Eric Bischoff On How AEW Can Improve Their Roster Of Managers
Since the formation of AEW in 2019, the use of wrestling managers has been a prominent part of the show from Arn Anderson coaching Cody Rhodes, to Jake "The Snake" Roberts managing Lance Archer, to AEWs new signing, Andrade El Idolo.
On the latest episode of the 83 Weeks Podcast, Eric Bischoff spoke about AEW's use of managers, stating that the company could include some comedy to the managerial ranks. Bischoff named Jimmy Hart, who was famously known for his loud obnoxious attitude, as the style of manager AEW needs to bring in to combat their more serious managers like Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson.
"Arn, Tully, Jake, these are serious shoot asskicking motherf—ers," Bischoff said. "There's no Jimmy Hart's in that conversation, there's no balance. Yes AEW is doing a great job in terms of integrating some of the legends, I being one of them occasionally getting to show up and I love that. Balancing the serious, intense with the high-flying, super athletic ridiculous skill sets but still have some of that goofy sh-t mixed in so that the whole audience is satisfied. Not just the portion of the audience that identifies with one specific era or style of wrestling."
AEW recently returned to Wednesday nights and after being moved around for over a month due to the NBA Playoffs. Being the former President of WCW, Bischoff talked about what it was like to have to take a backseat to the Olympics in 1996 while WCW was in the process of developing the nWo.
"If you allow yourself to take things personally, then yeah you'd be offended that Turner wasn't more invested in supporting WCW and making sure we had a dedicated team of freelancers that already understood our product and all that," Bischoff said. "But, business is business and Turner Broadcasting was very invested in the Olympics, it is what it is and you have to make adjustments, that's the way the world works when you're on television. You get preempted, there are challenges that you have to face.
"Tony Khan is going through it now with AEW, or has been with the NBA Playoffs. Vince McMahon used to go through it with the Westminster Dog Show. There's always things, although you don't like to hear it, that take priority, for whatever reason, over your product. You can either bitch and whine about it or make the adjustment. We did what we had to do."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.