During an appearance on the 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff offered a harsh critique of All Elite Wrestling’s current business strategy, explicitly pointing to the introduction of the new AEW National Championship and the company’s declining television ratings.
‘Neurodivergent Booking’
When asked about AEW adding a ninth championship, Bischoff categorized it as “neurodivergent booking”. “It’s called neurodivergent booking or creative. That’s exactly what. It’s all over the map, and nothing means anything if there’s no value, if there’s no perceived value, if there’s no stakes; it’s just garnish on a plate. By throwing more garnish on the same plate and expecting people to feel differently about it, whatever, it’s not really very creative. It’s actually worse than not very creative. It actually hurts, because it further dilutes the value, or the perceived value, of any other title and the story that goes with it,” Bischoff said.
‘Pathetically Low’ Ratings
Bischoff was then asked about AEW’s future, given the declining ratings trend and an upcoming television rights renegotiation.
“I would be working so desperately hard on a plan B right now, it would make people around me crazy. This is unsustainable, and I’m not saying that because I’m negative, anti-AEW, these numbers, and I’ve been saying it for years now, if you don’t focus on story, if you don’t focus on character… I have been individually predicting what is going to happen along the way if he fails to do it. And he said every benchmark I’ve laid out now they’re at the point where, not only do you have renegotiation staring you down, staring you down, you’ve got a possible acquisition of your network, and you’ve got to have a plan B,” Bischoff stated .
He continued, “These numbers are ridiculously low. They’re pathetically low. Dynamite prime time. You’re looking at 400, 500,000 viewers, and I don’t care if it’s number seven on the network; it doesn’t fucking matter. That’s a participation trophy. You’re either driving revenue or you’re not, and this company is not driving revenue. I don’t care what anybody says. It’s not possible for them to drive enough revenue to be a return on investment for Turner Broadcasting; it is now possible. Not enough people watch that show. It’s it. I hope they have a plan B, I really do”.
Bischoff concluded his thoughts by speculating on AEW’s future if they lose their current television deal.
“If this deal goes away, I don’t know where they go. Where are you going to go on cable television when you’ve got the track record? Here’s what they’ve accomplished. Over the last five years, they’ve lost an average of 20 percent or more of their audience year over year over year. Who wants to buy that? And if you do, you’re buying it for nickels and dimes, not dollars, because that’s all it’s worth… There’s no big broadcast rights deal at the end of this rainbow, because they have spent five years proving that they’re screwing themselves into the dirt. They’re really good at it. They’ve been doing it 20% year over year over year”.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit 83 Weeks with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
