Eric Bischoff has had a chance to test what he preaches, and he intends to back it up.
The former WCW president will be the executive producer of MLW's show, titled “Eric Bischoff's One Shot” (7 p.m., YouTube), which will be held at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens on December 5th.
He's been speaking for the past six years, and more recently on his podcast “83 Weeks,'' about what works and what doesn't when producing pro wrestling shows.
This one-time opportunity will allow him to work with MLW CEO Court Bauer and COO Jared St. Laurent to put some of his ideas into practice and, after nearly 20 years away from the role, to It seemed like a no-pressure opportunity to try walking. .
“Now I have a chance to go in there and put up with it or shut up,” Bischoff said in a recent Zoom interview. “And I like that. I like to put pressure on myself. That's fun for me. I like the idea of being able to work with Jared and Court and his team. That's fun for me. It has a nostalgic atmosphere.”
The 69-year-old Bischoff's job is not to undermine MLW's creative plans and decide winners and losers, but rather to fine-tune the product to fit his vision, strengthen its character and add new features to some elements. A wrestling staple that is about trying to put a twist on it.
“My role in this piece is to take the stories that they have, or that they had, and present them in a way that feels a little bit different,” Bischoff said. “I like to do backstage interviews a little differently than regular interviews because everyone does interviews the same way and they all suck. There are people who do that, but it's always human. When I have a stick mic, you talk about you, oh, there's a lot of different ways to do that.
Bischoff, who beat WWE in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks in the late '90s thanks to the creation of the nWo in WCW, wants to take the MLW crowd on a special one-night trip from Queens. Anticipation of what will happen in the end.
He hoped it would become more prevalent in today's wrestling world.
“I think sometimes the way we connect stories throughout a show, especially a wrestling show, doesn’t get enough attention from the producers,” Bischoff said. “So that's what I want to do. I want to work with this talent and see if I can bring out a slightly different part of their character in whatever they're doing. .”
One person he is particularly looking forward to working with is former WWE star Matt Riddle, who is eligible to compete in the MLW World Championship at a time and place of his choosing. Bischoff was a big fan of Riddle's character, having watched his RKBro days with Randy Orton.
“Matt has a very unique character, and I want to see how much fun I can have with that character and how much he can have fun with me and enjoy his character,” Bischoff said. Ta.
The deal with MLW was completed while Bischoff was interviewing actor-turned-wrestler Paul Walter Hauser on his Halloween podcast.
Mr. Hauser held a meeting with Mr. Bauer and offered Mr. Bischoff the opportunity to work with MLW. The WWE Hall of Famer is impressed with Golden Globe winner Hauser's foray into wrestling.
“He's going to conquer the feature film world and become a big star. Then he can come back and be a star in the wrestling world,” Bischoff said. “I love to reverse engineer anything, and he's reverse engineering a wrestling career. It's amazing.”
This week's MLW show marks the first time Bischoff, who also recently announced an appearance on NXT, will put his name on the marquee of a pro wrestling show, and the first show he produces in New York City, a location that WCW has avoided. becomes. About the era of WWE and holding Madison Square Garden. But he hopes the energy of New York fans will add something to the experience.
He can't help but remember the atmosphere at “ECW One Night Stand” with WWE at the Hammerstein Ballroom in 2005, when nearly every fan “wanted to kick my ass.” .
“There's a different energy in the crowd in New York,” Bischoff said. “It's not always better, but it's different. And the experience with the New York crowd was really, really fun, almost dangerous at times, but it was fun too.”
For Bischoff, it's all about having fun, and Bischoff plans to donate his entry fees from MLW events to the Tunnels for Towers Foundation, which he and his wife, Laurie, have supported for years.
“This is a good way to do it because we want it to mean more than just a check.”
Bischoff wants to get the job done in MLW and doesn't really care what the internet wrestling community thinks afterwards, but he has a different barometer for what a successful night looks like for him.
“You can tell if it's successful by the vibe of the people you're working with,” Bischoff said. “If the talent is having fun, if the audience is having a good time, and perhaps more importantly, the court and other members of the team who work on the show all the time are saying, 'Wow, that's a positive experience. “I'm really glad I did it.'' You'll see that soon, and that's all I want.''
