Eric Bischoff Credits This AEW Personality For Appreciation Of Swerve Strickland

Swerve Strickland's first reign as AEW World Champion seemed to elevate him in the eyes of many in the pro wrestling world, including one of AEW's harshest critics, Eric Bischoff. 

Bischoff, who has been impressed by Strickland's character, believes that some of the credit for his fondness of Strickland should go to Jim Ross, following the legendary commentator's sit-down interview with the AEW star. On his recent "83 Weeks" podcast, which was dedicated to reviewing All In, Bischoff lavished praise on the former WWE star as well as the assist that Ross gave him.

"I've been a fan of Swerve's since the get-go, since you taught me to do that Prince Nana thing. I thought, well I better find out who I'm having fun with here and then I started watching Swerve and then I got into his character quite a bit," revealed Bischoff. "I loved the interview he did a couple of weeks ago with JR. That made me more of a Strickland fan than anything I've seen him do in the ring because he was in character in a very natural, authentic way, that made me believe. A lot of that has to do with JR; even to this day, JR brings a reality to his interviews and commentary, which, by the way, nice to hear in that final match. But JR is going to also bring the best out of someone when it comes to ... To me, that's the most impressive thing I've seen Swerve do. But, again, that's because of the way I look at things."

Following Strickland's world title win earlier this year, Bischoff was not pleased with the way AEW booked him immediately. But he was happy to see Swerve face off against Will Ospreay, uncharacteristically praising Tony Khan for the decision.