Eric Bischoff Talks Mike Tenay's Strengths On Commentary

Former WCW President Eric Bischoff nearly rebooted WCW in 2001, but his plans were undone by Turner Networks canceling WCW programming, leading to the company's purchase by WWE. Had the reboot gone forward, Bischoff believes that there would've been room for broadcaster "Iron" Mike Tenay at the commentary booth.

"I always Mike [Tenay] when it came to color commentary," Bischoff said on "83 Weeks" recently. "He was a walking, talking encyclopedia and was so good at adding that little touch of color, that little bit of information, that little bit of depth to a character or a story or a backstory, there was nobody better at that than Mike." 

While Bischoff believes that Tenay was a strong color commentator, he doesn't think those talents translate that broadly. 

"As much as I respect and did respect Mike Tenay, play-by-play was not his strength," Bischoff continued. "Color commentary was his strength and I think that he enjoyed doing it, but it wasn't his strength." 

Bischoff says that he would've used Tenay in the WCW reboot similar to how he used him in the initial days of WCW, as a color commentator, who was mainly there to flesh things out for the viewer. The Hall of Famer said that Tenay's instincts to make sense of things for the viewer made him an essential part of the broadcast, even if those skills didn't translate to other parts of the broadcast. 

After WCW, Mike Tenay went on to work for TNA Wrestling in a similar color commentary capacity, eventually leaving the company in 2016.