This week on the after show for his 83 Weeks podcast, After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson, Eric Bischoff responds to Dean Ambrose’s upcoming WWE departure, declaring, “I don’t think it matters at all.” The former WCW President explains how Vince McMahon protects WWE from the loss of top stars, and what Jeff Jarrett will be bringing to the table with his recent signing. Excerpts are below…
Eric on Jeff Jarrett becoming a WWE producer/agent:
I’ve worked with Jeff in a number of different capacities. As a talent, whatever. He’s achieved whatever he’s achieved. He was never that top guy, main event, big star. But he was a solid mid-card, upper mid-card performer throughout his career, which is, by the way, a hell of a lot. That shouldn’t sound as uncomplimentary as it’s intended to be.... But when it comes to communicating a creative vision from a room full of writers and communicating that to talent in a way that the talent can understand, that’s the key to a good producer. Jeff is phenomenal at that. One of the best I’ve ever worked with. So I think he’s in a perfect role for what truly is his real skill set.
If Dean Ambrose leaving WWE is a big loss to the company:
No disrespect at all to Dean Ambrose...I don’t think it matters at all. That’s not because of Dean’s abilities or lack thereof. But in WWE right now WWE is the star. Everybody else on that roster is a costar, to one degree or another. Stars are now interchangeable. The roster is deep enough, and the pool of talent is deep enough that whether it’s a situation like Roman Reigns, as devastating as that was, WWE shifted on the fly. They didn’t even have to hit the clutch. They just kept going, right? I think that that’s intentional.
Why Vince McMahon made talent secondary: People’s situations change. If you’ve invested all of your resources, not just financial but all of your television time and all that real estate into building up a character, and through some scenario that you couldn’t anticipate that character is no longer there, you’re in a rebuild situation. That can be devastating. WWE has gone through that before. They learned that lesson. Vince McMahon learned what happened when competition comes along and takes your talent, and I think he endeavored to build a company that was for the most part impervious to that. He did it by making WWE the star, and the talent less significant than the show that they’re on.
For more with Eric watch After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson here or listen on Apple Podcasts:
