Eric Bischoff Believes The Outcome Of AEW Storyline Will Be A 'Career Killer'
The identity of whoever is behind the devil mask on AEW television has been a mystery since the figure's first appearance on "AEW Dynamite" way back on September 27. Eric Bischoff believes that the mystique behind the angle has long disappeared and that it could have catastrophic consequences for whoever gets revealed.
On the latest "Ask Eric Anything" edition of the "83 Weeks" podcast, co-host Conrad Thompson likened AEW's casual offering of a devil-themed t-shirt on its retail shop to being one step away from announcing that "The Devil Is All Elite," just like every other signing for the company, taking away from the impact of the angle. To Bischoff, it's long past losing any luster it may have once had.
Tying the topic into something else for which Tony Khan and AEW are often critiqued, the overhyping of announcements, Thompson recalled being in attendance for Christian's debut, whom Khan called one of his favorite wrestlers of all time and was built up to perhaps an unreasonable level of expectation. Bischoff was instantly in step with the reference.
"If Tony would've kept his freakin' mouth shut and not said anything, and if Christian would've shown up as a stone-cold surprise, with no buildup, his stock would have been three times higher," said Bischoff.
Overhype Leads To Overkill
While both Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson recognized and praised Christian's current work, Thompson recalled others in attendance expecting far bigger names, only to be deflated when Christian was revealed. As he is wont to do, Bischoff pivoted to the business side of things, citing the lack of value in hype versus the organic payoff of a legitimate surprise.
"You do that over and over and over again until the point where you could come out and say whatever you want to say and it doesn't really matter because you've let your audience down," he explained. "They no longer have faith in you, they don't trust you, they don't believe you anymore when you lose your credibility by overhyping. And who suffers? The talent suffers. There's just no value in all that hype. There is zero value in all that hype. There is a tremendous amount of value in well-constructed surprises."
There has been a lot of speculation regarding the devil angle since its inception with fans and pundits speculating on the masked figure, to be everyone from Punk – who we know now to not be a viable option – to Adam Cole, Britt Baker, Wardlow, Roderick Strong, and even MJF himself. But at this point, at least according to Eric Bischoff, it already doesn't matter.
"It's a career killer," he said bluntly. "It's so anticlimactic that whoever it is [behind the mask] is going to suffer as a result because it's been just so poorly constructed."
If you use quotes in this article, please credit "83 Weeks" and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.