Eric Bischoff Thinks WrestleMania Commercials Distracted From the Stories

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff raised a concern about WWE‘s approach to commercial breaks at WrestleMania 42 that goes beyond simple fan frustration. The amount of commercial breaks drew criticism from fans, moreso than previous years. You can check out some highlights below:

On the Commercials:

“WrestleMania is where story is everything, historically. It’s all about the story. Yes, the matches are great, and I don’t mean to minimzie that. But if I had to rank WWE’s emphasis on certain aspects of the product, I would say story would be number one, in-ring would be a shadow number two.

“Now, we’re taking the long form storytelling that WrestleMania in particular — PPV in general — has conditioned the audience to expect. Now we’re going to drop it over here in this cookie-cutter. We’re gonna chop it up into a bunch of smaller pieces, and give it to them. And I don’t like it because it’s different.”

On How Most Fans will Respond:

“There’s a certain aspect of the audience — now, they’re gonna bitch. Let’s say there are 10 of them. All 10 are going to bitch. Eight of them will say they’re going to leave and never watch again. Two of those will actually mean it. The others will be back in two weeks. So it’s not like this massive hit. But it can be death by a thousand cuts if you’re not careful.”

On The Need For Advertisers Being More Creative:

“I think it’ll be easier for advertisers to experiment, have fun. Do some super-creative, maybe semi-edgy, fun stuff specifically for the WWE audience. You can do it affordably.”

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