Eric Bischoff Discusses Wrestling’s Oversaturated Landscape

Speaking on After 83 Weeks, former President of WCW Eric Bischoff spoke openly about the current pro wrestling market. Bischoff was honest in his assessment, alluding to an oversaturated product that currently struggles to stand out from one another. He noted how the current climate creates a difficult balance in creating compelling content without overexposing talent.

“One of the big challenges now is that there’s so much content out there. WWE’s got three hours on Monday night, SmackDown, two hours of broadcast on Friday night,” Bischoff said. “AEW’s got two hours on Wednesday night. NXT’s got two hours on Wednesday nights. My God, there’s so much content available.”

“You know, there’s a finite number of wrestling fans,” he explained. “The pool of wrestling fans out there in the audience is only so big and they’re being drenched with content and great content, by the way, not bad content. Great content. And I think there’s a point where you’re giving it away. You’re producing so much content out there that it’s hard to create great content. And that’s the key is when you put on a show, whether it’s a pay-per-view, whether it’s Monday Night Raw, whether it’s SmackDown, whether it’s Dynamite, whatever it is, NXT, it’s got to be compelling content.

“And when you start just putting out more and more and more, that’s really hard to do. There’s a limit to how much really special great content that you can create [and] not overexpose your talent. And that’s another big issue.”

Bischoff pointed to the low ratings RAW received near the end of 2019. He speculated about what could be behind them: the talent, the writing team or the overall presentation. “Or perhaps it’s the fact that there’s so much content out there that none of it feels special anymore.”

He acknowledged how “challenging” the current marketplace is. Bischoff explained how if a fan missed an event on Monday, they don’t need to worry as there’ll be great stuff on Wednesday. If they miss Wednesday, it’s only a few days until Friday. And, if a fan manages to miss it all, the majority of the key moments from the shows will be available in bite-sized YouTube clips.