Eric Bischoff Weighs In On AEW’s Future Amid Paramount-WBD Merger

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff discussed what Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery could mean for AEW. The deal recently cleared a major hurdle when Paramount reached a settlement with California and other states that had sued to block it, and AEW President Tony Khan has said he believes the merger will make AEW stronger. You can check out his comments below:

On Tony Khan’s Comments About the Merger:

“First of all, great statement by Tony. That’s greasing the skids, and he did a great job greasing the skids, and I don’t blame him for doing it. It’s the same thing that I said probably five, six, seven years ago. Back in 2019, when I called out Tony Khan and AEW for what I thought it was, and I made certain predictions that have all come true based on what I saw back then. It’s all manifesting right now.”

On What Is Keeping AEW Going:

“The only thing that’s keeping AEW alive right now is the fact that they don’t need to make any money. That’s it. They have a bottomless pit. There’s no financial pressure on them, and Tony loves it. And his father is willing to support it. As long as that’s the case and that financial pressure isn’t there, the only thing it comes down to is the numbers. Not the ratings; that’s what the internet wrestling community loves to debate. It’s what the ratings mean to Warner Bros. currently. And by that I mean, how much of it can they sell?

“Because it’s not a hot piece of real estate. Advertising across the board is tough. If you’re in the advertising business, it’s really tough for a whole variety of reasons. People are really tight. They’re looking for nickels and dimes rather than dollars in some cases. That’s how tightly they’re watching these budgets and expenses in that world. So what it will come down to is somebody is going to look at the ad revenue that is generated by AEW, and they’re going to look at any promotional opportunities they feel are unique to AEW that may help them support other programming. It used to be called a lead-in or a lead-out. Are you shouldering programming and helping boost the things that are around you? That matters, but it really just comes down to the dollars.”

On Advertisers Choosing Between AEW and WWE:

“If they’re having a difficult time selling AEW, it’s not because it’s AEW. It’s because there’s a lot of wrestling available in the marketplace, and it’s all far more attractive than AEW is from a demographic perspective. So if you are an advertiser who is interested in or willing to advertise in wrestling and you want to place your money where you think it’s going to do the best for you, is it going to be in AEW? Or is it going to be in a WWE-related product?

“The answer is pretty obvious to anybody, regardless of which one you like more or less. That doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the dollars that it delivers to the bottom line, particularly for Warner Bros. Because as we all know, they’ve been burning cash and losing millions and millions of dollars for the last couple of years. So of course the numbers are going to decide it. I don’t think any of the internet wrestling community, Dave Meltzer-esque politics and conjecture and conspiracy theories about who’s friends with who matter. It really only matters to the people who live for it. The only thing that will really matter at the end of it all is the math, and that’s what I said six or seven years ago. It’s all about the math.”

On AEW’s Growth:

“How many times have you heard me say over the years, you’re either growing or you’re dying? AEW hasn’t been growing. As a matter of fact, depending on how you look at the data, not only are they not growing, they’ve probably been losing consistently. I know they have in ratings. Maybe the other parts of the business are growing, and it’s just not obvious. But the only thing that is obvious to those of us who aren’t connected to the product is ticket sales and ratings. That’s what it’ll come down to.”

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