Eric Bischoff: AEW Should Save Bray Wyatt Debut For TBS Move
Wyatt has been linked with AEW
Sep 29, 2021
Eric Bischoff has suggested that All Elite Wrestling should hold off on a Bray Wyatt debut - if he signs with the company - until AEW Dynamite moves over to TBS in January 2022.
Wyatt has been heavily linked with a move to AEW after being released by WWE at the end of July, and would follow in the footsteps of the likes of Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Malakai Black and Ruby Soho in opting for Tony Khan's promotion after leaving Vince McMahon's.
After a heavy influx of new talent in recent weeks and months, Bischoff believes AEW would do well to allow a bit of time before debuting Wyatt, should he sign with the promotion, suggesting it would be wise to wait until the new year.
With AEW Dynamite moving to TBS from January 5 2022, Bischoff feels that would be the ideal time to introduce Wyatt to the audience, after weeks of teasing a major announcement.
Speaking on the latest episode of the 83 Weeks Podcast, Bischoff said: "Let’s just assume Bray Wyatt is going to end up [in AEW]. I wouldn’t do that till after the first of [January]. I’d save that for the first quarter of next year because they’ve had so many signings, and they’re great ones too. I’m not being critical or dismissing them in any form. You got Sting, Christian Cage, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Ruby Soho, etc.
"These are super talented assets, they’ve brought in so many great assets over such a short period of time they tend to dilute each other and it’s not as meaningful as it could be, in my opinion, if they were spaced out a little more.
"That’s why if I was bringing in Bray Wyatt, if I was Tony Khan, I’d lay off the surprises and the chatter about who’s coming in and not coming in and more for the audience. It’s like a roller coaster and we’ve been on this incredible, exciting roller coaster ride, and the only way you’re going to enjoy the next big exhilaration point on that roller coaster is to get a little bit of a rest. Take it down, slow it down so that when you speed it up again and take the audience to that peak of that moment and deliver your next surprise, just give them a rest so they’ve got more energy to get ready for that ride. It’s not fatigue, don’t get me wrong, but we’re getting close to surprise fatigue.
“When are they moving there [to TBS], in January? Bray Wyatt, oh my god, I just put the pieces of the puzzle together for everybody for free. Maybe there’s a moment like that that Tony can keep in his back pocket so that when he does move over to TBS, they’ve got several weeks on TNT to tell everybody when and where they’re going to be and at the same time.
"Build anticipation much like they have with Punk and Danielson. Then 99.999% of the people that watch your show on TNT will probably follow you over, and you’ll see no loss in viewership. I think it’s a neutral move. I think it’s going to take a little bit of creativity to maximize or mitigate and shift because people are creatures of habit.
"Not everybody is like that, and they might not make a special note that AEW is moving over to TBS and might not check it out for a while. The way to mitigate that is to have several weeks where you promote that something big is going to happen with this big move. Go back and look at a lot of stuff WWE was doing when they were going to move to FOX. A smaller version of that will work and it’ll be just fine.
"I don’t think there will be more viewers because they’re on TBS. I don’t believe that, but I don’t think they’re going to take a big hit either."
H/T Wrestling Inc.
