Eric Bischoff recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet about Ric Flair, Conrad Thompson, Vince McMahon’s retirement from WWE, MJF in AEW, CM Punk, and a variety of other subjects. Here’s what Bischoff had to say about the CM Punk-AEW controversy:
“It is a train wreck. That’s all I know. I wasn’t a big fan of Punk to begin with. I think he was over-hyped. I think there was a great mystique. I don’t want to take that away from him, there was a tremendous mystique. When he dropped that pipe bomb, that was like rebelling against the man. Everybody in America at one point in time deep down wishes that they could do what he did. That is what created that mystique, and that mystique lived, even though, you know, he showed up to the UFC a couple of times and got humiliated. It didn’t matter. He still had the mystique with the wrestling fans. When he got to AEW, I was excited because I was interested to see how that would work. But if you go back and you listen to his opening promo, what did he do? He ripped Hulk Hogan. If you have to get yourself over with that kind of cheap heat, you’re not over. You don’t know how to get over. He was living off the momentum that was created for him in the WWE. He was living off of the mystique. He had it in his hands. I think that the way he was produced, his creative, I didn’t find it compelling at all. He is out there wrestling nobodies.”
Regarding whether CM Punk aided AEW’s ratings:
“I know it’s sometimes unfair, but go back and look at the ratings. Go back and look at the impact that CM Punk had on television ratings. It is the only thing that is black and white. He came out strong, and slowly week after week after week they continued to lose the audience. The audience came, they saw, they left, and they didn’t come back. What does that tell you?”
You can check out the complete interview below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
