Eric Bischoff Explains Why Fan Attack “Looks Bad” For Seth Rollins
In an appearance on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette, Eric Bischoff was asked to comment on Seth Rollins being attacked by a fan on a recent episode of WWE Monday Night RAW. While Bischoff was sympathetic to what happened to Rollins, he also was confused as to how Seth didn't see it coming and felt the situation made Seth look bad.
"I've been on a receiving end of one or two of those. I felt bad," Bischoff said. "For Seth, I also wonder why he didn't see it coming. The angle I saw was shot from a fan, I'll throw that disclaimer in there. But Seth was walking towards the back, and the guy was coming from Seth's 2 o'clock position to the right from about fifteen yards away. Now I think Seth had his head down because he thought everything was over and probably didn't expect or hopefully didn't expect it. I can kind of understand it.
"But here's what made it look bad for Seth. The guy took Seth down. Depending on who you listen to, Seth was moving in for a choke. Security hit, there's bodies, like 800 lbs of body everywhere. And then three or four guys from security finally get this cat off Seth, and then Seth stands up and says, 'Is that all you got?!' That's something I was hoping we wouldn't see on television because that didn't look good. Well, we didn't see it on TV, but we saw it after the fact."
Despite his feelings, Eric Bischoff was firm in that fans shouldn't be attacking performers. He proposed the idea that a law should be passed that prevents fans who do such things from seeking prosecution against performers that ultimately try to defend themselves.
"Honestly, I think there should be a law passed in every major city that has an arena," Bischoff said. "If you're a fan, and you jump and you attack whoever is on the field, on the floor, on the ice, pick your sport, and you go after an athlete? You should not be able to press charges against anybody for anything."
On another note, Eric Bischoff was asked about WWE's TV presentation. He felt that an episodic TV show like RAW or Smackdown needs a change, due to how much content is available.
"I think TV needs to change, especially episodic TV that's on 52 weeks a year, particularly when you've got the sheer volume," Bischoff said. "Five hours in prime time, two of those on a major network. It's a lot of content, and that's part of the challenge, I think. WWE has become a victim in many respects of its own success, massive, global success. But because they're servicing that massive, global appetite, they've got to keep moving fast. They've got to move fast. I think there's always an urgency when you're trying to keep up with how TV audiences are changing, how the competitive landscape is changing.
"And when you're faced with the sheer volume of content that WWE produces and the natural evolution of the audience and the entertainment that it searches for, it's tough to actually get anything done. Because in order to effect a change and determine whether it's a good or bad change, you have to give it time. It's not like flipping a switch. You can't walk into a dark room, flip on a switch and go, 'Oh, I can see everything now.' Sometimes you got to let the audience adapt to the change in order to register whether it's a good change or not."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription