Eric Bischoff Doesn’t Think WWE Working With CM Punk Is A Good Idea

In a recent interview with WrestlingNewsCo, Eric Bischoff shared his thoughts about the situation surrounding CM Punk and AEW (per Fightful). Rumors continue to circulate after the wrestler’s outburst at the AEW All Out media scrum this August, and opinions remain divided on how AEW is likely to handle Punk’s contract or if the wrestler will find a home at a different promotion. You can read a few highlights from Bischoff and watch the complete interview below.

On if Punk would possibly return to WWE: “I’ve been around the business long enough not to make a prediction like that because anything can happen.”

On if signing Punk would be smart business for WWE: “I don’t think it would be. I think CM Punk shit the bed. When Tony Khan brought CM Punk into AEW, he still had that mystique, the Pipe bomb mystique. He was this character that stood up to the man and walked away. There’s a rebel, rebellious quality in that character that I think the average American admires. So Punk had this mystique and still had his fanbase, and Tony Khan was able to take advantage of that. Over a very short period of time, that mystique began to just dissipate, it was like letting the air out of the ballon a little bit more each and every week. CM Punk came in and great ratings, and then, literally, the next week, started in a free fall back down to pre-Punk levels. You look at where AEW is in terms of week-to-week ratings, which is the only thing that we can have to measure that’s public because the financial information is all private, and we don’t really hear anything about the real financial information. We just get the top line stuff. But ratings is the data that we have that we can go, ‘Oh, okay. This is where this product is going.’ Flat-lined shortly after CM Punk got there. Flat-lined to pre-Punk levels.”

On why he thinks Punk wouldn’t be a good acquisition: “I think that a lot of that has to do with people came, they were excited because of the aura and the mystique, they saw, and they went, ‘Eh. Not so much. Little bit, but eh. Nothing special.’ Then for Punk to conduct himself in the manner in which he did I think left a bad taste in not only the fans’ mouths, but why would anybody wanna hire a guy that’s willing to publicly disparage the guy that’s writing him a check every week when he’s right next to you? Why would anybody want to be in business with that guy?”

On what soured Bischoff after Punk’s All Out outburst: “Tony had a mic. He had his own mic. He could have grabbed that mic, stood up and said, ‘This conference is over. Thank you all very much. Shut down the audio.’ Boom, it’s over. Then sort it out. But to sit there and be thrashed and flayed like a fish by a guy that you’re writing a check to for more money, five times more money than he’s really worth, is mind-boggling to me. Again, I’m stubborn in some respects. I think the most important quality that anybody has in life is loyalty and integrity above talent, and if someone would be that disloyal and show that lack of integrity, I would never want to be in business with him. I don’t care how much money I could make because it’s gonna be a short-term win. You’re gonna win for a minute, and you’re gonna be sort. That’s been the pattern, hasn’t it? It’s a well-established pattern. So no, I wouldn’t hire him back.”