Eric Bischoff offered rare praise for All Elite Wrestling during the latest episode of his 83 Weeks podcast.
Host Conrad Thompson asked Bischoff what he thought of AEW running smaller nostalgic wrestling venues, such as the 2300 Arena. While the former WCW president said he’s not quite as nostalgic for ECW as Thompson is, he believes AEW is making a smart move with their residency in the building.
“I get the nostalgia part. I don’t feel it like perhaps you do because I had a different relationship with, certainly, ECW than you did at the time. So, I don’t have that connection. I have a connection but it’s different,”Bischoff responded.
He continued:
“There is nothing for your brand that is more challenging, when you’re producing weekly television, than to not have an audience because that speaks to the people sitting at home. It it kind of suggests that well maybe this isn’t that important. And conversely, when you see a packed stadium, whether it’s for Savannah Bananas or whatever else, that packed stadium makes you feel like you’re watching something that’s worth your time.”
“I lived through this in WCW. It’s one of the reasons I moved WCW’s syndicated production down to a sound stage where I could control the audience to some degree. Because when you show up at an arena with, let’s say it holds 5,000 people and you only got 600 people there and all of them were tickets you gave away. So, they don’t really care all that much.”
“So, I think the fact that AEW chose that arena because of its nostalgia that it represents to a lot of the audience and it’s suitable for television, I don’t know, makes sense to me. Where else are you going to go? Some 6,000, 7,000-seat arena where you can only sell 2,000 tickets. You don’t want to do that. So, I think it was a good decision business-wise.”
Just two shows remain in AEW’s residency at the former ECW Arena. Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite and Thursday’s Collision taping will close out their time in the venue. After those events, AEW heads to London, Ontario, for a three-hour September to Remember special on Wednesday, September 17, followed by All Out on Saturday, September 20, at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena.
Bischoff’s comments about AEW’s residency in the 2300 Arena are available below:
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