Former WCW President and RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff was recently interviewed by The New York Post to talk about several professional wrestling topics. One such topic was the mega broadcasting deal that the WWE just landed for SmackDown Live on FOX – worth $1 billion.

Bischoff explained how the WWE-FOX deal makes it difficult for other promotions to land big broadcasting deals of their own:

“Anybody who comes along and wants to sell a wrestling show, guess who you are not gonna sell it to? You are not going to sell it to FOX and any of its affiliates and, oh by the way, you are not going to sell it to NBC Universal or any of its affiliates,” said Bischoff.

“So the world in terms of one’s ability to sell a traditional [wrestling] television show to a traditional television or broadcast partner has just collapsed.”


In today’s age of social media and technology, Bischoff doesn’t believe that promotions need big broadcasting deals to make themselves famous. With free streaming outlets like Twitch and YouTube you can essentially make a name for yourself by other means:

“You no longer have to have a big record label behind you and have to kowtow to the politics that enabled you to get there,” said Bischoff. “You can be a phenomenal artist and put your stuff out there on YouTube and find yourself becoming a star.”