Eric Bischoff believes all the mystique that CM Punk had is gone after his last year with All Elite Wrestling.
WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff was a recent guest on The Ten Count with Steve Fall to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked if he thinks it would be a smart business decision for WWE to bring back CM Punk if the opportunity presents itself, Bischoff doesn’t believe it would be a good move.
“I don’t think it would be. I think CM Punk shit the bed,” Eric Bischoff said. “I think everybody sees — when Tony Khan brought CM Punk into AEW, he still had that mystique, a pipe bomb mystique. He was this character that stood up to the man and walked away, and there’s a rebel or rebellious quality in that character that I think the average American admires. So Punk had this mystique and still had his fan base.
“And Tony Khan was able to take advantage of that. And over a very short period of time, that mystique began to just dissipate. It was like letting the air out of the balloon a little bit more each and every week. And CM Punk came in with great ratings, and then literally the next week started in a freefall back down to pre-Punk levels. You look at where AEW is in terms of week-to-week ratings. This is the only thing we can have to measure that’s public because the financial information is all private.
“We don’t really hear anything about the real financial information. We just get the top-line stuff. But ratings is the data that we have that we can go oh, okay, this is where this product is going…flatline. Shortly after CM Punk got there, it flatlined to pre-Punk levels. And I think that a lot of that has to do with people came. They were excited because of the aura and the mystique. They saw, and they went ehh.
“Not so much, a little bit but nothing special. And then for Punk to conduct himself in the manner in which he did, I think, left a bad taste in not only the fans mouths. Why would anybody want to hire a guy that’s willing to live publicly disparage the guy that’s writing him a check every week when he’s right next to you? Why would anybody want to be in business with that guy?”
When asked what he would have done in that situation, Bischoff believes he would have stood up with the microphone and ended the press conference.
“Tony’s not a physical guy. And I’m not suggesting that physicality on anybody’s part would have been the solution at that point. But in terms of taking control of the situation, I’m not going to say what Tony should have done,” Eric Bischoff said. “I’ll say what I would have done, what I think I would have done. You never really know until you’re in that spot. But Tony had a mic. He had his own mic. He could have grabbed that mic stood up and said, this conference is over. Thank you all very much. Shut down the audio. Boom, it’s over. And then sort it out.
“But to sit there and be thrashed and fileted like a fish by a guy that you’re writing a check to for five times more money than he’s really worth is mind-boggling to me. And again, I’m stubborn in some respects. I think the most important quality that anybody has in life is loyalty and integrity, above talent, and if someone would be that disloyal to me and show that lack of integrity.
“I would never want to be in business with him. I don’t care how much money I can make because it’s going to be a short-term win. You’re going to win for a minute, and you’re going to be sorry. Because that’s been the pattern, hasn’t it? It’s a well-established pattern. So no, I wouldn’t hire him back.”
READ MORE: Tony Khan Has Nothing But Positive Things To Say About CM Punk’s On-Air Contributions To AEW
What do you make of Eric Bischoff’s comments? Do you think WWE should bring him back if they were able to do so? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit The Ten Count with a link back to this article for the transcription.
