Eric Bischoff Speaks On What Conrad Thompson Brings To The ’83 Weeks’ Podcast, And Discusses WWE’s Latest TV Deals

Eric Bischoff talks everything pro wrestling.

Former President of World Championship Wrestling Eric Bischoff is transitioning his knowledge of the sport of pro wrestling to his ’83 Weeks’ podcast which is hosted by Conrad Thompson. The two go over WCW’s dominance of the ratings during the ‘Monday Night Wars’ between WCW and WWF. Eric Bischoff was at the helm of the competition between the two companies along with Vince McMahon.

While being interviewed by the New York Post, Bischoff stated that there are very few voices currently in the wrestling business who can speak to exactly what transpired during the ratings war between WCW and WWE.

“There are very few voices that can speak with any kind of authority or credibility on what happened back during the time when WCW and WWF were going head to head and I think the audience is interested in that period of time, clearly,” Bischoff said. “And like I said, nobody could speak to it quite the way I could.”

As mentioned, Conrad Thompson is the host of ’83 Weeks’ and at times Thompson pushes Bischoff to get the answers that the listeners desire. Bischoff shared that conversing with Conrad at times is like being on a witness stand but that is what makes their show what it is.

“He’ll ask a question in three or four different ways much like a prosecuting attorney would,” Bischoff said of Thompson. “I often feel like I’m sitting on a witness stand being cross-examined, but that’s what makes the show entertaining and interesting.”

Bischoff has been against WWE and worked in the company as well as the on-screen general manager of Monday Night RAW. The weekly television show RAW has earned WWE a deal for $265 million per year from NBCUniversal. Along with that deal in itself, WWE has also reached a deal with FOX for their weekly show ‘SmackDown Live’ which FOX will be picking up in 2019 for a reported $1 billion dollars. Bischoff stated that WWE’s recent deals have closed the doors for other wrestling companies to move to a larger network such as FOX or a FOX affiliate seeing as how WWE will soon be under that banner.

“Anybody who comes along and wants to sell a wrestling show, guess who you are not gonna sell it to? You are not going to sell it to FOX and any of its affiliates and oh by the way, you are not going to sell it to NBCUniversal or any of its affiliates,” Bischoff said. “So the world in terms of one’s ability to sell a traditional [wrestling] television show to a traditional television or broadcast partner has just collapsed.”

Speaking of the host of ’83 Weeks’, Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp did have the opportunity to chat with Conrad Thompson for an interview where the two parties went over a variety of topics including Conrad’s career in podcasting among other subjects.