Eric Bischoff Says CM Punk Signing With AEW Gave WWE "A Kick In The Ass"

Friday night's AEW Rampage was one of the most heavily anticipated in the history of AEW due to the return of CM Punk.

Former WCW President Eric Bischoff discussed Punk's debut on the latest edition of the 83 Weeks Podcast said that he missed Rampage, but saw the reaction and is excited for everyone involved in the wrestling business.

"I missed the whole AEW Rampage show on Friday, I had friends and family over," Bischoff said. "I'm excited as hell for AEW and again I don't know CM Punk, I've never really met him or talked to him but clearly a great talent and I'm just excited that there's this much buzz about wrestling again. It's been a long time since there's been across the board buzz about the industry in general. I'm really really happy for AEW in particular, Tony Khan, and wrestling fans all over the country.

"And I'm actually kind of happy for WWE because I think they need a kick in the ass, something has to change there. Sometimes pressure is the kind of motivation that works best. Let's hope this is the beginning of a reemergence if you will of what we experienced in the Monday Night Wars. AEW isn't going head-to-head, it's not quite the same thing, but at this point with the kind of buzz that you had on Friday and what I did see over the weekend on social media, it may be well on our way. I hope that's the case."

During his promo, Punk took his sweater off to reveal a new "Best in the World" t-shirt that set a Pro Wrestling Tees Record by selling the most shirts in 24 hours. The former WWE Champion also stated during his promo that everyone in attendance would be given ice cream bars and it was later revealed that Punk paid the tab for those bars.

The former WCW President spoke about Punk and the reason is still so over to this day. Bischoff cited his authenticity and the way he presents himself which is unparalleled to anyone else.

"He's authentic, that's the one thing I will say about him," Bischoff mentioned. "He is very very authentic and there's no one else quite like him. There's others who try to be kind of like him but he's authentic and the audience reacts accordingly. I love it, I think it's great."

CM Punk announced his first match for the company will take place at AEW All Out in Chicago against Darby Allin with Sting in his corner. Bischoff spoke about Sting still receiving heavy praise from fans for his work with AEW, recently having his first match on TNT in 20 years. Bischoff said he's happy that his friend is able to get the chance to write his own end to his career and to not have walked away based on his time with WWE.

"What can you say about Sting?" Bischoff said. "He's getting a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, lease on life now in AEW. I think I said it in a social media post earlier this week, I saw a picture of Sting from the year 2000 to the year 2021 and I am so proud of Sting. He made up his mind, he was going to write the last chapter of his story in terms of his career. Wasn't going to let other people write it for him, wasn't going to let the events that took place at WrestleMania [31 against Triple H] define the end of his career and got himself in great shape and is out there performing and I think he's just as good today as he was back then.

"He might not be capable of physically doing some of the exact same things but it doesn't matter. The crowd is as into him now as they have ever been. Really happy to see that, I love to see a guy like Sting take control of his career and end it the way that he wants to end it. Nothing but respect."

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