Eric Bischoff: 'I admire Jake Paul but this is put up or shut up time against Anthony Joshua', 'Tony Khan cannot compare himself to me yet', 'Bron Breakker will replace John Cena as face of the WWE'
Speaking to Action Network, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff hit back after Tony Khan labelled his criticism of AEW “ironic”.
Bischoff also believes Bron Breakker will be the WWE superstar to replace John Cena as the face of the company.
He also added that Michael Chandler competing in Real American Freestyle will give him an “advantage” over Conor McGregor, while he labelled Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua “put up or shut up” for the internet star.
What was your reaction to Tony Khan’s comments about you on Ariel Helwani’s show?
“Tony likes to compare himself to me and to WCW, but he hasn't gotten to the part yet where he's actually changed the industry or defeated his competition in head-to-head ratings.
“He [Tony] likes to draw a lot of parallels to himself or WCW or Eric Bischoff, but they're really not appropriate. And the real reason I've been vocal about Tony and AEW, and Tony knows this, I've talked about this, is Tony came out on national television and was very disrespectful, in my opinion, to Ted Turner. The guy whose name is still on the door at Turner Broadcasting, where Tony airs his show. And Tony made some ridiculous comment to the effect of, ‘if Ted Turner knew 1% about professional wrestling as I do, WCW would still be around’.
“It was such a profoundly stupid thing to say that it made me lose respect for Tony. It also indicated to me that Tony doesn't really understand the business he's in. Tony has the benefit of having a couple billion dollars behind him. He doesn't really need to worry about performance from a revenue perspective, because he's not really accountable to anybody. He's spending his own money. And he's got a lot of it to spend.
“He makes no bones about it. This is his hobby. Some people play golf. Some people have wrestling companies. But to be disrespectful to someone like Ted Turner while you've got a show on his network, to me, just told me everything I needed to know about Tony, and look, I'm critical, I want it to succeed, I know people have a hard time believing that. But I've been critical because I wanted it to succeed.
“I've pointed out that they need to actually tell real stories, not cosplay wrestling journalist stories, but actual real stories with real structure, with real stakes, with real arcs to those stories, and real payoffs to those stories.
“The characters have to be interesting, there needs to be some depth to these characters. They can't all look like they just showed up at the Jiffy Lube Oil Change Center, so you can change your oil for $29.95. I mean, you actually have to look like a star for people to perceive you to be a star.
“So there's just so many basic, fundamental things that are lacking from the AEW show, which is why, over a year and a half ago, I predicted, with uncanny freaking accuracy, exactly where the ratings for AEW would be today.
“Over a year and a half ago, I predicted it, and guess what? I'm right on the money. And it's not because I'm that smart, it's just because I understand the business, I see the trends, I see what's missing, and I can tell you within probably 100,000 viewers what the ratings are going to be a year from now.”
WWE just hired a new senior director of creative strategy to work AI into the company’s creative process. How did that land with you?
“I was happy to hear it, because I think anybody in the entertainment business in general who's not looking at AI, and how to integrate it, and figure out the best use for it is negligent in their duties. You have to know what's going on. You have to learn AI, and you have to be in constant learning, because AI is changing so quickly that you could be an expert this week and be out of the loop in 90 days if you're not careful.
“It's evolving so quickly. And I think, in particular, areas of research. Right? That time-consuming, laborious grind of pouring through volumes and volumes of notes on the internet, right? You're locked down for days and weeks, sometimes, doing research that you can now do with an AI in, I don't know, two, three minutes, the kind of research that you can use to help build stories.
“So I noticed that a lot of people in the internet wrestling community went, ‘Oh my gosh, you're going to replace Paul Levesque with a computer.’ No, people. Creative will always be driven by the human imagination. That's never going to change. What is going to change is how human beings use that imagination to exploit the new tools that are going to be available to them, and how much that improves their game. That's what I'm looking at.
“But, yeah, I think there was an overreaction to it in the internet wrestling community, which, you know, imagine that. You know, some high-level thinkers in that community. So, there was a lot of overreaction to it, but if you look at any form of entertainment, anybody that's actually paying attention to what they do for a living is figuring out how to use AI.”
How do you feel about Brock Lesnar coming back?
“Brock Lesnar is now in that Undertaker category. He's an attraction. And I think attractions have always worked.
“Hulk Hogan was an attraction for a long time. Undertaker, clearly an attraction. I think Brock's role as an attraction is a solid one, I think it's a valuable one.
“I think that we'll see Brock throughout the year, a couple of times a year, similar to what we would expect to see The Undertaker for the next couple of years.”
What did you think of John Cena's last appearance on RAW?
“I like John a lot. I have so much respect for John. I don't know John really well; I don't want to give the impression that we're close friends. We're friends. We exchange texts every once in a while. If I see him, I'm certainly happy to see him, and things like that, but I'm not close to him.
“But I have so much respect for him. John Cena, right now, is achieving something that very few performers ever get a chance to do, and that's he's writing the last sentence of his story in professional wrestling. He gets to write the last sentence.
“He gets to put the period at the end of that sentence. And he gets to close that book and be proud of what he's done. That's such an accomplishment, and I'm so happy that John is experiencing that.
“He deserves to experience that. He's worked so hard. He's sacrificed so much. In ways that, you know, some we know about, ways we'll never know about. He's had to sacrifice.”
Who do you see as the star that eventually replaces John Cena?
“Bron Breakker [will replace John Cena as the biggest star] because of the discipline, the athleticism and that elusive thing that you're either born with or you're not: Charisma.
“He's got it all.”
Can staying active in Real American Freestyle help Michael Chandler when he finally faces Conor McGregor?
“Common sense suggests that taking this match is gonna give Chandler an advantage.
“Psychologically, it'll give him a little bit of an advantage. He's fresh. It hasn't been that long since he's stepped in. Look how long it's been since Conor's been in the ring, competitively.
“Obviously, he's gonna be in the ring training, but there's being in the ring training and being in the ring competing, they are two different things. Chandler being involved with Real American Freestyle is gonna give him an edge, that's an important edge right now, because Conor's been out for a long time.
“Conor didn't go out on the best of all notes. He went out in a cold, hard, embarrassingly bad way.
“So, he's bringing all of that with him, and having been out of the ring for quite a while, stepping into the ring with a veteran, a guy that's got an unbelievable ground game, and has recently been competitive, I think I'd put my money on Chandler.”
How are Michael Chandler and Bo Nickal able to come over and wrestle for you?
“It gets approved by UFC. There is an approval process, and so far, that approval process has been going just smoothly.
“The fighters communicate with UFC, UFC communicates with us to the extent they need to, for exchange of releases, and just to confirm and things like that, but we have a good working relationship.
“I hope the UFC looks at us as an opportunity. I hope we see stars emerge out of Real American Freestyle that Dana White and Hunter may look at and go, ‘You know what? That person may have a future in UFC.’
“I don't know. I hope so. Because the skill sets are so closely aligned, and we're not competitive. Nobody's gonna confuse Real American Freestyle for UFC anytime in the near future.”
Who else are you trying to bring over?
“Gabe Stevenson is one of the first people that we talked to, Chad and Izzy and I and Hulk, when we first got together.
“We were sitting around at Chad's house, sitting around his kitchen table, all excited about taking over the freestyle wrestling world. And one of the first people that we reached out to was, Gabe.
“We had a long conversation with him, he was very interested in working with us, competing with us, but he was still kind of weighing his MMA options, and I think he's found the correct course for himself, and is pursuing that.
“But at some point, you know, once he gets his MMA rhythm going, we hope to see him on the map.”
What do you think about the comparison people make between boxing and WWE?
“I think the comparison between boxing and WWE is a great thing. You could probably go back to the early 1960s, and you could probably hear hardcore boxing fans say, ‘Boxing's getting too much like pro wrestling. This Muhammad Ali guy out here, telling stories, singing songs, writing poetry for his opponents. What is this nonsense? Who is this maniac? This is bad for boxing’.
“Muhammad Ali's influence probably propelled some of that same conversation.
“Look, the UFC looks a lot like WWE now, in terms of the presentation, the interviews, the promos, the tension, and the weigh-ins.
“Those all kind of existed before, but now it's being elevated, it's being produced, it's being showcased in a way we haven't really seen it before. It's more of a show.
“At the end of the day, all sports is entertainment. Not all entertainment is sports.”
What are your thoughts on Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul?
“I'm excited. I think it's put up or shut up for Mr. Paul. There's a lot of people that really look at Jake Paul as a legitimate boxer.
“Now, how legitimate is subjective to a degree. And you could argue that he hasn't really fought the types of names that would establish him as a legitimate fighter at his weight. But this will. This fight will.
“We'll find out whether the influencer's the real deal or not. And I have nothing but admiration for Paul for doing it. It's a big risk for him.”
