I wished I could, I can't. The answer is, Cody. As far as doing different, as far as doing different, that I can't answer. I would have an end.

Yeah. I would have started at the end and worked backwards because the story that I had kind of framed in my mind. It wasn't even really a story, but it was an outline of a story, was very, very rich in terms of act one and even act two. I didn't even think about act three. Again, why I focus so much in my commentary and responses on discipline, detailed, structured storylines. Because had I had someone like me in my ear at that time, I would have thought, I would have given that much more thought.

I would have invested as much time on the end as I'd have invested as much time on the end as I did in the beginning. Again, one of the reasons I'm hypercritical about lack of structure, discipline, and story because I have the scar tissue to use as an example of what happens when you don't. To me, the answer for a modern NWO, if you were going to do that story, I would think it would be sort of the same thing you did with WCW. These were guys who were in WCW left became a bigger star somewhere else and then came back. Now

I didn't view the NWO that way because I missed all the Razor Ramon Diesel stuff. I wasn't watching during that part of my life. So I didn't know that they were back to take over. I thought they were just coming in from the WWF to take over. But I understand the genesis of your story

was, hey, we left and we came back. So to me the perfect modern NWO would be Cody and the Hogan spot. He's the last guy. And punk and perhaps Moxley. These guys all left WWE

because they were frustrated with creative went and became what they became somewhere else and now they come back and they're here to take over. Maybe that could work because that at least feels kind of like Scott Hall Kevin Nash, right? Yeah, and

that may work. I don't necessarily think you have to go back to that same story. my message that at least I had in my mind. But what you really need, and I think what you're pointing out, is you just need a motivation that makes sense. Yes. What is the motivation?

What is the catalyst? What's the inciting moment, not exciting, inciting, it's the inciting moment. What incites the action that begin, the first domino to fall? That's what I'm talking about. And if you can come up with a creative motivation, it doesn't have to be somebody that came from somebody,

It can be internal, but it has to be compelling and it has to be believable, not that you're trying to k-fabe everybody, but that you're allowing them to buy into the premise and you're allowing them to buy into that inciting moment and incident because it could be true. I know it's not. It could be. there's enough reality to it that you give your audience permission to go with it

and to feel it. But if the premise of your story, if you're inciting incident in the beginning of Act 1 is so phony and ill-conceived, much like not having an end to the NWO story, it was ill-conceived. It wasn't phony because we just didn't have it. But there was no conception to it, so it was ill-conceived.

He hadn't really given it any thought. The same thing happens in the beginning. If you're not really focused on, okay, what will the audience accept? What will they believe? What's so close to being true that it could be even though it's not? That's the money. That's the magic. That's how you launch a story that has a chance of being successful.

no guarantees, it just is what it is. But if you want to have a 60% confidence level, depending on who you are and how you think, if you want to get into the area of odds and say, yeah, there's about a 60, 65% chance that this could work because it's been so well thought out, well planned, well structured. All the plot points are in place.

We've got the timing down. There's a reason why this talent is doing what they're doing, and the reason is believable enough it will allow the audience to feel it. Or you could say suspend disbelief. It's the same thing. What you don't want to do is start a story

that is so ridiculous in the very, very beginning that the audience gags on it. Right. That story has absolutely zero chance of lasting more than a couple of us. And even at that, it won't be successful.

well something we know is really working for some of our listeners is earn in you see life doesn't happen biweekly so why should payday the money you earn can be in your hands today with earn in earn in is an app that gives you access to your pay as you work up to a hundred dollars per day or up to seven hundred and fifty dollars per pay period just download the earn in app and verify your paycheck then access up to a hundred bucks a day as you work and leave an optional tip. Any money you access plus tips are automatically repaid from your next paycheck. This is perfect if you've got some sort of last minute car expense. Maybe you need some last minute clothes or new duds for some big event you forgot about. Maybe you have an unexpected

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Earned-in is a financial technology company, not a bank. Subject to your available earnings, daily max, pay period max, and location. See Earnin.com slash TOS for details. Bank products are issued by Evolve Bank and Trust, member FDIC. Here's one from AEW-E-S-T-Q-X-2-SP. Boy, I hope that means something to you. What would you call this new WWE era? The atmosphere era has a nice ring to it.

I saw Cody call it the Renaissance era. What do you think, Eric? I think Renaissance era works pretty well because this is a renaissance in so many different ways. It's such a sea change and first of all, the presentation of the product. It's always been storyline driven. But I think over the last 10 or 15 years of Vince McMahon's reign for whatever reason, these stories the stories had a hard time sustaining momentum

I think there were a lot of great stories that started out great or had the potential being great that through either indecisiveness or focus or whatever it was that took Vince, because that took Vince McMahon out of the long-term story planning phase which is just another way of saying

discipline, structured story arc. Because W.W.E was known for that. For so long, they planned to, you know, I heard, it used to drive me bat shit when people, Gene Oakland used to drive me crazy in a good way. Eerie, he always called me Eirik, not Eric, Ehrlich, not Eric, Eerie. I always say, Eric. Done.

You know, Vince McMahon, you know what they're doing, you know, six months in advance, you know, what they're doing next year's WrestleMania. off jean just let me alone trying to survive here trying to keep my nose above the water it drove me crazy but it was true they did have i don't want to say a on paper and complete detailed but they had a good outline of where they were going and they stuck to it and i think in the last 10 or 15 years especially then it's got away from that stories were all over the place and they didn't stick very well.

It's just a lot of trial and error. But I think now, as we've seen over the last really two year, year and a half or so, I think with Polovac, Pritchard, Ed Kosky, a whole team of people that should get credit and don't, the discipline and the structure to stories, they're not always going to be great.

Get me wrong, there's going to be some winners and there's going to be some, eh, and there's going to be some losers. It's just happens. Nobody's ever produced television has ever always written a winner. It's like not everybody that produces music has always written its songs or directed and written movies, have always directed and written great movies. You're going to hit and miss sometimes. The odds are better.

But I think what we've seen in the last year or a year and a half is a sea change in the approach to the world. way body is presented. I think the depth of characters that I'm seeing, I think the utilization of social media to enhance the character as opposed to creating a character on television and then revealing something completely different in social media, which undermines the character because the two are connected, in my opinion. I could be wrong about that, but I don't think so based on watching and observing what I've seen or happen.

Becky Lynch is a perfect example that I've talked about in this show. Someone who really learned and either by design or default was able to really use social media to help launch her character back in 2019. So I think we're seeing such a sea change in the industry and it's improved in so many different ways. I'm not even going to talk about production because that's that's another show. But I think Renaissance works for me. It really, it's got a Geneseecoe. Geneseequa.

It's just got a good vibe. Yeah, agree. I don't speak much. Leland Patterson says, this is over on YouTube, 83weeks.com. Hey, Eric, not sure how much you keep up with Raw, but I believe the best story right now is C and Punk and Drew McIntyre. Both are dealing with injuries and can't work matches, but it might be the 1A program right now behind the bloodline.

Speaking of the bloodline, I saw a comment about Tom Matanga. It said within a couple weeks, W.W took a mid-card guy from New Japan and made him look like a main eventer, while AEW took a main event guy from New Japan and Okada and turned him into a mid-carder. It's almost like story works more than wrestling. Funny how that goes. Anyways, keep up the work.

I love your insight on things. What do you think of the Drew McIntyre C&Punk story? Because, man, every time they come on, people are flocking like those segments those quarter hours are doing really really well and there's no physicality it's just guys talking and it's funny that we're saying that like it's uh really it's this revelation because jr and i recently talked about the rocks 1999 and that's the year where they did you know rock this is your life it did an 8.4 rating it's one of the highest rated segments in wrestling television history and at that point

It was the highest rated quarter hour in raw history. And there was no wrestling. There's no matches. There's no physicality. It's just guys talking. Matches are important, but, man,

entertainment's where it's at. And punk and McIntyre got them going right now, man. They do. And I'm looking forward to that match. I think it's going to be exciting. And again, it's,

look, you have these camps on the internet, internet wrestling community. You've got your day melzer types. everything is, you know, match quality. And even that is subjective, by the way. But they come from that, you know, five-star Dave Meltzer, match quality mentality that absolutely pays zero attention to character development or story,

despite protestations to the contrary. Where that camp is like, oh, there's only 20 minutes of wrestling on a one-hour shower, 40 minutes of wrestling and it's, oh, my God. And they actually post things in social media that compares actual in-ring wrestling between the companies like it fucking matters, you clowns, pretend experts, kind of like Dave. They're following in Dave's footsteps. They're analyzing and studying like Dave Meltzer does. But the part that they don't get because neither Dave or the people that think like him has

actually ever produced anything, ever. Ever. And what you'll find, I think, if you really study and analyze, as you just briefly described, it's a combination. I'm not suggesting the great wrestling matches are important. They certainly are. I, for one, I'm entertained. I'm enjoying watching Osprey. I'm enjoying watching Okada. I'm enjoying watching some of that purely for the physical ability that I'm seeing, the talent, the execution, the athleticism, the timing of some of it. But I also look at it and go, eh, it's never going to really matter that much because it's only appealing to a fraction of a fraction of the overall wrestling audience.

And they're doing it at the expense of also creating great story and characters. My point is that by the time CM Punk and Drew actually lock up, they will have have been telling a fascinating story and building a strong foundation of engagement, emotional involvement, before the bell ever rings so that the match they have, and I'm confident it will, providing everybody stays healthy, the match they have will be the cherry on top, but it ain't the pie. and the Dave Meltzer types and the Tony Khan types, those who want to book for the internet in the chat rooms

and cage match rankings or whatever the fuck that's called, they're missing the most important part. They don't understand how to do it. It's not in their instinctive warehouse. They don't have the tools to play in that area. so they rely on dream matches and bringing in guys who are exceptionally good at her abilities in the ring and hoping that that's going to make them a challenger brand.

It won't. It hasn't. No. Here's a great question from Tim Moochie drums over on YouTube, 83 weeks.com. This is a good one because this has been brought in a question a lot, lady on lately on social. I'm glad you're going to set the record straight.

Eric, you said you weren't under a Legends contract. So does that mean no more WWE figures and could you possibly get some major bendies or big rubber guys figures or zombie sailors, toys, retros? How long have you not been under a Legends deal? And maybe you could explain the terms of a Legends deal.

Are some more limited or some different? Are they restrictive in their clauses? I'm interested in any details. This Legends contract has become a thing. Because people do want to say, well, if he's critical of AW, it's clear that he's on the AW payroll because he's in the AA, he's, or the WWE payroll, it's clear that he's in the WWE video game. So of course he's on a legends deal. My understanding is the video game deal can be a separate thing from a legends contract, but I don't know the intricacies of what that looks like.

Can you explain? Sure. I've never, well, partially, I've never seen a Legends contract. So I honestly can't tell you anything about them how restrictive they are or I just can't. I've never seen one. Never been offered one. I wouldn't sign one if I was. Because I like, I mean, look, one of the things that I'm most grateful for and really to you at and to your team, including Super Dave, is that I have the freedom now to do what I want, what I want, with who I want, where I want, and make an extremely good.

living in the process. So being tied to a contract of any kind with anyone, unless it was ridiculously rewarding from a financial perspective, or it was so much fun that I didn't care about the money, just has zero appeal to me. That's why I wouldn't sign one. So when I say I wouldn't sign a Legends contract, it has nothing to do with my respect for WD or my willingness to work with them on a one-off basis. It's just I don't want to be encumbered.

I don't want to have a responsibility to someone long term because to me that takes away some of my own. And I like freedom in every way. It is my favorite thing. That being said, since I don't know what a legend's contract looks like, I can't address the video game action figures. I just saw some new, actually about a month ago, I was at a signing somewhere and somebody brought me a new Mattel action figure.

Whoa, I've never seen that. It would just come out. Like, he just got it at 24 hours before. I do have, I did sign a deal about two years ago for video games. It's a separate one-off deal. I believe it's exclusive. I'll have to go back and look. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm guessing it is.

Similarly, I signed a deal for actually. action figures. And I think I have about 11 months left on that deal. Then it comes to an end and I can do business with anybody I want to do business with. But I don't mind being a business with me. You're going to be in the action figure business? I'm going to tag into Mattel because it's the greatest opportunity, most lucrative opportunity. But when that's gone, I may or may not do another deal with him. But it's not part of any overall deal. It has nothing to do with my podcast or as Dax Harwood like to suggest, you know, being compensated for burying AEW, a separate deal. And they're standard, by the way. There's nothing special about them.

WW has pretty much, JR could talk about this more than I can, but I think they've refined a pretty good formula that compensates talent based on licensing and merchandising in a fair and consistent way. And I have one of those. That's it. I just find that all fascinating and interesting. By the way, if you're missing out, go look up the ultimate creations. It's the WWB Ultimate Edition WCW Monday Nitro Ring with Eric Bischoff. That's probably what you were brought. It's got the nitro ring with it. It's probably one of the cooler Eric Bischoff figures. of all time. You got the jeans. You got a shirt underneath and a leather jacket. You can swap the shirt for an NWO cutoff shirt, a couple of different heads, a WCW microphone, but the

nitro ring, that's pretty cool. And it's available now from Mattel. But that answers that about the whole legends deal. Codex 0451 says during WCW, besides the NWO, what do you feel was one of your best storylines. Also, on the flip side, what was one of your worst? So we've went through some of the bad ones, but if we were to take the NWO story off the table, what was the second best story or the story you were second most proud of stuff? I think what I'm most proud of is the creation of the Crucibleweight Division and the

commitment that we made to that because I think that's one thing that has changed the wrestling business in a legitimate way, not even. in a way like others have suggested that they've changed the wrestling. But I think so many of the talents that we're seeing today, both in WWE and primarily in aid, are Cruiserweight talents. Or they would have been considered cruiserweight talents in WCW back in the day. And I think we kind of blew the door open for so many great, you know,

led by Ray Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. And I'm naming those two, but there's so many others, including Chris Jericho, including so many of the great luchadors. I think we blew the doors off the building that allowed so much of so many talents that you might not otherwise have heard of during that era, which also opened the door for you're seeing now. I am really, aside from the nitro format as a whole, cruiserweight division, obviously the NWO story, but if I take those elements out,

because the Cruiserweight Division wasn't really a story. It was a tactic. It was part of a strategy. It's effective. Take all that stuff out. You go storyline only. You know, it's hard to look at the Bill Goldberg story. And whether you are a fan of Bill Goldbergs or not,

to create a star of that magnitude in that short a period of time, pretty cool. Pretty cool. I think Diamond Della's page's story was a pretty good story better than pretty good it's a great story I can't take credit for that

Sullivan was involved in that certainly Diamond Dells Page and Randy Savage probably were responsible for 75% of it 60% of it it's not like I did it but it's a great story I'm proud of it

As far as we're story, God, there's so many of them we're showing. Genovius Mac, ask Garrett. Will you have any input or be hands on with the rock? Death of WCW project has coming out. First of all, I don't think it's called the death of WCW.

I hope it's not called. Who killed WCW is what it's called. That's pretty fucking close, but I get it. Um, hands on, uh, I helped wrangle some interviews that they probably would have had a hard time getting otherwise. Um, I was offered a perspective or I was offered to give a perspective, which I did. And other than participating on camera, no. So I'm looking forward to just.

seeing it. You know, based on a trailer that I saw the other day, I, you know, one of the things I said is, look, no offense to Darkside, but if it's going to be another, you know, churn and burn and, you know, horrible stories and whatever, I mean, I'm not into, I'm not into that. It just doesn't appeal to it. I'm interested in learning something that I didn't know before I started watching something. And Darkside does provide some of that. But I'm

interested. It's going to be interesting to see if the producers, I don't think Rock is sitting in an edit bay. No. He's not. But if the producers are able to

present a perspective that's different than perspectives that we've seen. over vision is history and the bitch fest because like here's here's and i i shouldn't really off on too much of a tangent on this and this isn't necessarily part of how i feel about this project because i don't know how i feel about it i won't know until i see it but so many of the things that have happened in the past have relied upon talent's perspective yes and i want to say this with all due respect to anybody whether they're friends of mine or not whether they hate my guts or not

or whether we're best friends or not. It doesn't fucking matter. The truth is undeniably the truth. The talent that WWE in particular for so long relied upon to advance their version of what happened to WCW. Using WCW talent that we're in WCW at the time, that talent has no more clue about what was going on internally then I would know about going out and wrestling a 60-minute match.

They weren't even close to it. Many of them had never even been into the offices. They didn't communicate. They had no idea whatsoever what was going on on the business side of the WCW business. Some of whom could talk to you about how it affected them, and that was real. but in terms of the dysfunction that was happening in the and what was going on during the whole aOL time Warner merger and the implications of that and how it manifested across the board

for all Turner companies not just WCW they don't have a fucking clue what they're talking about any more than I would have a clue about how to go out and wrestle a 60-fucking minute match it just wasn't their world so it'll be interesting to see how they the angle or perspective they take to reveal information or perspective

that hasn't been reviewed a million times before by people who quite frankly don't know what the fuck they're talking about whether they're friends of mine or not that's just the truth it's a complete unvarnished perspective someone who's in the middle of it

and we'll see I'm looking forward to it but based on the trailer I saw I'm somewhat cautious and my optimism and hope that I'm pleasantly surprised. I'll be tuning in to find out. Well, I was pleasantly surprised with Modern Mania Wrestling GM. It's a brand new mobile game.

I want you to check out. Yeah, it's a pro wrestling general manager game for your phone or tablet. Eric Bischoff knows a thing or two about being a good or a bad GM. And this game is really a hidden gym. They got great looking characters, a slick interface. It's easy to play in short bursts or long sessions. and it's a pretty simple premise. You collect cards for wrestlers, for match types, for venues, for skits,

and then you use these cards to book wrestling shows. How about that? The better shows you book, the more endgame cash you'll earn to collect more cards. Team up the right wrestlers, and you'll unlock their tag team card. Match certain wrestlers against each other, and you'll unlock their feud card. You can manage your roster, create factions, compete with, or control other promotions inside the game universe. It's honestly a lot of fun.

It's also free to play, and the developers are constantly updating the game with new characters and features. So to get the game, just search for Modern Mania Wrestling GM in the App Store or Google Play Store, and once you've played through the tutorial, head over to the setting screen. In the bottom right, you'll see a code button. That's where I want you to put in our promo code 83 weeks, no spaces. You'll get a bunch of free wrestlers and game cash wrestling. fans do yourself a favor go check this game out modern mania wrestling gm it's in the google play store

or the apple app store modern mania wrestling gm let's do another question here from sg bugsby he wants to know back in the day w w w w you would do two paper views in the uk did you ever think about running a yearly pay per view in the uk for wcw uh yes we thought about it we talked about it in depth, time to time. But we're never in a position to pull the trigger. Part of that is because of expense. Part of it is because we're concerned about the time delay, how that would impact the business.

But mostly it was an expense issue. It's way more expensive to produce a live paper. Okay. And it would be here in the States. And there's a lot of things that are in our control there. You're working with third parties, vendors, production vendors, that you've never worked with before. And it's just, it was too risky for us, honestly, just too risky for it. We did think about it.

I think that's one of the reasons why, you know, even before I got into management, you saw Davey Boy Smith's initial run in WCW, largely because there was conversation about, hey, we need to establish a UK audience so we can at some point produce paperbooks and do live tours here. Yeah, it was discussed, but we never pulled the trigger because it was just too risky for us at that time. Jeff over on YouTube says at Hogwild 96, when Hogan went

through the curtain, did you know he was going to tag the belt? Of course, this is the first time that Hulk Hogan would airbrush NWO on the big gold belt. Did you know he was going to do that when he went out? I don't think so. Really? I don't think Hogan knew he was

going to do it. Sometimes, you know, when you work with somebody who feels the crowd and feels the moment, Logan, I think, as Rick Flair and a lot of the other greats did, Ricky Steenboat, Dusty Road, come from that style or approach. A lot of shit's just spontaneous. I don't, I don't think we talked about it. I'm not sure like all new, maybe an hour before. He said, hey, it would be kind of cool if we do this.

Somebody might have given him the idea. I don't know. But I wasn't involved in the conversation. I'm glad he did it. And I certainly would have voted for it because it's cool as shit. And it would have been consistent with everything else that was going on that was getting NWO over at the time. So I certainly wouldn't have thrown a flag. But I wasn't a part of the conversation.

Joey wants to know What do you think of AEW losing its Latin American and DeZone media deals? Do you think they'll move their pay-per-views and video catalog to something like HBO Mac? I don't think one has anything to do with her.

Yeah. I don't know that distribution that you're referring to I don't think it didn't matter. No, no consequence. If you're touring in South America and that's part of your

strategy and tactically, yeah, you've got to get some distribution there and build on it in order to execute the long-term strategy. Then, yeah, it's important. But they're not even touring the United States. So they drew 2,700 people to their backyard in Jacksonville, Florida. I don't think there's any plans on the board of international tour or even domestic. So in that sense, it fucking doesn't matter unless it was a significant. revenue stream and I sincerely doubt it was that.

So no, I don't think it matters at all. And I don't think one is connected to the other in terms of HBO Max. They're either going to get that offer and opportunity or they're not. And what happened in South America or with Hazen or whatever isn't going so. Uh, Wootage 83434 says, did you buy anything at the mall America when the first nitre was there? I know that's a silly question, but I think a lot of fans get a kick out of that first nitro because it was in a mall

and because it was also where Hulk Hogan's posthomania was happening. Do you remember there being any memento you kept from a show along the way? Like we're like, man, I want something to take home just to remember this. Whether it was the first nitro

or a huge starcate or that bash of the beach with Hogan Flair, did you ever take something home and think, man, I'm going to remember this one. It's not my deal. I never did. I just don't think that way. ever. I wish I did. I wished I did.

Yeah. Because it would have been a hell of an opportunity to set up a retirement for. Yeah, no kidding. But I didn't. It's just not who I am. I don't save things. Just don't. There's a couple things.

You can see them in the background. You know, I got a couple pictures of Muhammad Ali and I. You see the little cowboy over my left shoulder right next to that. There's a stone plate that when I was in North Korea and I was walking with Muhammad Ali there was say like a street vendor he certainly wasn't a street vendor because things are different in North Korea but he was an artist as part of a large display of arts and crafts I guess or being heritage being presented to all of us and there was a guy sitting

behind a table and all he had was these little plates they're like man it perhaps some sort of slate it's probably some sort of slate it's really heavy and really heavy and does and he had a hammer a little tiny hammer like you'd see like one of santa's half little tiny hammer and he had a little metal almost like a nail puncher or a hole puncher for leather and he would look at you go tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap and about 20 minutes later he let me show you to me So hard to see over my shoulder, but about 20 minutes later. Oh, my gosh.

That's amazing. This is what I got trying to work with the light hair. Wow, that's awesome. So Muhammad Ali and I were standing next to each other for maybe 15 minutes, not really sure because we couldn't communicate. Right. Right. We just kind of both sets out he's doing something.

He's because he's staring at us. He's doing this much like a painter would, you know, or caricature artist would. But he hardly. would ever look down, always looking at our faces. And when he handed us that, he gave one to me and Muhammad allowed me to keep it as a souvenir. And it was like, it's the most amazing thing. It still is. Look at this shit. It's amazing. I did this about 15 minutes with a hammer and a chisel. Unbelievable. So this I keep. And there's another picture of Muhammad

Olegia and I. And there's a picture of Muhammad that he said for me, boxing. Obviously, the picture of the Hogan turn, because that was such a monumental thing that I'm proud of. But that's about it, man. That's all I got. You know what we should do, Conrad? What should we do, Eric? We should do a live, either 83 weeks or a live YouTube show from the Mall of America. I'm fucking in.

Let's do it. We'll get permission. We'll set up a booth. We'll promote the hell out of it. And we'll do a live 83 weeks. the Mall of America this September. Oh, God damn. You're book in the territory.

You got dates and everything. Well, I mean, that's, that's the anniversary. I don't know what anniversary it is. Well, it's technically Labor Day weekend and you and I might actually be doing something else that weekend. But sometime in the future, we will be at the Mall of America. I love that. That'd be fun.

And I bet you we draw a crowd. A Wolfman 3923. I asked you if you kept anything. He wants to know, whatever happened to. of those hogan and giant monster truck they actually from what i remember i i know for sure they existed on the tour the monster truck tour for quite a while and then i don't know if it's because their contract ran out or what the deal was i think goldberg actually had a different i could be wrong about this i'm not a monster truck shenado but i do believe that goldberg had another

monster truck that was out on the monster truck circuit for quite a while. Yeah, that was a Goldberg one. There was. And there was actually a Medusa one, a Goldberg one, a WCW Nitro machine, a Sting, a Sting, Bigfoot, a Brett the Hitman heart, Stinger Bigfoot, an NWO. And it's crazy to think all the different trucks that you guys had over the years. But it was a licensing opportunity. And I think,

am I correct in remembering that the connective tissue would have been Mike Weber? Very much so. Mike Weber was the former WWF office guy. Then he became a WCW office guy or maybe somewhere along the way he did monster trucks. But I know that, man, Weber has done monster trucks and he's done TNA and he's done WWE. He's done WCW. But Weber, I think, is maybe the connective tissue. Yeah, I think

Mike knew like at the time in the monster truck world Bigfoot was like the whole coasters trucks and Grave Digger was the undertaker right and I think Mike had

a strong relationship with the owners of the Bigfoot team and manufacturers because that was the those were the first people that I met and talked to when we were originally

coming up with the idea of having the Hogan giant monster truck match on top of Cobo Hall, Cobor Arena. So, yeah, it was definitely it was Mike Weber's connective tissue that made that work. Here's a question from

John Rule, 7363. He says, Eric, how do you feel about Cornett constantly attacking you and WCW aside from your ability on the mic in the NWO? I have to admit, since I'm not traveling as much, I don't listen to Corny's podcast as much as I used to,

but I think he does a great job on the show, but I don't remember him being super critical of you, but maybe I wasn't, I haven't listened enough lately. Does it surprise you, I guess as this report comes in that he's taking shots at you and WCW besides your promo ability? No,

because Cornett, first of all, doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to my, like if you don't believe me, go back and look at the table for you or whatever it was. Michael Hayes, myself and Jim Cornett. And Dave Meltzer,

repeats the same story, even though it's been debunked and ridiculed in the process. But, and Cornett did this on the table for three, WWE, go look at it. Peacock, stream it, whatever the fuck. Find it. Cornett's telling his story about how he, you know, came to power plant and he pissed me off and wiped the snag on my Corvette and I hate him and I undermined him for all these reasons that Cornett had in his mind, Michael Hayes, who was not necessarily or wasn't at the time in Eric Bischoff family, still might not be. He just doesn't hate me as much. But wait a minute,

Jim, Eric wasn't in charge of WCW during all these times when you supposedly did all these things to you. And you can just see the little color, because Jim is not, you know, vampire. Whatever color there was in his face drained to his feet. And it was one of the first times I'd ever see Jim Cornett just speechless because he got exposed, not by me, by Michael Hayes, on that table for three. And when that was over, I just laughed about it because it's typical. These stories develop somehow, some way, and then they're repeated

and then they get bigger and then they get more bizarre and somebody's got to tell the story again, so they try to make it more interesting by make it more bizarre. And it was all a figment of Jim Cornett's imagination because he wasn't there. Didn't know. And he got his timeline all fucked up. And I just heard Dave Meltzer repeat it not too long ago in an interview somebody was doing with Dave. And Dave, Dave repeated the same fucking stupid debunked story that Michael Hayes exposed that exists, that exists on the table for three over on Peacock.

Go check it out. You'll see what I mean. And listen, I listen to Jim occasionally. I do kind of check his YouTube stuff because he's doing really, really well on YouTube. I find Jim to be highly, highly entertaining. Oh, goddamn him reading the phone book is fucking hilarious. He is so fucking entertaining. He's great.

And generally speaking, I agree with the love. of what Cornett says. I may, much like you have an opinion about the way I say things, I sometimes find the way he says things a little unconventional. Okay, it's fair. But if you got down to the foundation of what he believes and what I believe and his perspectives and my perspectives, we probably agree more than we disagree. So I don't have zero ill will towards Jim.

He is what he is. He does what he does. In terms of him taking shots of me, you know, Jim, let's just put your career and what you accomplished for the industry, not for yourself, for the industry, not for individuals within the industry. Let's just look at what contributed to the industry. Let's look at what I contributed to the industry. Let's look at the levels in which we contributed.

And let's compare notes. I'm really good with where I'm at. I'm really good. And Jim, I'm sure is good with where he's at. Oh, of course. Yeah. But I take no, I take no particular offense. I don't like call him out on social media like Dax Hardwood.

I don't accuse him of stupid things like Dax does. I don't make shit up. I don't need to. But I find him entertaining. And I encourage people to check them out on YouTube. wherever you can get him, because he's funny as hell. Makes me laugh. I like people that make.

Here's an interesting question from Tim Cook. He says, since WW is no longer controlled by Vince, how likely would it be for them to revive WCW in some capacity? The 30th anniversary of Nitro will be a perfect time to do it. I mean, I've often wondered why there was never a WCW reunion show. Like, clearly they've loosened up on some of this. I mean, for goodness sake, a couple years ago, John Sina had a

WrestleMania match with Ray Wyatt where he was doing his best Eric Bischoff and so was Bray Wyatt and they tried to, I mean, he used the original WCW Nitro letters and I mean, they really leaned into that and obviously they've since created the LWO

which is a WCWCW creation. So it's no longer like a bad word. It feels like maybe we're moving on from some of that. Maybe some of that's because Vince's is gone now too because like even the new title belts, they're starting to look more and more like the old WCW Big Gold Belt. Would you be interested in some sort of a nostalgia celebration of 30 years of Nitro? Because that would be September 4th next year.

It falls on a Thursday, so it couldn't be the exact day. But what do you think? A one-off celebration on Nitro? Is that possible? I don't know. But if it falls on a Thursday, and I know where we're going to be on Labor Day, but that still gives you and I time to go do a show in Minneapolis. It does.

30th anniversary and then jump on a plane for that 42-minute flight to Chicago and take care of the rest of our business. So I'm not taking that idea off the table until you force me to. Sure. Would I be sure if it was some kind of a celebration and a reunion of sorts for those of us who are all a part of it. But being done in an entertaining way, taking it to, seriously, but being respectful and having fun, most of all, having fun for the audience.

Of course I would. But to think that there's going to be any kind of resurrection of the brand, I don't think so. I wouldn't do it. No. I was W. I wouldn't have it. I would have zero interested in it.

I was W. What a special night? Sure. I'll be fun. I think the audience would dig it. Here's one from Ryan. He wants to know, should all wrestlers have licensed music? Would it hurt the novelty of her?

wrestling coming out to a known song or would help more talent get over? This is an interesting question, Eric, because it became sort of in fashion a few weeks ago to dunk on Deaf Rebel, who's been doing a lot of the WWE theme songs. And I guess

the following weekend, one of those performers who's a part of the operation, got himself in a little bit of a social media situation. And now people are wondering, Are they going to be back?

Are we getting some new music? Because I heard that same comment a lot over the Top Guy Royal Rumble Weekend that it's hard to really tell who's who based on the music. You have to look at the screen because it all sounds so similar. And I know that I, for one, got excited when Tony Khan licensed a few songs for certain talent. And it did feel bigger and special. And I thought that was pretty cool. And it made me think of when you did it for Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hendricks.

It's like that was such a big part of the presentation. And when you go back and you watch ECW or Jim Crockett Promotions, which both ran licensed music, actually it was unlicensed music. They stole it. They were bootlegging it. They didn't license it. They just stole it. But when you watch it back on the Peacock Network now with new music added,

boy, it just takes you out of it. Would you embrace a way where wrestling started? to license more music and they use more recognizable stuff, could that help the talent being net positive? Or is the business guy and you say, no, we need to own all of our IP, create our own songs. If the current crop of musicians we have don't make songs that our fans like, let's go find new one. Yeah, music is such a key element. And I didn't appreciate it as much even when I was producing, even though I was responsible for finding that Jimmy Hendricks music and being able to license it because I was a huge Jimmy Hendrix

fan since Woodstock. Yeah, I go back that far, muck of fathers. I love, I appreciate music as it relates to even television more now than ever. Do you ever watch the series suits? It's over. No, I'm familiar with it, but I've never actually sat down and watched it. They were so good. The producers of that show were so good at finding the,

write music to license that added so much motion or reaffirmed motion that was created in a seat. They were so good at it. I bet you if you look at my playlist, I've probably got 25 or 30 songs that I ended up downloading to my playlist that I shazammed while I was watching suits. And there's been, you know, again, I would say half, not half, close to half of my playlist is music that I've downloaded from, When I used to watch Vikings, or excuse me, yeah, Vikings can't think of the name of the show right now, sorry. But there's a lot of television shows that I watch that really effective music to enhance the drama or the energy or the vibe of a particular scene.

That's such an art. So I absolutely love the idea of using licensed music. It's become somewhat cost prohibitive now, especially. especially when you're talking about worldwide distribution, because in the case of WWE, these shows are being distributed around the world. And when you look at a licensing deal, and I haven't looked at one long, long time.

But typically, a licensing deal will include all territories. And they charge you for all of those territories. So it gets super expensive. But I think that in spite of the expense, using it selectively for select talent to take them to that next level I think it's a good idea if you could afford it.

I think if you did it for everybody, it wouldn't matter anymore. Wouldn't be unique. But doing it selectively one or two individuals so that they stand out above the rest because they're your A characters that you're building your business around. They're your, quote, unquote, face of the company that the big likes to use so much,

but doesn't really understand the implications of. If you've got one or two talents that you're committed to long term and you want to maximize their value as characters, I think in some cases it's appropriate to invest the money. It certainly was with Hogan. I see people all the time that every time they hear Boodoo Child, the guy. Every time I hear the song, I think a Hulk Hogan coming out, you know, it branded Hulk in that character.

Hulk was already pretty well branded, right? But he needed a new branding. There's no longer the red and yellow, you know, good guy. He did something to communicate to the audience in a musical way of who he was. And that song defined that character perfectly. I think when you could find the white music that defines a character, yeah do it if you can but don't do it for everybody and ECW didn't license me because they stole that shit they were just so small nobody cared they were not on anybody's radar nobody even knew

they were stealing it it's like the tree that fell in the forest nobody fucking heard it you know what that makes me think of all those subscriptions that just keep tapping your account every month you just didn't notice it they're stealing the money from you and that's why rocket money is here to help I'm such a big believer in this because I'll be honest I usually think I'm on top of my finances. I thought when I first heard about this, well, there's no way I missed anything. I'm on top of that. I run a tight ship. Nope. Man, there were so much duplication I didn't even know. My wife and I had signed up for the same streaming services, but we watch TV together. And, well, my wife was on her fitness journey, and she signed up for every freaking

fitness app in the world, and she wasn't using the majority of them. Like 75% of people have subscriptions they've forgotten about, and I was one of them. But I've got a solution. It's called Rocket Money. It's a personal finance app that finds and cancels all of your unwanted subscriptions. It monitors your spending, and it can even help you lower your bills. You can grow your savings. With Rocket Money, I have full control over my subscriptions and a clear view of my expenses. I can clearly see all of my subscriptions in one place, and if I see something I don't want, Rocket Money can help me cancel it with just a few taps. I love to how the dashboard shows me this month's spending compared to last month so I can clearly

see my spending habits. Plus, they'll help me create a custom budget that keeps my spending on track. Rocket Money will even help you negotiate to lower your bills for you by up to 20%. All you got to do is submit a picture of your bill and Rocket Money takes care of the rest. They'll deal with the customer service for you. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and they've saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 when they use all of the app's features. So stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash 83 weeks. That's rocketmoney.com slash 83 weeks. Rocketmoney.com slash 83 weeks. T.J has a great question for

Forrest, friend of the show, shout out to him. Is it true that Mark Madden has said that Bobby Heenan was fired from WCW because he was a drunk and drunk on the air during Nitro? Eric, I think this is coming to the surface now because not too long ago, Mark Madden was asked, how in the world, and they were attacking Mark, you fat, slob, blah, blah, blah, blah, the standard criticisms that anybody lobs at Mark. How did you wind up taking Bobby Heenan's chair on Nitro? he said something like because Bobby couldn't quit drinking on the job you asked sorry now I paraphrased but that was the gist I don't think you've ever actually just set the record straight is that exactly what happened or was there more to it I'm not going to set the record straight because I'm just not copy I will say I've never found Mark

Madden to lie. He may not like what he says. May be offended by what he says. It may offend your sensibilities in your perspective of the world. But Mark Madden doesn't lie. No. So I'm going to let it go with that. Well said. Randy Russo says, you may have already answered this, but if Sting ended up being the third man, what would the plan for Hogan be? But he still be in the red and yellow or adopt a darker side like Sting did with the crow gimmick? And by God, on all that's good and holy, if Dave Silva doesn't get us a graphic of Hulk Hogan wearing crow paint to pop on the screen right now by the time people see this, I'll be disappointed because him sitting in the rafters wearing crow face paint

tickles me, especially to know he could be looking down there. That doesn't work for me, brother. I just love that visual. What would Hogan have done? If Sting's the third man, is Hogan just going to red and yellow support WCW? or does he go Crow Hogan? Well, I wouldn't have gone

Crow Hogan because Crow character evolved long after the NWO and the turn started. Scott Hall manifestation. It wasn't anybody else's. I don't think that

that same idea would have been on the table initially because it just wouldn't affect circumstances wouldn't have been there. The circumstance for Hogan being the WC, leading the WCW charge, I think would have probably, in some way,

shape, or form that would have been in. Of course it would. We're going to take your biggest star, just like we did with Sting, and we're going to position that star, that baby-faced star, to be the protagonist, to the antagonistic characters.

That would have been obvious. How we would have done it, I don't know. I just don't know. Because we didn't consider it. Never had to. Here's a question from Pantara Opeth. He wants to know.

I don't know if he's answered it before, but what's the opinion on the draft in WWE? Well, here's a little spoiler for you. We actually answered this last week on YouTube. So if you haven't already, go check it out. It's 83weeks.com. Eric actually wanted to jump on YouTube live and talk a little bit about the WWDraft and all of his opinions in long form are there.

So if you haven't already, check it out. It's 83 weeks.com. Totally free. It's our YouTube. Be sure to hit that subscribe button and turn on the notifications bell. You'll know the next time Eric goes live. Yeah. And by the way, Dax, if you're listening, because I know you do, we've seen your tweet.

You listen all the time. trying to steal some of my shit wait you don't do that anymore because you don't have a podcast but for all of you think that all I ever do is trash and point out the flaws

in in 8W and I never am critical of WWE go to 83 weeks.com take a listen to what I had to say last week when your eyes ooh that sounded like Joe Biden for Open your eyes.

Never doing that again. Grant Morgan has a hilarious question and I hope that you don't quit the podcast forever when I'll finish asking. If you absolutely had to pick one, would you rather work for Tony Cohen or Vince Rousseau? Got to pick one, Eric. It's not as hard to answer as you may think.

It's just... the why of it. And I'm actually trying to find a way to answer this, honestly, without sounding angry and I'm picking on one person or the other. Based on what I've seen and experienced thus far, I think working with Rousseau would have a higher degree of success, or at least potential for success,

then working with it. And is that based on Rousseau valuing story more than matches? It's just based on perspective. I think there's something, and again, I don't know this as a fact. So I really want to be careful that I don't turn into a Dave Meltzer type and state things as fact that I don't really know as a fact.

I have a feeling based on what I see in the patterns that I'm able to pick up on. I'm really fucking good at picking up on patterns, which is why my prediction rate or the things that I predict are as incredibly high as they are. Like I'm a fucking walking, talking crystal ball. But so at least has a fundamental understanding of story and structure. and the significance of it. It would be a challenge, I can say that firsthand,

but I think it can be done. My impression, based on the patterns that I've seen, is that there's no working with Tom. Tony has one way of doing things. He sees one thing in his head in any given moment, and that's what's going to happen. regardless of any of the reasons why something else should be considered.

So if I'm going to pick one or the other, I'm going to pick the one that at least has some potential of success versus one that I know is kind of like driving a car off a clip. Driving a car off a clip. Have you seen, did you see recently it was posted? I'm not even going to post it that I don't want to come off like a hater because I know people think I am.

Somebody came up with a really cool graphic that showed like the collision and what's the other name of the show they do? Dynamite. Dynamite collision ratings that look like a fucking ski slope. It's a downhill like Olympic level like you do 140 miles an hour

when you get to the bottom and had a little picture of Tony Kahn on skis sliding down the quarter hour breakdown on his show. And if you're going to describe the graphic, at least mentioned in the background that was a sign posted like it's on a mountain and it says Meltzer star ratings this way. The idea being he's been chasing the Meltzer model and that is the reason he hasn't been successful. Well, thank you for that. I didn't even notice it.

I don't have to go back and look at it unless Super Dave has it. We can pull it up. I'd love to see it. It was posted by Dave Shearer from PW Insider, who I know is a friend of yours and certainly we all think the world of Mike Johnson, but, yeah, I think, I think Dave Sherer has a Dave Meltzer beef going these days. Ryan Beecher says, can Eric at least list three things? He thinks AEW does really well.

And please really give it a genuine try here, Eric. Don't just be an asshole if you can. Just for a minute. Is there, are there three things? Come on. See, your question and your statement came with the question. It's like, it's like all, care about it's being an asshole. I know that's not true, but I know that it doesn't take much for us, for you to get tuned up over there.

Three things they do well. They took care of sting. Eh. So what they do well. It's what they did well once. What they do well, there's certain aspects of their production that I like. certain aspects of it because it just feels gritty and raw.

So that's one. And I've talked about that since day one. I've been shy about acknowledging it. It's subjective, but it's my opinion. So there you go. Number two, there is no number two and there is no number three. There's nothing I can say. I'm not going to make shit up.

I'm not going to try to be fair and balanced. because I just don't feel that way. Their production of their product is so poor that I just, there's no, there's no there production quality. There's aspects of it I really think. Everything else I think is. They have a good roster. So what?

You don't know what to do with it. It's like having $5 million in a bank and not knowing how to spend it. They have great matches. I don't think, see, I, look, there are some matches. They have a lot of shitty matches, too, by the way. I've seen some fucking indie-rific stuff that wouldn't even be enderific on the indie scene on that show. AEW botches, go check it out if you don't believe me. It's fairly consistent.

Some of the worst wrestling I've seen in national primetime on cable is an AEW. And conversely, they have some of the technically speaking most fascinating wrestling. But it doesn't matter. That's just like, yeah, my cake tasted like shit, but I use the best butter on the market. Matter. Great. You use some of the greatest butter you could find made by special cows, bread in Japan, like way-who beef only for dairy product.

And yeah, you use great butter. what your cake tasted like shit. So what do you think about them as a baker? It's the same thing. Yes, they have some matches that are really exceptional in terms of their tactical abilities, but in the overall, I cannot consider their match presentation as something that I think they do well. I think for the most part, it sucks. Too much, no sense whatsoever for story or characters,

despite what AWW fans think is a story. It's not a story. It's an excuse for a match. Two different things. No. Too much blood, too much hardcore shit. Too much characters. Too many of the characters look too much the same.

No, that's not it. Perfection, it's it. As far as I go. I'm not going to make shit up. Okay, dokey. Brent Morrison says once the AOL time Warner deal went through and they started cracking down on what was acceptable in pro wrestling. Did he ever meet and show higher-ups what WWE was doing and how hot it was or would it have even mattered? That's an interesting question.

Like you've told the story before where you're in this big meeting and these folks are telling you what you should or shouldn't do. And as I remember, if I have this right, you said, hey, what day is our show on? What day does it air? Because the name of the show is WCW Monday Nitro. And these people who were supposedly telling you what you should or shouldn't be doing, couldn't even answer the day of the show and it's literally in the title. So this is a fair question. If they're not watching their own show enough to know what the fuck's happening on it,

do they have any idea what's happening on the other station? Do you show them any of that or is that even discussed? No, it was, and that was the, it'll be interesting to see how, Rock's production of the WCW story unfolds, because I think Guy Evans did such a phenomenal job. Yes. And I didn't, you know, it wasn't until years later when Guy's book came out that I was able to read some of the interviews from some of the people involved at Turner Broadcasting that it was and had a much higher level than I was and had a much more significant impact on ultimately what happened to WCW than I did. And reading Guy Wood's book just confirmed to me what my gut told me that day in that meeting. I sense that the decision had already been made by senior executives.

They'd already made up their mind that they were going to do everything that they could do to undermine and eliminate WCW as a part of the turnover. franchise. Keep in mind that a lot of those executives have been wanting to do it for a long time and we're vocal about it. It's not a fucking rumor. We all heard it. We knew it. We knew who the people were who were advocating, pulling the plug on WCW, going back to Jim Hurd. And certainly during Bill Watts, it became a chorus, a choir. The more, the more, and tabernacle choir for crying out loud of Turner executives much higher level than I am, executive committee level that wanted to pull the plug on WCW and would have had it not been for Ted.

But I think once the handwriting was on the wall and Ted was neutralized, which he was, that the bills were set in motion to answer the question, There was nothing I could have said or done that would have changed anything because in August approximately of 1998, that meeting took place. I was so dumbfounded by what I was hearing. Didn't know why. I do now. Now the pieces have fallen into place. But there was nothing I could have said or done.

Absolutely nothing. Is it already made up their mind? They didn't want WCW successful. Absolutely didn't want it successful. Awex Archer says, what was the typical afternoon like for you before a Nitro? Like what was your typical schedule leading up to airtime? This is a great question, Eric.

So you're going to wake up. Did you wake up in the town where Nitro was or did you fly in? Depends, you know, how far away it was from Atlanta. Let's say you flew in that day. day? What would that day look like? Well, in that day, I'd usually, you know, we'd make sure that we were able to arrive by 10, 1030 to morning, maybe 11. At that point, probably start pounding coffee, looking at drafts of shows because the shows,

you know, we'd come, which we'd land, we'd have a draft. And then there would be tweaks that would take place during the day. Sometimes detail was added. You'd have a basic bullet point in a format and somebody would add a couple elements or take out a couple elements for whatever reason, better ideas, whatever. Deal with any issues in the roster because there were travel issues, there were injuries, there were all kinds of human nature issues that you'd sometimes have to deal with. Usually it was injuries.

I'd have lunch, usually done by 1 o'clock or so, start. With pre-tapes, and I, even when I was president of WCW, I directed a lot of the backstage stuff and pre-tap stuff, not the physical elements of it. That would be Kevin Sullivan or Terry Taylor or any number of other agents at the time. But in terms of the narrative, you know, with a mic, promos and such, I would direct a lot of those. Sometimes I'd be involved in them on camera, so I'd knock a lot of that. stuff out tapes during the course of the afternoon. Usually try to have all that stuff done by about four or five o'clock. If the show starts at eight, then start looking at rewrites, redrafts.

By that time, talent has had an opportunity to look over the show. And they all had input, whether they had read and control or not, everybody had input, just like they do to this day. In both WWE and AEW, it's no different. The situation is no different in WCW than it occurs. currently is in AEW. We both know people that are there. We know what it's like.

That's not bullshit anybody. Looking chaos. And we had our own chaos. And you'd start dealing with the chaos. Yeah, it doesn't really work for me. I want to do this instead. Or how is this getting me over? And sometimes there were good ideas.

Oftentimes they were good ideas. I mean to make it all sound like a bitch fest. But you'd sit back and listen to everybody to the best that you could. And then you do, you go through. through your rewrites usually try to be done with that by seven o'clock or so so you have it all done and communicate it to everybody an hour before the show that was the goal sometimes you didn't get quite there sometimes it was still coming in at showtime let's be honest it still fucking happens to this day and everywhere w w i'm sure it does too even though they're running a

much tighter ship it just is it's human nature especially for live shows hopefully you're done by, I was done by 7.30 quarter to eight. So if I was involved in the show on camera, I had 15 or 20 minutes to get my head straight. I had to pull my head out of the producer and take my producer hat off, put my talent hat on. And that's, you know, it took me a little bit to make that transition, like to have a little bit of time to myself away from everybody. That was typical. well what else is typical these days is that uh saturday morning it's blue two time boys and girls they're day one sponsors here on the show and if you try it you'll know why it really works

let's be honest it's mostly guys listen to this podcast and we've all heard the old expression right like uh bad sex is like bad pizza even when it's bad it's still pretty good but yeah bad pizza in a pinch is fine it's passable But what if you can have the best pizza you ever had every time? Blue Chew can help you with that. It's a unique online service that delivers you Viagra, Cialis, and Lovetra, well, the same active ingredients as all of those, but in chewable tablet form and at a fraction of the cost.

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move, blah, blah, blah. He just casually says, get some blue chew. And I was like, wait, hang on, hang on, hang on. I get a storage unit. I get moving. I get utilities and all that comes with moving. You just casually slipped in Bluchu. And he says, and I swear,

trying to get a whisper campaign going. Think about that, boys and girls. Trying to get a whisper campaign going. Bluetooth wants to help you have better sex. Discover your options at bluatu.com. Chew it and do it. we've got a special deal for our listeners, try Blue Chew free when you use our promo code

83 weeks at checkout. Just pay $5 shipping. That's bluechew.com. The promo code is 83 weeks. Receive your first month free. Visit bluechew.com for more details and important safety information. And we thank Blue Chew for sponsoring the podcast and good luck on those whispering campaigns. My goodness. Let's do a few more. I mean, I think I know who this is based on that comment. You do. And by the way, it's working. He's already had repeat business. So roll title now.

Here's one from R.E. Rosenbaum. He says, Tony Kahn is now in negotiation with Warner Brothers discovery for an AW renewal. WBD is the successor and interest to AOL slash Time Warner. Can we say that Jamie Kilner canceling WCW

was one of the most short-sighted decisions in history? oh i don't know that i go so far as to say it was the most short-sighted visions in history it certainly was for wcw and for wrestling fans um certainly was for me personally but i don't know necessarily if that was the case you know i really don't know what what happened to jama keldner like he came in fucked up my shit and was there for a cup of coffee and left i don't know what else he did while he was there i don't know where he is now has a job in television anymore or maybe just scammed enough money coming in,

swooping in, getting some stock and skating back out that he doesn't need to work. I don't know. But I think it would be hard to see. It was short-sighted in history, but certainly for WCW, it was devastating. Well, we got a bunch of fun different questions here. But one of the ones that that I think is interesting to think about a what-if for fantasy booking back in the day and I know you hate fantasy booking

but hear this one out because this makes business sense Justin L. Smith says in hindsight does Eric think you should have saved the celebrities for Nitro I ordered a pay per view back then and it was a struggle that was usually bought by diehard fans

who could spend the money that's a lot to watch what would be a subpar match with a celebrity partner now that's one side of the coin but I would say man I never really thought about that but if Jay Leno was wrestling on Nitro.

If Dennis Rodman was wrestling on Nitro, man, that would have been a ratings juggernaut. And I'm just wondering why didn't you do that? And I know you would say, well, because we wanted to make the money on pay-per-view. But that's also why you said you did Hogan Goldberg

on free TV. Like, what would have happened if Dennis Rodman would have wrestled on Nitro? It would have got to, great rating and we would have had a hard time making sense of no that's not true we could have done it we could have done it on nitro and have the match end in such a way that it was not definitive so that it had a part two or part three even that would be definitive on a pay-per-view so it's not

that it wasn't possible i think part of it is you only have so much time with a celebrity especially one like Dennis who was still active in the NBA or Kevin Green who was still active in the NFL and so many of the others only have so much time with them. And you're usually using, I should say, I usually use the celebrities availability to build anticipation for a paper. that participation didn't include training for a match or laying that match out because in order to have them wrestle on TV and still have them wrestle on a pay-per-view which is I think the question.

No, it was either or. Like why not? Either or? No, I could have done it. We could have done it. Do you think in hindsight that would have been better use? Because to me as a wrestling fan, I would think if anything,

you make people pay for Goldberghogan on pay-per-view, but I would give them Jay Leno and Dennis Rodman on Nitro. And just destroy Raw. The Goldberg-Hogan thing was a one-off. Yeah. We wouldn't have done that every week. Right. You're not putting every pay-per-view quality matchup you have on TV every week.

You're saving it and using your story on free TV to build to that ending of that chapter. So is there a scenario where that methodology works long term? Absolutely fucking not. But we could have theory. theoretically could have used Dennis Rodman exclusively on nitro and never used him on a paper. Yeah. It could have worked. I don't know that it would have worked as well.

And I think using Hogan Goldberg, which was a one-off, wasn't a pattern, wasn't a practice. It wasn't a method. It was an outlier. I'm not, I'm not comparing the two, Eric. I was just simply saying, I know the initial thought would be. when I read the question it was, well, yeah, because you hope that casual people will buy the pay-per-view. But I think what's more likely, which I think is the undertone of the question, what's not

explicitly said is, hardcore fans are the ones who are usually buying the pay-per-view or casuals, but I'm saying non, like an NBA fan who wasn't necessarily a WCW fan, I don't know that he necessarily was going to buy it, but he's damn sure going to watch the nitro. But a hardcore wrestling fan, well, they're definitely going to watch Goldberg and Hogan. I think that's the comparison that I was trying to make. Yeah, and I get that. It's not like I'm arguing with it.

Yeah. Trying to step back and think, in general, would that have been a good formula? I mean, we worked with a lot of celebrities. Would that have been a good formula? I don't think so. And I may disagree with the premise of the question in that only hardcore fans bought the pay-per-views. If you go back and you look at the pay-per-views that the buys that we got, we're so way ahead of what ECW is doing, or excuse me, AEW is doing.

They're lucky. They're coming in around 100 to 125,000 to 150,000 buys on average. When this era that we're talking about here with nitro and celebrities, we were doing car-grade. So I think it was more than just the hardcore fans. I could be wrong, but I think I'm probably right. I'm not going to get into a fight over it. But I think the implication or the suggestion that hardcore fans were going to buy the pay-per-view anyway, it wouldn't have mattered, but yet you'd get more people to watch the television show.

It's a good theory. It's a good thing to discuss and analyze, but I'm not sold that that would have been a strategy. In a one-off, sure, do something different. Break the pattern. Break the mold. Try it and see. Nothing wrong with that. but I don't think overall it would have been a strategy for all the slow.

I know. And for example, with Jay Leno, it wouldn't have worked. Just it would get a gig at night. Yeah. I wanted to also mention that people are going to jump on what you said about you're selling more pay-per-views than AEW is. That is not true in the year 2000 or 2001. WCW in 2000, A-E-W selling more right now.

now, and they're selling more in 2001. Now, your counter argument would be, yeah, they run fewer pay-per-views. We run monthly, maybe. They are going to start running more. I don't know exactly what their pay-per-view numbers are right now. I don't think anybody really does. I think that's a story for another day. It's curious that some things get reported and other things don't, and I often wonder why

that is. But what I know has not been reported enough is that just two days from now on May 8th at Tom's Watchbar in Minneapolis, you're going to be reported. going to be there for a meet and greet and I can't believe this is real WCW trivia night that sounds like a blast Eric Bischoff's going to be there it's a part of best trivia ever we had a chance to do this in January it was an absolute blast if you're in the Minneapolis area you don't want to miss it two days from now on May 8th go to Tom's watchbar in Minneapolis you can actually get all the details right now at best trivia ever dot com I'm glad to see you're back out there

making appearances and traveling a little bit, but I don't think you're going to have a story like the one you got this past weekend anytime soon. Congrats to Lindsay on her nuptial. She's been a top gal with us, I think from day one of ad-freeshows.com. And one of the first times you and I did a show together in Baltimore, she was there and had a plate of custom cupcakes for us

with our faces on it and our show logos on it. She's been such a big day one supporter of what we did. and you did something rather unusual this past week, yeah, and tell everybody about it. Shit. I mean, I wanted to shout out to her, but Lindsay, yeah, Lindsay's been with us over at Afri shows. You know, it's funny.

We always talk about every shows being our family. Yes. And truly has so many ways become family, side family. And back in February, I think when we were in Tampa for top guy, top gal again. Lindsay asked me, she came up to me and there's a lot of us all there and we're watching whatever we were watching.

And she said, hey, I'm getting married in April and would you be the efficient to my wedding? And without even thinking about it because it's the way it happens with most of the time. I said, absolutely sure. And because at the time, you know, it was a couple months away. I didn't really have to think about it too much. And as it got closer and closer, I went, wow, this is really kind of an honor.

And I began to take it more seriously. And I became an ordained minister. Yep. It's a fact. And I flew to Baltimore last weekend. and was the officiant to her wedding. It was absolutely one of the coolest experiences I've had. And Lindsay, you know, I've never talked about this,

but Lindsay lost her father a while back. And Ron. And Ron was a wrestling fan, a fan of mine, a nitro. And Lindsay called me one day and said, hey, I said, hey, my father's passing away, and he doesn't have much time to live. He's a terminal. And we're talking hours. I really would like you to have it to talk to him, not to him.

You're going to have to bear with this one. It just is what it did. I didn't know what to say. I never met Ron. I didn't really know Lindsay that well. And I couldn't figure out what am I going to say? This person who's, like literally, it's deathbed. And I tried to figure it out in my hand.

I'm sure, well, how. And I just gave up. And I prayed. to God, just to give me the right words, because I don't have them, just not there. I don't even know what I said, to be honest. When I hung up the phone, I walked outside my dog, and within five minutes, being out on the porch, collecting myself, I couldn't remember a word of what I said. I tried to explain it to my eye

and she said well what did you say I don't remember so when Lindsay asked me it was easy for me to say yes because I already felt close to her in a very special way

because of that and when I I promise I'll get this out. And when the time came, I was up there at the altar and looking out over the friends and family that came to the wedding. Looked over to my right. And next to Lindsay's mother, who I had a hell of a great time with after the world, we danced up a storm. I saw Lindsay's mother and I saw

an empty chair with a picture of her father. It cracked me. But I was able to get through that. Oh, no, this is. Anyway, I was able to get through that. And I stumbled through the whole ceremony, made a couple of mistakes. I got a name here or they're wrong. Lizzie's up there, her and Derek, are up here in front of me. Like, okay, now you're supposed to do this.

She's like directing me. Like, I wish I would have had an IFB. I, you know, I bumble the ball. I tried to make light of it and have fun. But overall, it was such amazing experience. So I want to thank you. And Derek Harvey. Oh, yeah, here's how I screwed that up.

So when I finally got to the big moment, because I had this Michael Buffer thing I wanted to do with that, ladies and gentlemen, all of you in attendance. And those who you were not all over the world on this beautiful day for this blessed moment, let's get ready to run. So I had this big, you know, sendoff in my head. But I still had to pronounce them.

man and wire. So after the, you know, change of the rings and all that, I said, ladies and gentlemen, let me be the first to introduce you to Derek and Lindsay Lopez. Well, Lopez is her last name. Derek's last name is Harvey, but I've known her for so long as Lindsay Lopez, I got that wrong. And Lindsay looks over to me and she said, Harvey. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, Derek and Lindsay Harvey. But she forgave me and we had a great time. And it was really wonderful experience. Great friends on an ad-free show for a family there as well.

I just had a blast. I mean, that right there is a look at the top guys. I mean, what a little community we've built over at ad-freeshows.com. It means a lot to Eric and his family and me and my family. And boy, what a special day that is.

I mean, look at that photo of Eric with the Mr. and Mrs. And believe it or not, Lindsay is actually watching with us right now and she's a part of our live studio audience and she wrote as you're sort of breaking it down not over here crying l-o-l don't worry we took a video of the call and then she just posted just a moment ago love you eric this has been an interesting episode you never know what to expect when you do and ask eric anything but we greatly appreciate

you guys supporting us and i want to recommend if you haven't already check out 83 weeks.com, it's your home for all things. Eric Bischoff. We're doing lots of exciting stuff, including just last week. We talked about the draft and oh yeah, a whole Harvey Weinstein comparison. All that and more is available at 83 weeks.com. And add-free shows.com, man, if you just can't get enough of bonus content, let me recommend this new piece. Starcade 97 versus WrestleMania 40. Following the finish of WrestleMania 40, we saw social media. and describe it as Starcate 97, but book to perfection. So over at ad-freeshows.com, we've got a series called Beyond Nitro

with the author of that fabulous Nitro book, Guy Evans, where we take a look at the tale of two finishes, why WrestleMania 40 was a home run, and while Starcate 97 fell a little short. Catch Beyond Nitro, plus a ton of other exclusive content like Lex Express with Lex Lugar, Tuesdays with the Taskmaster, Kevin Sullivan, Monday Mailbag with Mike Keota and Nick Patrick, The Book with David Crockett, and so much more.

It's all available right now at ad-freeshows.com. And more importantly, that's what we're all about at ad-free shows.com, is building a community. I can't tell you how much fun I had just fellowshiping and hanging out and watching the Royal Rumble together in January. We've already announced that Top Guy Weekend is going to be happening Labor Day weekend in Chicago. and we're going to be doing Top Guy Rumble again

with a little fantasy camp come January. You'll actually get to get in the ring with a real professional wrestling trainer and try your hand in things. And it's not for ridicule. It's not for a contest. It's just to have the experience and to have such a great support group

and the little community there to cheer you on and lift you up and remind you that wrestling is supposed to be fun. That's what ad-freeshows.com is all about to me, Eric. It is indeed. And it's real life. It's real important. I'm real grateful. And we're grateful that you guys tuned in to another episode of 83 weeks with Eric Bischoff. If you haven't already, hit the subscribe button right here, wherever you enjoy podcasts, whether it's Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It certainly helps the algorithm and it does at YouTube as well.

83weeks.com is your home there. We'll be back. next week. You can count on us each and every week to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of professional wrestling right here on 83 weeks with Eric Bischoff. As an adult, don't we all miss spring break? Nothing like taking a week off from all your responsibilities. Well, here's the next best thing for adults, a spring break from house payments. Savewithconrad.com can help you get rid of all your credit card debt, just like that. We're routinely helping our listeners, say, 5, 6, 7, even 800 bucks a month. And you don't need perfect credit or money out of your pocket to do this, but check this out.

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