Eric Bischoff On His Issues With Extreme Violence At AEW All Out

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff talked about the plastic bag spot at AEW All Out involving Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson, as well as the violent steel cage match between Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page. You can check out some highlights below:

On the violence at AEW All Out: “It’s just desperation. I do get it, I’m just searching for a different way to say it, and it’s hard. But I just think creatively they’re in a pit. And apparently the harder they’re trying to dig out of it, the deeper the pit gets. This was garbage in my opinion. It’s not the kind of thing that you’ll build an audience with. It’s not the kind of thing you can build a business around. Look, I can’t take AEW or anything they do seriously. They are what they are, they’re going to be what they’re going to be, which is a niche company that is going to have its base of fans. It’s going to always be a small percentage of the overall wrestling market, but they’re going to have 100% control over that percentage of the market that loves that crazy hardcore stuff just for the sake of it. Good for them. If they can build a business and be successful in satisfying that percentage of the audience, then go with God and be successful. I can’t take it seriously because I don’t think it’s going to play. I don’t care if they get five more renewals, I don’t care if they get television on other sports cable outlets. All the rumors that I’m seeing, those are all good things. But it’s not going to change the product. It’s not going to grow the business. So hats off to him.”

On his issue with it: “I mean, you can take that justification or that perspective of, ‘Well, we don’t want kids to do it’ — you can take and apply it to just about any other form of entertainment you want to. So it’s a convenient thing, right? It’s a very coveniant bitch. I have no problem with any of that, that’s not my issue. First of all, if your kids are doing this kind of stuff at home, just like if they’re recreating video game hijackings and murder scenes, yeah, you got a problem. And it probably started a long time ago, before wrestling came into the equation or a video game came into the equation. So, I’m not suggesting that that’s my issue

” My issue is that it’s just cheap. It’s just cheap. It is not creative. Is it a wink and a nod to Funk and Flair? Okay, great. One out of 3,000 people will get that or care. To me, it’s just — you’ve got Bryan Danielson for God’s sake, who’s capable of doing so much. And you’re going to choke him out with a plastic bag? You’re going to suffocate him? I think my — I don’t want to say disgust, that’s too strong. But my reaction, my negative reaction to it all was just, it’s just cheap heat. It’s lazy, it’s not creative. And to the point someone made about advertisers, I do disagree with you a little bit on that point. Because an advertising agency isn’t going to delineate between, ‘Well, what’s on PPV and what’s on TV?’ That’s a conversation people in the industry will have. But a 28-year-old woman on Madison Avenue who sees a clip on YouTube is going to say, ‘What is that PPV or is that TV? Oh, come on.’ It’s just going to create an impression, it just does.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.