Eric Bischoff says signing Mercedes Mone would not do anything for AEW.
Fans have been buzzing about Mercedes Mone in recent weeks. She has been linked to both WWE and AEW as free agency continues to heat up in the wrestling world. Given the former SmackDown Women's Champion's star power, Mone is seen as one of the top free agents on the market. Fightful Select reported that Mone was in talks with AEW, and industry sources expected her to land there.
Speaking on 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff was asked to describe what potentially signing Mone would do for AEW.
“Nothing. How many times have we seen big names come from WWE to AEW, and people speculating about how it’s gonna impact the business and what’s gonna happen, and nothing happens. It doesn’t matter who you bring in there. I made the comment, and I’m gonna make it again. AEW is quickly becoming TNA. I got nearly a million views on that comment, and a lot of them, probably a half million responses, everybody buried my comment and me along with it. But this is a perfect example of what I meant. We’ve seen so many big names come into AEW. Pick one. Let’s put CM Punk off to the side. Pick any other one, and the net impact on the growth of the business, other than selling t-shirts, has been zip. Nada. The television audience continues to deteriorate, while WWE’s continues to grow. You look at their ticket sales, outside of anomalies or outliers, I should say, like the UK, and they’re not doing nearly as well as they were in the past. Look at their Dynamite shows. Check out WrestleTix on social media, and you can see their ticket sales. They’re playing in 10,000 [to] 15,000-seat venues, but scaling them down to 4,000 and a week before the event, they haven’t sold out yet. So it doesn’t matter," Bischoff said.
Bischoff continued by noting how he would tell Dixie Carter that bringing in ex-WWE stars to TNA would not do anything, as the brand and its perception were so small that these moves would not matter. He stated that he believes AEW has the same issue. Bischoff shared his belief that the company does not know how to use big names in a way that grows their business.
"I used to tell Dixie [Carter] all the time when she’d bring in big names. I get busted for that, like, ‘But look at all the WWE guys he brought into TNA.’ I didn’t bring them in. I didn’t even bring me in. I didn’t even really want the job. Dixie Carter had brought in Mick Foley and Sting and Kurt Angle, Christian Cage and so many others before I ever got there, with the idea that you’re bringing in these WWE names, it’s gonna move the needle. I would always tell Dixie, and she hated me for this, I think, she didn’t hate me, but she would get frustrated, I said to her, ‘Dixie, it doesn’t matter. If you brought Undertaker and you dropped him from the ceiling as a surprise into the middle of the TNA ring, and then John Cena run to the TNA ring and you shoot an angle, it won’t matter. It just doesn’t.’ Because the brand, the perception of it, the scale of it, is so small that it won’t get over. That’s the problem that I think AEW has. They don’t know how to use these big names in a way that grows their business. It just grows their budget, but it doesn’t grow their business. Not yet, it hasn’t. If anybody can prove to me, but outliers, but show me what’s happened when big names have come in, go television ratings, to buy rates. Show me a pattern. I’ll be happy to proven wrong, but I won’t be because I watch that stuff," Bischoff said.
When asked about Mercedes Mone and other stars, Tony Khan said he would be very active in free agency. Check out his comments here.
Fightful Select has dropped multiple reports about Mercedes Mone's talks during her free agency.
Fightful will provide more information about Mercedes Mone's status as it becomes available.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
