Eric Bischoff Blames Lack Of WWE Crossover For TNA Not Surpassing AEW In Popularity

At the start of the year, Eric Bischoff was one of several wrestling personalities banging the drum that TNA could overtake AEW and become the #2 wrestling promotion in the United States after securing a new TV deal with AMC. Months later, that has not come to fruition, and some are now even speculating about TNA's future after the promotion announced a "workforce reduction" following a string of releases. So what went wrong? On the latest "83 Weeks," Bischoff suggested that things went haywire for TNA thanks to their working relationship with WWE seemingly cooling off after the AMC deal was announced.

"When I said that, if you go back and kind of research a little bit, the relationship with WWE and TNA looked to be like one that was going to...it was a good strategic, sound relationship," Bischoff said. "I thought there was going to be a lot more back and forth with talent, because there was at that time. 

"It looked like WWE and TNA were going to work together on a consistent kind of talent trade back and forth, build up some of the 'NXT' talent within the TNA environment, in front of a real crowd, different audience, all that different type of thing, as a part of the developmental process, and then move them back into 'NXT' or onto 'Raw' or 'SmackDown.' That's what looked, to me, as if it was going to happen...it clearly has not. It's like that relationship has essentially stopped the minute the new TV deal was announced."

TNA's working relationship with WWE has cooled since the AMC deal began in January, despite AJ Styles appearing on the first AMC episode and "NXT" star Zaria challenging for the Knockouts Championship at TNA Genesis days later. Since then, the only WWE presence in TNA has been "NXT" stars Channing Lorenzo and former Knockouts Champion Arianna Grace, who have feuded with Grace's father, TNA authority figure Santino Marella.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "83 Weeks" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription