WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff took to an episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including Logan Paul’s importance to the pro wrestling industry.
Bischoff said, “You can’t [deny Paul’s success in WWE]. And my advice to the hardcore wrestling audience who may take offense to what you just said is, pull your head out of your ass. You know, Logan Paul is great for the wrestling industry. Logan Paul has brought in mainstream viewers who might not otherwise bother to check out WWE or professional wrestling in general. And to not appreciate that, or give Logan credit for what he’s doing, isn’t a sign of your undying loyalty and devotion to professional wrestling. It’s a manifestation of ignorance and not understanding how important it is for people like Logan Paul and Bad Bunny to come to the world of professional wrestling and have a positive impact on it. As opposed to some of the people who are in professional wrestling and have been for a long time, who have a negative impact on it, or the s**tstains that write about professional wrestling and have a negative impact on it.”
On Paul’s athletic ability and in-ring skills:
Bischoff said, “So before you people get up in arms and react emotionally because they feel like they’re in that clas of professional wrestling loyalists, all the nonsense that comes with it. Just recognize what’s good for professional wrestling in general, what’s good for WWE, what’s good for AEW’s business, is good for the wrestling business. And conversely, what’s bad for business, the professional wrestling business, hurts everybody. So I’ve never met Logan Paul but I admire him, respect him, and I think his ability in the ring, beyond all of the additional eyeballs he brings to professional wrestling, and helping it to not only maintain credibility in the mainstream media but expand upon it. I just have nothing but respect for the man. And athletically, in terms of what he’s capable of doing in the ring given the short amount of time that he’s probably been working at it? Is nothing short of phenomenal, even if he didn’t bring all those eyeballs and all that mainstream interest in what we all love, professional wrestling.”
How Paul should be kept as a special attraction just like Brock Lesnar, Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker:
Bischoff said, “That depends so much on where Logan’s head is at and what his goals are. Let me first say that I’m a big fan of having talent that is special and unique, and maintaining that uniqueness and keeping them as an attraction. The challenge with putting someone — anybody, no matter who it is — out there every single week. And yes, it’s great for telling stories and it’s probably good for ratings to a degree. There are a lot of reasons why that makes sense on paper. But with someone like Logan, I would probably lean into keeping him more like a Brock Lesnar type of character, Hulk Hogan when we brought Hulk Hogan into WCW, The Undertaker in WWE later on in his career. Keeping Logan a special attraction? There’s a lot of value in that. And I would probably lean into that more than I would lean into putting him on the roster and making him a regular part of WWE content.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania for transcribing the above quotes)
