"The WWE product feels a little sterile" – Eric Bischoff explains why the WWE product is so different from AEW
Eric Bischoff has had a lot to say about AEW recently. The WWE Hall of Famer continued in the same vein as he explained the differences between WWE and AEW.
AEW and WWE are the two biggest wrestling promotions in the world, and AEW has done a great job of carving out a sizable audience. However, WWE's presence as the biggest known wrestling brand globally is unmatched.
It was this global presence that Eric Bischoff spoke about while talking to GOW Media.
"I'm not suggesting AEW should compete, I think that would be a bad decision for AEW in the long term. They've got their home on Wednesday nights, they should own that. I think the criticism of WWE, you have to look at it differently. WWE has done a phenomenal job building itself into a global brand, you have more people in India watching Monday night RAW than there are watching in the United States. You have more people watching Monday night RAW internationally than here in United States. The reason WWE has been able to achieve this success is because it's acceptable internationally."
Eric Bischoff further mentioned that WCW could not compete with WWE internationally as WWE's product was produced for a younger audience and was more family-friendly.
"WCW was growing and emerging as a legitimate competitor to WWE. One of the things we weren't able to compete with was the international footprint. The reason we couldn't, WCW at that time was considered to be more violent. It was more over the top than WWE was. WWE was safer for a younger audience because they produced their show for a younger audience while I was producing a show for the 18-49 domestic US audience which I did pretty successfully and outperformed WWE."
Eric Bischoff also said that WCW's product was tough to sell in European markets, and a lot of the stuff would be deemed unacceptable and edited out.
"WWE is producing a global product, AEW is producing a domestic product. As a result, the WWE product feels a little sterile. There is a sameness, softness to it. The action is great, the characters are colorful, the production is outstanding, but it doesn't have the same edge that AEW has because AEW isn't trying to compete internationally," Eric Bischoff said.
Eric Bischoff has been going hard at AEW recently
Eric Bischoff believes that Tony Khan is manipulating the data to make AEW seem like competition for WWE cultaholic.com/posts/eric-bis…
Despite being a part of some AEW shows, Eric Bischoff has been quite critical of the company recently, especially on his podcast 83 Weeks.
It started when the former WCW executive took offense to Tony Khan comparing AEW to 1996 WCW. Bischoff slammed Khan for celebrating Rampage's demo win over SmackDown a few weeks back.
Tony Khan and Chris Jericho responded, and the constant back and forth has been fascinating. With Eric Bischoff's comments on WWE's global reach, will we see Tony Khan pay heed and alter his product to be accepted internationally?