Eric Bischoff shared his honest reaction to TNA Wrestling’s debut on AMC during a live edition of 83 Weeks. The Hall of Famer expressed disappointment with the premiere episode, feeling that the company failed to maximize the moment. He specifically pointed to production issues and formatting choices as the primary reasons the show fell flat for him.
“Overall, disappointed because it was such a big opportunity. This is a giant step forward… and anybody that knows me well personally knows that I hate when people miss big opportunities… That’s why I hate it so much, because I know how it feels when you realize that you had a great opportunity and for whatever reason, you didn’t maximize it, and that’s what this felt like to me overall.”
Production Issues
Bischoff was critical of the show’s production value, particularly the camera work and the staging of certain segments. He noted that while the talent worked hard, the presentation let them down.
“It’s really production stuff. I’m not even going to address the creative or anything like that, but the production itself was so poor that that’s where I think they missed it. That’s why you’re getting the reaction you’re getting from the audience… Television is nothing but the little details laid out in a way that captures the audience’s imagination and holds on to it. These shots the way the director called them. The ring looks like you could fit it in my kitchen.”
Visa Issues And Formatting
Bischoff also addressed reports that visa issues forced last-minute changes to the show. He offered the company advice on booking international talent and criticized the show’s format for losing audience momentum.
“I also heard before the show that there were some visa issues. That’s, you know, part of life when you’re dealing with talent from other countries. I will say, if I was just consulting, and somebody asked me to kind of run down and give them a list of things that I would focus on right away. On the admin side, yeah, don’t book people if you don’t have visas in your pocket ready to go… But my bigger issues were really with the format of the show.”
Bischoff is not wrong at all. Check out the WrestlingNewsCo review of Impact below.
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. You can watch the full episode on the 83 Weeks YouTube channel.
