Eric Bischoff On What He Would Do As Edge's Manager With AEW Opportunity
During a recent episode of "83 Weeks," Eric Bischoff explained what he would do and what he would negotiate if he was Edge's manager with a potential AEW opportunity on the table.
"I'm going to take two different approaches," Bischoff said. "On a glass-half-full approach, if I was Edge's manager and I wanted him to make that move, I would point out the opportunities similarly to what you just did, but I would also want to have a couple conversations with Tony [Khan] and Bryan Danielson because this is the part of the Edge possibility that gets me excited."
Bischoff continued, "This is admittedly a glass-half-full because this would require that Tony relinquish some creative control and let somebody else do it, at least with regard to either Edge individually in his story or on 'Collision' and use Edge there. I don't know what the personal relationship is between Bryan Danielson and Edge, but I would assume it's good and I would assume there's a lot of mutual respect. If I was Adam Copeland's manager, I would say, 'Look, Tony, here's the deal. My client wants to come over, but let's be honest, [the] track record for WWE talent coming in has not been all that great.'"
Bischoff's 'Glass-Half-Empty' Outlook
"I know it's gonna sound a little tough in the meeting, but it's true, so get over it," Bischoff said. "'But, you've got this guy Bryan Danielson that you've expressed you've got a lot of confidence in, why don't we give this relationship a try, but do it a little differently.' And let Bryan and Edge work together on Edge's creative. That's exciting to me. And if I'm Adam's manager, I'm going to take a little bit of comfort in that because now I'm putting my client's career in the hands of someone that he has confidence in. Therefore so do I as a manager."
Bischoff then offered his "glass-half-empty" approach, which sees Khan unwilling to let Edge control his own creative direction.
"Glass-half-empty, Tony doesn't want to do that because he wants to be Vince McMahon. He wants to be Eric Bischoff back in the '90s. He wants to be that guy that reinvented wrestling. And until he's ready to delegate and recognize what he's good at and what he's not, it's never going to happen. I wouldn't want my client to end up in an environment much like everyone else that's come over from WWE. They've got a huge splash and a big entrance, and 'Oh, they're here, it's going to change everything,' and then three weeks later they're gone."
Bischoff noted that Edge does have other options like filming movies and may not even want to return to wrestling. Regardless, he believes talent ending their careers on their own terms is the ultimate success story.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "83 Weeks" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.