On Raw, WWE confirmed more names to be a part of the 25th Anniversary of Raw next Monday. One of those names is former WWE General Manager and WCW President Eric Bischoff. After heavily competing against Raw from 1995 to 2001, Bischoff shocked the WWE audience on July 15th, 2002. He filled this role for over three years, until he was fired by Vince McMahon and dumped into a garbage truck on RAW.
Bischoff has been away from WWE television since 2007, as he appeared on the 15th Anniversary of Raw. Over 10 years later, Bischoff will return as WWE airs inside both the Manhattan Center and the Barclays Center in New York.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Bischoff on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show to discuss a variety of topics. Specifically, his thoughts on the current WWE product.
"I think in general, incredibly impressed," said Bischoff. "Now, that's not to say that it necessarily suits my particular tastes 100 percent of the time, because that wouldn't be true. But, one of the things that I learned a long time ago, and I learned it directly from Ted Turner, by the way, one of the few things I remember him saying specifically to me outside of a couple other strategic business conversations, was that when you're in the business of programming content, and in this particular case, Ted was talking about how the way he programmed his networks at Turner Broadcasting, is you have to be careful not to program for yourself. You have to program for the masses.
"And as I think that relates to WWE, while I'm sure – I don't know this to be a fact, but I would venture to bet – that not everything we see in WWE necessarily suits the taste of Vince McMahon or Stephanie McMahon or Triple H 100 percent of the time. Because they're not programming for themselves, they're programming for the masses. And when you program for the masses and the broadest possible audience you can, sometimes you have to do things that [don't] necessarily suit your own particular taste."
Bischoff also shared his thoughts on Raw celebrating 25 years.
"So, while I'm super impressed with the WWE, because, for no other reason, they have been able to adapt and evolve to the taste of the audience, and maintain the powerful position. Not only in the United States, but on the USA Network, they're about to celebrate 25 years of being one of the leading programs in all of cable television. Anybody in television would covet the opportunity to be able to make that statement. But not only are they preparing to celebrate 25 years of dominance in cable television here in the United States, their content is seen in over 180 countries around the world. So how could anybody be anything other than impressed with what we see in WWE?"
I had the pleasure of interviewing Bischoff on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show to discuss a variety of topics. Specifically, his thoughts on the current WWE product.
"I think in general, incredibly impressed," said Bischoff. "Now, that's not to say that it necessarily suits my particular tastes 100 percent of the time, because that wouldn't be true. But, one of the things that I learned a long time ago, and I learned it directly from Ted Turner, by the way, one of the few things I remember him saying specifically to me outside of a couple other strategic business conversations, was that when you're in the business of programming content, and in this particular case, Ted was talking about how the way he programmed his networks at Turner Broadcasting, is you have to be careful not to program for yourself. You have to program for the masses.
"And as I think that relates to WWE, while I'm sure – I don't know this to be a fact, but I would venture to bet – that not everything we see in WWE necessarily suits the taste of Vince McMahon or Stephanie McMahon or Triple H 100 percent of the time. Because they're not programming for themselves, they're programming for the masses. And when you program for the masses and the broadest possible audience you can, sometimes you have to do things that [don't] necessarily suit your own particular taste."
Bischoff also shared his thoughts on Raw celebrating 25 years.
"So, while I'm super impressed with the WWE, because, for no other reason, they have been able to adapt and evolve to the taste of the audience, and maintain the powerful position. Not only in the United States, but on the USA Network, they're about to celebrate 25 years of being one of the leading programs in all of cable television. Anybody in television would covet the opportunity to be able to make that statement. But not only are they preparing to celebrate 25 years of dominance in cable television here in the United States, their content is seen in over 180 countries around the world. So how could anybody be anything other than impressed with what we see in WWE?"
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