Eric Bischoff recently spoke about the mass WWE talent cuts, as well as the differences between WWE and AEW during the latest edition of his 83 Weeks podcast.
During the show, the former WCW Executive Vice President spoke about the recent mass WWE talent cuts, the differences between WWE and AEW and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the show.
On the recent mass WWE talent cuts: “The rest of the talent, here’s my impression from way outside the lines and being on the outside looking in: I think this is just a market correction. I think WWE for whatever reason stacked a lot of talent, and I’m talking about developmental talent. These are not all big name, well established characters or personalities in WWE, a lot of these people I’ve never heard of before. Only because they haven’t been prominent on Raw or SmackDown. I think that for whatever reason the strategy over the last five or six years with NXT is being re-evaluated and as a result there’s just a lot of talent that’s looking for work today. That’s just a market correction.”
On the differences between AEW and WWE and how Tony Khan has not cut many wrestlers at all: “Here’s the difference though. I understand what Tony is saying and I applaud him for caring as much about his talent as he does, how could that be a negative thing, it’s not. But here’s the reality, again: WWE is a publicly held company, AEW is not. WWE has a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to make decisions and manage their business in a way that will most benefit the shareholders. Would Vince McMahon personally prefer not to have to release this talent? I’m not saying he does or doesn’t, but he has no choice. Even if he did, he has no choice, he has to manage his budget and his business in a way that is most beneficiary to his shareholders. Tony Khan has to manage his business in a way that most suits himself. There’s a big difference between the two and I think criticizing WWE for exercising fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders, whether or not you believe it’s also setting them up for a potential sale, take that aspect out of it. To criticize WWE for managing their budget in a way that they’ve been entrusted to by their shareholders and by law have to manage said budget in a way that is beneficiary to their shareholders. To criticize WWE for that is understandable but not the whole story. It’s easy, especially only because these are emotional situations for the talents that are being released.”
Check out the complete interview at CumulusPodcastNetwork.com. H/T to Wrestling Inc for transcribing the above quotes.
WRESTLING NEWS REACTION & DISCUSSION
* For late-breaking WWE & AEW news & rumors, follow our social media reporter on Twitter @MattBoone0709
* Follow the official eWrestling account on Twitter @eWrestlingCOM
* Follow the official eWrestling Facebook page at Facebook.com/eWrestlingCOM
* Chat with other fans about this article in the official eWrestling Disqus feed below, or at Disqus.com/home/forums/http-ewrestling-com