Eric Bischoff believes Nick Aldis should stay in the SmackDown General Manager role rather than chase a run as a full-time performer, and says the SummerSlam match against Gunther has made him more valuable in the job, not less.
Bischoff was speaking on 83 Weeks with Conrad Thompson. He said he was unable to watch night one live and read about the match instead, then went back and watched a replay of Aldis’ performance before recording.
He started by going back to when Aldis first got the job in 2023.
“I’ve I’ve had a unique relationship with with Chad and or Nick, and it’s a very good one, by the way. There’s mutual respect there, and and we chatted right after he got the job. He called me. I don’t know that he was looking for advice. Every once in a while, he would call and you know run an idea by me or run a scenario by me and ask for my input, things like that. And we talked a little bit about the GM position, and I told him, ‘Man, Nick, you you were great for this role. You’re actually more cut out for the role of GM than I was, and I had some, I had some heat. I I had some equity as a heel that was valuable at one point.'”
Bischoff played WCW’s on-screen authority figure through the nWo years and was Raw General Manager from 2002 to 2005. He said the limit of that character was that he could not deliver on his own threats.
“He was smarmy, and he, you know, he had he could he could leverage his power every once in a while, and you know play this you know the game, the shenanigans of of a slimy heel ish general manager, but I couldn’t back it up. I would find myself in situations that I couldn’t get out of vis-a-vis Steve Austin when I wrestled him in Montreal, if you want to call it wrestle, but I would get caught up in situations where my mouth, you know, wrote checks I couldn’t cash, and then I’d end up just getting the, you know, s\*\*\* kicked out of me in the ring for six minutes. That’s not really a wrestling match.”
Aldis held the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship before joining WWE in October 2023, and had not wrestled since that year until Saturday.
“Nick has the credibility and the potential to not only leverage the power of the position, but if you push him far enough, he could back it up. That makes for a very interesting general manager character to me. And I don’t think you want and WWE has played it perfectly. I don’t think you could have played it any better. I commend them for waiting as long as they did to pull the trigger on Nick finally stepping back into the ring.”
“I watched him tonight. You know, replay. Watched him. His performance was outstanding. He’s really good. He’s he’s got the little things down so well, and obviously the camera loves him, but now he’s still got that power in his back pocket, and his role as a general manager will broaden his, he’s broadened his creative options as a general manager, which means he’s he’s got more years ahead of him.”
Asked what he would advise if he were representing Aldis, Bischoff separated the desire to wrestle from the business case.
“The fact that he wants to be in the ring and performing is a given. He wouldn’t have gotten to where he is today, tonight, if his desire to go out and compete and perform in front of a live crowd wasn’t a very strong part of his motivation, right? So that doesn’t just go away. In fact, it can get stronger over time, especially when, for whatever reason, your career as a performer has been cut a little bit too soon.”
“But as a manager, you have to look at your client’s financial well-being and look into the future, and that’s where I think the decision gets a little dicier.”
His argument is that the loss changed nothing about what the match established.
“That’s where Nick Aldis is right now. He’s more valuable today as a general manager than he was a month ago. That’s where I would hedge my bet. That character with the kind of credibility that character has reestablished didn’t go away. It just now we know, we’ve been reminded. He didn’t win, but guess what? He can kick your a\*\*. Careful, this guy. Yeah, he’s a general manager. He’s a suit. Talks funny. But he may kick your a\*\*. That that just he’s got another four years, five years.”
He described the alternative as a short-term gain with nothing behind it.
“So it’s that, or get in line. You may be, you know, the flavor of the day for a week or two, or you may not. And then where are you? You just jump back into that general manager, bro. I’m probably not, because they’re going to probably find somebody to take it.”
“Because they need it. It serves a purpose, a very valuable one. It’s a necessary one. It’s like plumbing in your house. It’s nothing to brag about, but bam, you can’t go without it. That’s where he’s at. So I would advise him to just ride this roll and see where it takes you because it could take you for the next 15 years.”
“I when did I when when did I stop on camera? 2019. You know that was 70. I was 63 years old. Come on, you got some miles left in the in the in that tank, brother. Money-making miles, not ego miles. Forget the ego miles. Can’t take those to the bank. Ego miles don’t get you anywhere. Money miles do.”
Aldis had given up the General Manager position on the July 24 SmackDown in order to sign the contract for the match, with Adam Pearce covering both brands. He was reinstated after losing to Gunther on Saturday.
