Thanks to “After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson” for the following:
ERIC BISCHOFF ON BRUCE PRICHARD’S FUTURE & CONRAD THOMPSON’S SAD REACTION TO WWE RETURN
PLUS ERIC BISCHOF SAYS ARN ANDERSON EXIT IS A LOSS FOR WWE, CALLS HONKY TONK MAN A “JACKASS” FOLLOWING HOF ANNOUNCEMENT, SUGGESTS A CONTROVERSIAL STORYLINE FOR ROMAN REIGNS
https://youtu.be/qEgLZuHalmI
This week on the after show for his 83 Weeks podcast, After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson, Eric Bischoff discusses Bruce Prichard’s future amid reports the Something to Wrestle With host is returning to WWE. Eric also weighs in on Arn Anderson leaving the company, his archnemesis Honky Tonk Man’s Hall of Fame induction, and how WWE could make Roman Reigns’ cancer story controversial. Excerpts are below…
On what was missing from longtime friend Bruce Prichard’s life: Bruce was more successful over the last two years than he ever was financially during his career in WWE. He’s been doing really, really well. But there was something missing in his life. I think that something missing was his relationship with the entire team, but especially Vince McMahon. They were together for a long time. So I think that even though Bruce was doing so well financially with his podcast and with his live shows, I think he’s going to be a much happier person back home where he really probably needs to be.
Eric reveals Something to Wrestle With co-host Conrad Thompson’s reaction to Bruce’s WWE return: I got to St. Louis [on Saturday] and I saw Conrad at the hotel, about 2:30 in the afternoon. He looked kind of down a little bit and I said, ‘Hey what’s up?’ He said, ‘Haven’t you heard?’ And I said, ‘I haven’t heard anything.’ And then I found out the news then [from Conrad].
Eric says Arn Anderson cannot be replaced: It’s not even knowledge as much because wrestling is more art than science–it’s instinct. That’s what they’re going to miss the most. When Arn is fully engaged and is feeling good about what he’s doing and the team he’s working with, he’s got a great instinct. He understands the psychology and he feels what works and what doesn’t. You can’t replace that. You can find a lot of people that know a lot of wrestling holds and have seen a million matches and have an opinion on 10 million different things, but it’s hard to replace that instinct.
What WWE will do with Roman Reigns’ newfound popularity: Are they going to go with what seems natural right now, because of the way the crowd did react, because of the inherent underdog? I mean if you talk about an underdog story there’s nothing more badass than cancer on the face of this this earth. For a guy to come out of that, especially a guy like Roman Reigns, the way he went out and all the passion and the emotion that went with him when he went off and said, ‘Look, I’ve got to take care of this.’ They’ve got an abundance of great stuff there, just raw materials, right? Now what they do with those raw materials, we’ll find out…If they decide to go another way with that it could be highly, highly controversial, and you would have people probably losing their minds over it on social media.
His reaction to Honky Tonk Man being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame: You know I want to say some smart ass thing and keep it all going. But when it comes to this kind of thing I am happy for him. I’m not friends with Honky, but despite what you hear and what you see and how much fun I have busting his chops and how much fun he’s had over the last 20 years busting mine, at the end of the day I’m happy…That’s been the largest part of his adult life and it’s been obviously his identity. I mean he still wears the gimmick and shows up at a lot of these events, and to have a moment like this and to kind of get that acknowledgment from your peers that you were important to the industry, it’s got to make any human being feel good. He’s still a jackass. But I’m glad he’s going to be a happy jackass.
For more with Eric watch the latest After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson here: https://youtu.be/qEgLZuHalmI or listen on Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/after-83-weeks-with-christy-olson-afterbuzz-tv/id1438060090?mt=2&i=1000425693158.
About the show: After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson is the first ever podcast about a podcast! Christy and co-hosts Steve Kaufmann, Christian Rosenberg, and George Hermoza offer insight on the latest episode of 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff, covering revelations, fan reactions, and more. An AfterBuzz TV Wrestling and Sports production, the show airs on Eric Bischoff’s 83 Weeks YouTube channel, and features a weekly Q&A with Eric himself.
