During a recent episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff claimed that wrestling hasn’t had a star since John Cena in 2002. Here’s what he had to say:
There hasn’t been a character pop, pop big time for a long time, since John Cena in 2002. When was the last time anybody got over, and when I say get over, I don’t mean get a friggin’ pop and having people chant your name, and having 20 or 30 people waiting for you outside where they know your car is parked so they can get your picture taken and post it on social media, that’s not over, that’s fun. There is a difference between being over and having fun. Having people recognize you at the arena and want your autograph and all of that, that’s fun, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re over.
When you’re over, it’s when you move the friggin’ needle. When you’re over, it’s when your t-shirts, your merchandise, starts selling at the events far and above anybody else’s. When you’re over and you happen to be on television, it’s when your segments, or the times you are on television, consistently outperform most of the other talent on the card. That’s when you’re getting over. When you’re over and you can headline a PPV four or five times a year, six times a year, for the course of four, five, six, seven years, that’s when you’re over. And we have not seen that since 2002. It’s been 18 friggin’ years, folks, since we had anybody that was a legitimate star.
You can listen below:
Credit: 83 Weeks. H/T 411Mania.