Eric Bischoff does not think WWE SummerSlam ticket sales are worth the conversation being had about them.
The subject came up on the latest episode of 83 Weeks, with roughly 30,000 tickets reported for each night of the two-night event at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis and WWE having dropped some seats to $25. Bischoff started with why the number gets discussed at all.
“As far as where ticket sales right now, I think one of the reasons anybody’s even talking about it is because it’s one of the few things that is published that even morons and really low level thinking people can reasonably access, and if they’re not able to access it because they’re that far down the food chain, you know they’ve got Dave Meltzer and others to provide that information.”
He drew a line between writers he rates and the rest.
“There’s some great ones. I’ve said this before. You know, Mike Johnson, nothing but respect. Wade Keller’s doing a good job. There are people out there that are doing a great job. Okay, but the vast majority of the dreck that exists in social media and is or where these conversations actually come from are from the Dave Meltzer-ish level club membership, where they just want to have something to criticize so they can let everybody know how smart they are and how much they know about the wrestling business.”
Bischoff’s core objection was one of scale.
“I mean, these people that could probably took them six years to figure out how to tie their shoes and live in a basement, and they’re all trying to project where the industry is at with a $9 billion publicly held company based on trends that Dave Meltzer posts. I mean, that’s what I think of it.”
He described the criticism as a way of getting attention rather than analysis.
“They don’t have any real experience. They don’t have anything real to relate it to, they don’t have any exposure in a business that even gives them an opportunity to see things from a truly business perspective. So they rely on the emotional things because that’s all they got.”
Asked what he would actually do with the number if he were running the show, Bischoff said he would look outward before looking at the booking.
“I wouldn’t worry about where we’re at. Ticket sales, what? I pay attention. I don’t want to know why. I’d ask the right questions and expect the right answers, and then get to work. If there are things that I can control, I can do differently. I would.”
“Otherwise, I would might say, you know, gas is back up to six bucks a gallon, eight bucks a gallon in some places, whatever it is, things are a little dicey right now economically. You know, I would look at that as a reason too, as opposed to Triple H is a s***** booker. I mean, it’s so stupid that all you can do is laugh.”
