Eric Bischoff gave his thoughts on various topics on the latest episode of his Strictly Business podcast.
During it, Bischoff talked about former AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill reportedly signing with WWE and more. Here are the highlights:
On changes she should expect in WWE:
“She’ll be called something else. Most likely. She’s going to learn the WWE system. She’s going to learn how to perform for television in a much different way than she’s been exposed to. I can assure you that she’s going to learn a lot. I won’t say Paul [Levesque] because I just don’t know Paul well enough to put myself in his shoes. But I do know Bruce Prichard pretty well. And if I’m Bruce Prichard. Who was around when Steve Austin got fired from WCW and then showed up in WWE and went on to become a massive star? I’m thinking to myself, this Jade, she could be our stone cold. Steve Austin. Wow. In the sense of taking her from, you know WCW wasn’t really competition for WWE at the time. It just wasn’t. This was long before Nitro and all that. Prichard, my good friend, knows the story really, really well. And if I’m Bruce Prichard, I’m thinking to myself, I’m going to make a point because if WWE is able to do with Jade, what they did was stone cold. Steve Austin. Now, Steve had to force the issue a little bit, but if they can do with Jade what WWE did for Steve Austin after I let him go. That is going to send a message to every current and future talent in the AEW as to where you want to be. Where does your future lie?”
On WWE making a point by signing Cargill:
“All the times John has asked me, what do you anticipate? You know, and other people have asked me about what the future holds for this new company. And I saw leveraging. I certainly see when it comes to programming, TV rights and so forth, there’s a lot of opportunity for synergy there and cross-promotion opportunities. But I never thought about packaging the rights fees for local markets, which is massive and very interesting. Strategy. Absolutely. That’s going to be a big one. And you see WWE is just starting to market themselves towards these rights fees. Rights fees internationally, they’ve got a stronghold here in the United States and have been doing it for a while. Are they not or do they not have WWE?”
On Seth Rollins topping PWI 500 2023:
“Well, I’m a huge fan of Seth Rollins and congratulations to him, I guess, if it matters to him. Where was Cody Rhodes on that list? [Number 10]. Okay. So I pretty much wiped my ass with that list, just so you know. And he had a bigger impact in six months. And a lot of people that are on that list have for the last three years. So my conviction as to the value of that list stands firm.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit the Strictly Business with an h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.