Eric Bischoff Opens Up About Landing Fox Nation For Real American Freestyle Broadcast

It has become a bittersweet week for one Eric Bischoff. Earlier on Thursday, Bischoff, along with the rest of the world, learned that his long-time friend and Real American Freestyle Wrestling business partner Hulk Hogan had passed away at the age of 71. The news of Hogan's death will likely raise questions about the future of RAF, which only a few days ago reached a TV deal with the streaming service Fox Nation.

In light of that announcement, Bischoff made the media rounds, including stopping by "The Ariel Helwani Show" to discuss the milestone moment for the freestyle wrestling promotion. In retrospect, the absence of Hogan during this interview, and others Bischoff gave, looms large, though the former WCW Executive Producer didn't let on that anything was wrong with Hogan, instead focusing on how RAF landed its TV deal and how big a deal he felt it was partnering with Fox Nation.

"It's really cool," Bischoff said. "When one of our partners, Chad Bronstein, had been working with Fox a little bit, he goes 'Hey, you know, I've had some conversations with Fox. There's a chance. We've got a shot.' And I thought to myself 'Hmm. Great to be optimistic. But the likelihood of that is pretty slim.' But he pulled it off, and we put it together. 

"I can't think of a better partner for a start up like us than the Fox team. They're just so good at promotion. They're so good across all their platforms. And for any producer, whether you're producing scripted, non scripted, sports, whatever it is, to be connected with a broadcast partner that is so good at promotion, it's a real blessing."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Ariel Helwani Show" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription