Eric Bischoff Explains Why He Likes Big Wrestling Events To Be Held In Arenas Over Stadiums

Eric Bischoff gave his thoughts on various topics on the latest episode of his 83 Weeks Podcast. Here are the highlights:

On whether he likes big shows in arenas or stadiums: 

“I prefer an arena because the energy is contained. I think the audio is different in Arena. You can feel the audience’s reaction in a different way. I love the spectacle, the big beautiful wide shots and all that, and I understand why they’re important. In terms of my enjoyment of the event, you work if you’re there, maybe even more so if you live in the venue. I much prefer a read-up because that energy is contained and catches people. It just elevates everybody’s level of excitement, enthusiasm, or heat when it’s appropriate. When you have a chance to confine 10 or 15 or 20,000 people in a venue, the energy is just different.”

On WCW’s limited funds in 1993: 

“At that time, because we have limited funds. The reason for this, and I’ve talked about this before, is that it’s not news. The reason I wanted to cut the house shows down or eliminate them was that they weren’t generating revenue, and there was no plan in place to create more revenue. And we had a limited amount of resources. So I wanted to put the resources we did have, i.e. the budget. I wanted to put those assets into something that could affect the arena business down the road in the future, make the product better, make it compelling, and sound familiar. Make it compelling; don’t just have excuses for matches and venues and events and venues, but make it provide a compelling reason for it. And that took time, so when Zayn [Breslov] came in, it wasn’t like he was under pressure to turn the business around right away. Zane became part of the plan, which was to eliminate house shows that didn’t make any sense, focus our resources on those markets that didn’t make sense, and take advantage of Zane’s reputation and relationships in those markets.”

If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit 83 Weeks with an h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.