"Wake up, it's just silliness" - Eric Bischoff dismisses rumor on potential game-changing AEW - FOX deal
AEW has been rumored to be negotiating a new deal with Warner Bros. Discovery for months. While the announcement is still expected, it was recently revealed that Tony Khan is believed to be in talks with FOX about potentially bringing on a new show. Eric Bischoff has just offered his unique expertise on the matter.
Bischoff often shares his thoughts on All Elite Wrestling and its owner, whether good or bad. The former WCW executive does know the television industry and is now weighing in on the latest viral speculation from the rumor mill, which has to do with AEW potentially signing a TV deal with FOX. WWE SmackDown left the network earlier this month after their five-year deal ended.
"Wake up, it's just silliness," said the WWE Hall of Famer and noted that FOX will never bring All Elite Wrestling onto its main network, on the latest episode of his 83 Weeks podcast. However, the former nWo boss thinks we could see a new All Elite Wrestling show on FOX Sports One.
"It's a fun thing to talk about, makes great clickbait, people speculate because it's kind of cool like a Monday Night Wars thing, 'FOX walked away from WWE but embraced AEW!' It's that low-level, low-hanging fruit that wrestling fans love to have fun with, myself included. It's not FOX Network, which will never put on AEW, ever, ever, ever. That is not happening, but FS1... FOX Sports One? Maybe. FS1 has a lot of stuff you'll never find anywhere else, it doesn't get much of an audience. I don't think AEW will do very well on FS1, for multiple reasons," Eric Bischoff said. [From 9:07 to 10:14]
Bischoff continued and pointed to recent low viewership numbers for Rampage and Collision, noting that creating a new show for FS1, when AEW was struggling to produce just one night of shows, would be a real challenge because it's just more content they would need. Bischoff believes the company does not have a proper system in place to produce programming the way it should.
" I mean... come on, people. You've got to, at some point, put down the Kool-Aid, and have a cup of coffee, and wake up. It's just silliness. I don't think it's a feather in the cap of wrestling, if FS1 takes another show, which basically has no audience and production values. It is what it is, they're filling air-time, they're filling schedules with content, that's all FS1 really is," Eric Bischoff said. [From 10:51 to 11:24]
You can check out his comments in the video below:
AEW recently filed to trademark the name, "Shockwave." It is believed that this will be the name of a potential fourth TV show from Khan's company.
Big gimmick match set for AEW Collision
The ROH World Tag Team Championship will be defended on next Saturday's episode of Collision. The gold will be on the line in a Bunkhouse Brawl Match.
Sammy Guevara and Dustin Rhodes will defend the ROH World Tag Team Championship against Matt Taven and Mike Bennett in a Bunkhouse Brawl Match next Saturday. Taven and Bennett challenged the champions to a Fight Without Honor during Friday's Rampage, but Rhodes suggested the Bunkhouse Brawl as it is a favorite of his family.
Rhodes and Guevara dethroned Taven and Bennett of the titles on the August 17 edition of Collision. Next week's episode will air live from the MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA.