During a recent episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff revealed that he struggles to watch today’s product because he feels that all of the companies are largely doing the same thing. Here’s what he had to say:
That question and my response to it could be a one hour show. Absolutely that’s true, but then I ask myself why is it true? Why is it happening? I think part of the challenge today is there’s so much wrestling out there and so many hours of it. [There are] seven hours in WWE in prime time every week – just out of WWE. Now throw AEW into the mix, and if you’re a hardcore [fan], you’ve got Impact to watch and other smaller independents to watch.
When you have that much content out there, it’s inevitable that you’re going to see so much of the same. Whether its skill sets, presentation, move sets, finishes where everybody is doing everything. The over-saturation of the product has led to the delusion of the individual type of characteristics that wrestlers can enjoy, and have, and call their own because there’s just so much of it out there it’s bound to be repetitive.
I think that’s a big part of it. Wrestling to an extent has become a victim of its own success, success meaning there’s so much out there, and available, and profitable for the networks that carry it to a degree or another, therefore there’s more of it. When you see more of it, you see all of it, and the more you see of all of it, the less distinguishable it becomes. That’s the biggest problem.
It’s one of the challenges I have watching the product today. Diversity, I think, is such an important element of the product today that’s hurting. And I don’t mean race, religion, or other things, I mean diversity in characters, move sets, and finishes. When you have those unique elements that people identify with individual wrestlers, consciously or subconsciously, the audience anticipates what’s going to happen.
When you don’t have that, you don’t have anticipation, you don’t have anything to think about. You are now just watching the spectacle for the sake of the spectacle. You’re watching the athleticism for the sake of the athleticism without necessarily the element of anticipation that should really be behind what you are watching.
You can listen below:
Credit: 83 Weeks. H/T WrestlingInc.