Eric Bischoff Evaluates Today’s Pro Wrestling Scene, Says the Business Will Always Change, Thinks Today’s Product Is ‘Completely Scripted and Sanitized’

– During a recent edition of his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff reviewed WCW Souled Out 2000 and discussed changes in the business. Below are some highlights (Transcript via WrestlingInc.com).

Eric Bischoff on listening to veterans complain that the business is not what it used to be: “I’ve heard the same thing from Dusty Rhodes to Ole Anderson to Greg Gagne. Everyone I talked to that was a generation older than the current generation of wrestling lament the fact that the industry has changed; it is not what it used to be, the young guys are killing the business. I have been hearing the same conversation since 1987 from different people. I listen to it from Nick Bockwinkel, from Wahoo McDaniel and Ray Stevens. It is true. I think the business today doesn’t reflect at all what the business was 15 years ago.”

Eric Bischoff on how the business is now completely scripted and sanitized: “It is completely different; it is completely scripted and sanitized. On one side of the equation, you have WWE. On the other side you are watching stuff from the independent scene that looks more like America’s Dumbest Home Videos in some cases. Then there’s great stuff in the middle like Cody and the Bucks who are doing All In. Ring of Honor and other independent promotions are doing some really cool stuff as well.”

Bischoff on how the business always changes: “The industry has changed and it always will. It will be different 20 years from now than it is today. You either adapt or you cry about it. Change your expectations, embrace the new way the product is being presented or you sit back and you get bitter and you talk about the good old days. It’s the nature of the business. The same is probably true with really hardcore football fans. Sh*t changes, you got to change with it.”