Eric Bischoff Vs Paul Heyman Vs AEW - The New Wrestling War
Fewer folk than ever before are lasting underneath this version of Vince McMahon. The oldest, stubbornest one. The one who can't sack his son-in-law but may have done so out of frustration with NXT if he wasn't married to his daughter and ready at a moment's notice to look after his entire company. His inner circle remain the hardest-headed because the outer one almost never stays whole.
WWE's revolving door over the decades shines a audience-blinding spotlight on the backstage tumult normalised by McMahon's monopoly. He spent the 2000s wisely insulating his organisation in order to find new ways to grow it in 2010s. On the precipice of 2020, multi-billion dollar deals for Raw and SmackDown along with their own Network surely trousering around a quarter of a million gross suggests that it's somehow worked. But the legitimately impressive function has arrived at the expense of the fun.
The company's sanitised product alienates some, whilst those unfazed by diluted action are sent packing by disappointing and illogical storytelling. SmackDown in particular has suffered as the brand extension has gradually began eroding under the weight of the wretched Wild Card rule, and needs the impetus even more than the often-awful Raw ahead of October's move to Fox. Bischoff won't fly in with a magic wand, but could well have his creative wings clipped and possible powers persecuted like almost everybody else to ever try and mix in with McMahon's methods.
His old salesman skill-set may not be used to pitch angles to his boss, but to pitch the very existence of the blue brand to somebody else's.
Eric Bischoff once had enough stock with Ted Turner to get a primetime slot on TNT. His last authoritarian role in wrestling - an objective failed time at the top of TNA - only even occurred because he had immense ability to sell his skills (or himself, or his friends, or all of the above) to Spike TV when Dixie Carter was desperate to find a way to compete with WWE.
He's now charged with convincing Fox that they haven't wasted billions on the blue brand.
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