EXCLUSIVE Eric Bischoff Interview: SuperShow Live, WWE Vs. AEW, Social Media, More

As one of the first people to appear for both WWE and AEW, what has the fan feedback and backlash been like? Do you feel like you've gotten more flack from WWE fans or AEW fans?

Bischoff: I've been rather outspoken in regard to AEW on a couple of occasions, so as a result, I'm bombarded by AEW fanboy stuff. I don't pick on anybody. I only respond to questions. I don't go out and talk about anyone else's product unless I'm asked a question within the context of what I do. But I'm honest about stuff and don't sugarcoat things. I've been critical of WWE over the last several years. I was critical of them before I was hired back to be a director of SmackDown and I've been critical of them since then, but I still maintain a great relationship with them because I'm not necessarily trying to be negative, I'm just honest.

Sometimes with AEW, there's a heightened sense of sensitivity in AEW's fan base and it's much more of, and I probably shouldn't call it this but a dirt-sheet community. Very, very defensive. But I'm a big fan of AEW and am cheering them on in many respects, but man, if you say one thing that can be interpreted as negative, you get a pretty volatile backlash. But hey, I've been in this business for over 30 years. I'm still much used to that.

Do you think the vast amount of social media activity from fans would have been the same if it were around during the Monday Night Wars?

Bischoff: It would have been the same, but the volume of feedback would have been much higher. Keep in mind, when I challenged WWE and called out Vince McMahon and all that other sort of crazy stuff, WWE had an extremely loyal fan base and WCW was looked at as the outcast. The roles are reversed. AEW is looked at very favorably and WWE, although it's a much more established brand, there's an anti-WWE motion that runs throughout social media because of the nature of the social media audience. There's more people cheering AEW on now that ever cheered WCW on. Good for AEW and it's an interesting dynamic for sure. AEW is in a much better position partly because of social media than WCW was at the time.

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