Eric Bischoff On Where AEW Collision Ratings Will Stabilize, AEW Changing Up Their Promos

On the latest episode of Strictly Business, Eric Bischoff talked about shaving his for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to raise $13,000, the decline in the second week of AEW collision with the show drawing 595,000 viewers and a 0.21 key demo rating. You can check out some highlights below:

On shaving his head: “It was great. I had a blast. I had a blast. And you know, the coolest thing about it is the feedback that I’ve received. And a lot of it is from people who are not wrestling fans who have friends or family, children who have been a part of the St. Jude program. And it’s been overwhelming. If I could grow my hair fast enough to go get it shaved once a month to raise money for St. Jude, I would do it. ’cause it’s just, it’s really cool. And it started out as a goofy thing, but man, did it end up being something! One of the things I’m most proud of. I know that sounds crazy, but proud in a different way.”

On the decline of AEW Collision TV ratings: “I actually predicted that it was gonna drop somewhere between 25% and 30% and it came in at 27%. See, that’s the thing about the show, people, I don’t always talk about the things after they happen because any moron can do that. I tell you what’s gonna happen before it happens. Remember that and yeah, it came to be expected. I think the good news is that 27% drop in viewers and a 31% drop, or a 37% drop in demo. Fortunately, the show came out of the shoot with a higher-than-expected audience in demo. So yes, they took a hit, we predicted it here, everybody knew it was going to happen. I just have watched the pattern over the last five years and 30% is generally the drop. So I — look, no cause to panic.

“I didn’t watch the second Saturday show, obviously Collision because I was busy in Huntsville having a blast. So I didn’t see it. I haven’t watched the DVR version of it yet. I haven’t had time. Just got home the other day. I will watch it. But no cause to panic. I think the third week is gonna be the telltale ’cause that, you know, you’re gonna get a drop the second week. It just is what it is. If you drop significantly, if you drop by another 15% on week three, 15% from week two, week two, now you got a problem. But if they hold it, if it’s flat, I think that’s a good sign because let’s be real. Saturday seems like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a good night.’ And historically and above, you know, there’s a lot of reasons why if you’re a cheerleader, you’re gonna be optimistic. And I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t be, because if the resting is an alternative to a lot of the other things that are on on Saturday nights. But when college football comes along, if we’re seeing a viewing audience of 350,000, I’ll be surprised. It’s gonna be hard. But right now they can do a great job of putting on if the second week was anything like the first week, if they can do that consistently, it’ll turn into must, must view television. Must see TV. It will because the quality of what I saw the first time was so good. Now again, I may watch the DVR version of it and go, what the hell? I don’t know. I haven’t seen it yet.”

On AEW changing up their promos: “I’ve heard, as recently as last night, that AEW must be listening to Strictly Business over 83 Weeks because oh, what are they doing? I’ve been harping on this now for months and called them out specifically on the poor ass quality of their backstage promos. And last night they’re doing on the fly interviews backstage. Yay for them. Now, I haven’t seen ’em yet. I don’t know what it looks like, but I’m hoping for the best really am.””

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Strictly Business with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.