Eric Bischoff Addresses If There's A Future For Him Working With AEW

During this week's episode of AEW Dynamite, Eric Bischoff made his debut as the guest moderator of the AEW Super Wednesday Debate between Orange Cassidy and Chris Jericho.

Bischoff talked about his appearance during his 83 Weeks podcast, and mentioned the negativity some people showed online when they thought he was signing with the company long-term. He also said the company doesn't need him and that he wouldn't have any interest doing anything outside of being an onscreen character at this point in his life.

"I may never go back to AEW," Bischoff said. "It may be a one and done appearance. I have no interest. First of all, they don't need me. Why would anybody hire me for a position that they don't need? They're not gonna do that. They're on a roll, they don't need Eric Bischoff backstage or in creative. They don't need it, they're doing just fine.

"I have no interest in it if they did; I don't want to do that. I don't want to get involved in creative, I have no desire. But if you think for a second that if I did, in some twisted way wanted to weasel my way back to creative control in that environment, you think anybody in AEW would go, "Hey, that's a good idea? So, relax folks."

Bischoff continued to hammer down the point that he's only going to show up on television for the fun of it. He also confirmed that he wouldn't be bringing Hulk Hogan with him to take over AEW like he did in WCW and TNA.

"If you see me anywhere, whether it's WWE, AEW or anywhere, I'm showing up for the fun," Bischoff said. "I have no desire to put myself in a situation anywhere with any company ever again where I show up and go, 'f***, I have to do this again?' It ain't happening. It was an on screen character. At this point, it was a one and done. Have no fear, I'm not going to bring Hulk Hogan to Jacksonville, I promise."

Bischoff continued to mention how much he likes Orange Cassidy and his character. He also talked about how AEW didn't grab Cassidy from the independent scene and change his character, something we've seen the WWE do recently with tons of guys they've signed from the independents who've succeeded with other characters.

"He got himself over, AEW sees him and brings him in," Bischoff said. "Rather than changing him and making him something else because he got over in the independent scene, they're taking advantage of the character that already existed to help their brand."

Throughout the podcast, Bischoff also talked about the last time he believes somebody got over in the WWE, that being in 2002 with John Cena. He said it's been forever since the WWE has seen a talent come out and be able to consistently produce good numbers in a main event role on a pay-per-view.

"When's the last time somebody's gotten over?" Bischoff said. "When you're over is when you move the needle, when you're over is when your segments consistently outperform most of the other talent on the card. We haven't seen that since 2002, it's been 18 years, folks, since we had anybody that was a legitimate star."

"Now, there's talent that's still over from before. Chris Jericho is a good example. Now you have got a guy like Chris Jericho who's 49-50 years old and has been over since 1994-1996, and he became a megastar and still is. Since 2002, since John Cena, who's that one name that you can put in the main event of a pay-per-view and know you're going to draw major dollars? I don't know."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.