Eric Bischoff On Nick Gage Deathmatches – “It’s Bad For The Industry”
Nick Gage may have headlined AEW Fight For The Fallen but one man who probably wasn’t tuning in to see Gage face Chris Jericho was former WCW President Eric Bischoff.
Gage has been at the forefront of the wrestling industry in the past few weeks. The king of the deathmatch was announced as Jericho’s second labour by MJF at night 2 of Fyter Fest. Then at GCW Homecoming Gage shockingly lost his GCW Championship to Matt Cardona, eliciting a strong response from the crowd who showered Cardona with beer cans and bottles.
At AEW Fight For The Fallen Nick Gage squared off with Jericho in the main event where pizza cutters and fluorescent light tubes weren’t enough for AEW’s Demo-God picking up the win.
Speaking on his 83 Weeks podcast [first available early and ad-free at AdFreeShows.com], Eric Bischoff discussed his thoughts on Nick Gage’s style of wrestling and says he’s not a fan.
Bischoff explained:
“I just don’t think that kind of thing [works]. Number one, it doesn’t interest me, that style of wrestling. I think it’s bad for the industry in general, I think it appeals to such a small portion of the audience that a larger portion of the audience is turned off by it.”
“I recognize that that’s my subjective taste. They’re not trying to appeal to me so I’m not criticizing them, [“them”] being AEW for doing it. I’m just telling you how I feel – in this case as someone who’s been in the business for a minute and as a viewer.”
Nick Gage was recently a subject of the documentary series Dark Side Of The Ring. Gage’s life story is an incredible yet dark tale of someone who spent time in prison for a bank robbery as well as someone who was declared dead for several minutes following one of his deathmatches.
Bischoff felt viewers could come away from that episode with a skewed perspective on the wrestling business:
“When Dark Side of the Ring focuses too much on that story, I think it gives the entire industry a bad name. […] When people see that kind of thing they walk away with a perception of what wrestling is. That perception becomes harmful in the long run.”
“I love the storytelling I see out of the Dark Side for the most part, but when you get too dark like that, I just think it’s not good for the business long term overall.”
With Jericho overcoming Nick Gage, MJF announced the third of Chris Jericho’s labours. Jericho will face a name from his past and will have to overcome him by nailing a move from the top rope.
Credit: 83 Weeks via AdFreeShows.com