Eric Bischoff claims WCW pushing WWF is the only reason WWE or AEW exists today
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently made an extremely bold claim regarding WWE and AEW, saying that if WCW had not forced the-then WWF to go live on television and change their programming to suit the 18-49 demographic in the mid to late 90s, that neither company would exist today.
Ted Turner passed away this week, so there is a lot of talk online about his legacy in pro wrestling and how him giving WCW the chance to go head to head with WWF RAW started the Monday Night Wars and fundamentally changed pro wrestling forever. Bischoff was a major part of that, spearheading World Championship Wrestling into the Nitro era and changing how pro wrestling television would be presented every week, for one, forcing the WWF to start going live rather than some weeks pre-taped on Monday nights.
Eric Bischoff on WCW vs WWF, WWE and AEW
Speaking on a live episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff would discuss the importance of WCW pushing WWF to the limit in the late 90s and why he feels neither WWE or AEW would exist today without WWF having to pivot to combat what World Championship Wrestling was doing in the mid to late 90s.
“Those two decisions [by the WWF], going live and pushing for 18 to 49 [because of Nitro winning] are the only reason that WWE exists today. It’s the only reason that AEW is on a Turner Network today. Had Vince not had WCW curbstomping him for 83 straight weeks, really over a period of two years consistently, they would not exist. He [Vince McMahon] came out and said, ‘OK, we’re not going to do this anymore. We’re not going to insult our audience’s intelligence.’ That was how the Attitude Era was born.
“WWE is now live weekly, that’s one big pivot, the other one was going after the 18 to 49 year old audience with the over the top approach that he [Vince] took to it [in the late 90s], which obviously worked. Those two things are the only reasons WWE exists today.”
Bischoff would end with “I can’t wait for somebody to argue with me about it,” so he’s clearly aware of how this take could be perceived online.
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