Eric Bischoff calls the cocaine spot at NWA Samhain a sign of naivety and some stupidity.
At NWA Samhain, Father James Mitchell and other wrestlers did what appeared to be cocaine live on the air. The spot sparked plenty of controversy, and Haus of Wrestling reported that it could have a negative impact on NWA's reported television deal with the CW Network.
Speaking on 83 Weeks, Bischoff was asked about the report and whether he thinks the difference of being on television or pay-per-view mattered in this instance.
“It’s weird, isn’t it, how wresting still, to this day, despite how mainstream, how large it’s become, now powerful it’s become, still finds residence in this weird spot in television where certain things are just off limits. If we’re gonna watch a scripted series, I don’t know how many I’ve watched where you see somebody doing cocaine or shooting heroin or doing whatever within the context of a scripted presentation. But yet when wrestling steps outside of the bounds, and I don’t even know where the boundaries are, I don’t think anybody else does either, there’s no definitive right or wrong. It’s a matter of taste and judgment at a particular point in the time. But in this particular case, you’ve got people doing cocaine on camera, but it’s probably not real cocaine, we all know that. But if you’re using cocaine to advance a character or storyline, you got people throwing flags. I think a lot of that has to do with the reason why beer companies still are hesitant, to this day, to advertise in wrestling because there’s still either a real or perceived component of the audience, too large of a component of the audience, that are children. That’s where I think the gray area is. Some television executives recognize it for what it is. Some of them are still, ‘Oh no, we don’t want to be associated with that.’ They’re fearful of it. But I think TV versus pay-per-view, it doesn’t fucking matter. It’s still the NWA. It’s still your brand. It’s still your characters that we see on TV. Yes, pay-per-views are seen on television," Bischoff said.
Bischoff continued by stating that trying to find comfort in the fact that the spot was on pay-per-view, rather than television, was naive, and it is a sign of inexperience with television networks. He also noted that it was stupid of NWA to bring attention to themselves that way, given problems with substance abuse in real life.
"So I think to find any kind of comfort, where you’re able to get away with things, big things, controversial things like a cocaine spot, but you’re gonna be allowed to get away with it because it’s on pay-per-view and not on television, is naive as hell. That’s just inexperience, not having dealt with television networks, not having been in a position where you’ve got a television partner that actually cares about what you do. It’s just naïveté. It’s all it is, and a fair amount of stupidity because you know you’re bringing that attention to yourself. You got people dropping dead in the streets from snorting blow, from fentanyl. I don’t know, man. I don’t know Billy Corgan. I’ve had lunch with him and spent a little bit of time with him, but that was just flat-out frickin stupid. Especially [because] you’re trying to emerge. You’re trying to break out of YouTube and actually get a television deal, and you feel strongly about a cocaine spot. Which by the way, didn’t get anybody over anyway," he said.
The WWE Hall of Famer went on to question the purpose of the spot in the first place. Bischoff expressed his frustration as he stated that the spot was the kind of thing that damages the wrestling genre for television. He then made it clear that he hates when people blow opportunities, as they are hard to come by.
"What was the purpose of it? You’re gonna get [James] Mitchell over? Are you kidding me? The guy’s never been over in the 20 years he’s been in the business. How is this going to make a difference? The more I think about it, the more pissed off I get because it’s the kind of thing that really damages the wrestling genre for television. People are inventing ways to screw stuff up. I don’t know. I hate when people blow opportunities. They’re hard to come by, folks. They’re really hard to come by. Why would you do something that you know is going to blow up in your face? If you don’t know it’s going to blow up in your face, get out of the business because you shouldn’t be in it," Bischoff said.
Bischoff later said that a spot like that damages the entire industry when it makes news elsewhere and makes it difficult for wrestling to enjoy the same benefits and latitudes that other genres have,
Fightful will provide more information about NWA's reported television deal as it becomes available.
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