WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff appeared on an episode of his Wise Choices podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including AEW President Tony Khan saying Mercedes Moné is one of the greatest free agent signings in wrestling history and how he believes Khan killed Moné’s AEW character before she even got in the ring.
Bischoff said, “They either need to up his medication or cut it back. I am just — holy cow. [sarcastic] Yeah, she’s tearing it up, man. Talk about significant — the impact, the absolute impact that Mercedes Mumei has had on AEW is off the charts. Meaning, it doesn’t f**king register. It’s not off the charts because it’s off the charts in a good way; it’s off the charts because it’s not working. And you know why, Tony? Because you f**ked it up. You didn’t introduce Mercedes Mone properly. You didn’t build her beyond announcing and teasing. And then you made a career-killing mistake for her of giving her a live mic. She can’t cut a promo. But yet, you put her out there to cut promos for what was it? Four, five, six weeks before she ever wrestled? You killed her character before a bell ever rang.”
“And now, you’re gonna put her on this pedestal and draw all this attention to her, encouraging people to make comparisons. And guess how that’s gonna work out. That’s why you don’t want to do things like this. When you’re down and you’re fighting and you’re trying to make a comeback, be humble. Be grateful that Mercedes Mone is there. Talk about what a great person she is to work with. Talk about some of the things she achieved in the past. Talk about the fact that she’s internationally known. There’s so many great things you could be talking about. But instead, you draw attention to her by saying some of the most ludicrous s**t that’s only gonna come back and make it harder for her. And you said it. Oh my God, somebody please help this guy.”
On whether AEW needs to go and get celebrities to use:
“Absolutely. I keep going back to Bad Bunny and Logan Paul, because there’s just not two better examples. I mean, extreme examples of a promotion and effort collaboration that worked so effectively for both companies. I mean, I don’t know how many followers Logan Paul has, active followers. I’ve heard, I don’t know if Super Dave, you can find that number. But it’s got to be in the six, eight, ,10 million category. I mean, whatever it is, it’s massive. And these are people that are actively engaged. I mean, they’re following Logan, they’re fans of Logan. They’re listening to his stuff on podcasts. They’re following them closely. And when Logan Paul says ‘I’m gonna get into a wrestling ring,’ what percentage of that overall number do you think decided, ‘You know, I don’t normally watch WWE but I’m gonna give this [a shot] because I want to see what Logan’s gonna do.’”
“That’s there’s no better way to use a celebrity. There’s no better benefit than the benefit of bringing an entirely new audience that isn’t a regular viewer of your product to sample your product, because one of their favorite celebrities happens to be involved. Bad Bunny, same thing. Logan Paul, same thing, yeah. And particularly when they can perform. Particularly when they can go in there and have the quality of match. Bad Bunny still blows me away. He was one and done, he’s gone. Logan Paul, I don’t know how many matches Logan had? Maybe 12? And all of them have been f**king outstanding. Whatever it is, 12, 14, I’m not keeping track.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
