Eric Bischoff Names Royal Rumble the Greatest Gimmick Match Of All Time

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff was asked to name the greatest gimmick match of all time, with a fan suggesting it was WarGames. While Bischoff had praise for the WarGames concept, he definitively gave the top spot to another iconic WWE match in the Royal Rumble. You can check out some highlights below:

On WarGames:

“No, I liked it. It thematically was kind of cool. It had an edge, it was dangerous, it took the perceived danger of a cage match to another level, beyond. Because cage matches are so overused, right? It’s like, ‘Yeah, I give two s**ts if I see a cage match ever again in my life.’ Because most of the time there’s no reason for them. It’s just, ‘Oh, watch this. We wrestle this week, and we’re going to use a cage. And it may get bloody.’ WarGames had a format to it that made it interesting. There was the mechanics. When I say format, I mean the mechanics of how it worked.”

On the Greatest Gimmick Match:

“I think Royal Rumble, in my opinion, absolutely just the best format for a gimmick match ever. Because it served a purpose and it had drama. It had a story. It was built on anticipation, right? Reality, we’re going to let that one go, right? But it was structured enough — Let me take that back. There was enough structure and framework to it that made it feel more real. Because so much of what we see in professional wrestling is kind of semi-random and supposedly against the rules, but never is. But this had a really distinct format that allowed you to kind of get sucked into the moment. Therefore, check the reality box.

“It was inherently — there’s surprises right, left. That’s what it’s built on, and the action takes care of itself. So I mean fundamentally, from my perspective as a producer, it checked all the boxes.”

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