Eric Bischoff talks impact of CM Punk joining AEW. The former WWE Champion is reportedly heading to All Elite Wrestling.
There are rumors of several big names joining AEW in the coming months. There are already some who have made that move. A few others are reportedly on their way including Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. The latter has not officially wrestled a match since January 2014!
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Eric Bischoff spoke on the latest episode of the 83 Weeks Podcast about Punk and how massive his signing would be. The former WCW President stated that Punk’s arrival would give them a short term boost; One that they could hold on to if they gave the audience something substantial to commit long term to.
Eric Bischoff talks impact of CM Punk joining AEW
“Obviously [Punk signing with AEW] will be a massive shot in the arm, it will be a huge step forward, if it happens. I’m a big proponent of surprise. I have such a high level in the long term benefit of establishing yourself as a platform that creates surprises on a consistent basis and CM Punk would be a great opportunity had it been just a surprise. But, I’m also a big advocate of creating anticipation. What AEW has done a great job of doing is creating anticipation and we’re seeing the results of that manifest with ticket sales so good on them, as long as he shows up.
“I wouldn’t want to be in the office the next day if the CM Punk thing is not a reality. Now I don’t believe that it is not a reality. I do believe it is a reality. So the risk here I’m almost laughing about and talking about is because it is laughable. I don’t think that anybody, especially a guy like Tony Khan, who is a smart guy and surrounded by smart people, would walk this far out on the plank only to know they’re not going to deliver. I think what they’ve done has been pretty artful and pretty well done and I think it’s going to portend big things in the future.
“Will it change the landscape? I don’t know what the landscape means. Will it change the balance of power between WWE and AEW in terms of market share? Not in terms of subjective opinion because nobody gives a f*** about that. Market share is what people should be considering and thinking about in this war and when we talk about things like landscape. Do I think it will change the landscape? I think it will for a while. I think it can in the long term depend on a lot of things. How do they use Punk? How often is he available, is he once a year, twice a year, four times a year attraction or is he part of weekly storylines? Those are all things we don’t know, none of us do.
“In the short term it’s going to have a major impact because I think a lot of fans that are WWE fans are going to sample AEW who perhaps haven’t sampled AEW yet. Punk could be the solution and the silver bullet for the yet because if WWE audience crosses over to sample it because of a guy like CM Punk, provided you’re able to hold them and give them something they’re committed to in the long term, then yes I think it can have a pretty substantial impact on market share.”
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