Bischoff Rips CM Punk's AEW Ratings Impact; WWE UK PPV Rumors; 2-Night WrestleManias

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe and All Elite Wrestling.

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Bischoff Suggests Punk Hasn't Helped AEW's Ratings

Former WCW president Eric Bischoff had some choice words for CM Punk on his 83 Weeks podcast regarding Punk's impact on AEW's television ratings or lack thereof.

During an AEW discussion on the podcast (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), said the following regarding whether Punk has moved the needle for AEW as much as hoped:

"Punk hasn't delivered. Punk was the guy that came out and his first comments were, 'The addition of this talent was more significant than Scott Hall and Kevin Nash,' constantly making references to WCW because they want to be the company that WCW was back in the mid-'90s. There's these constant references to WCW. When Scott Hall and Kevin Nash came in, we took off. Punk, you came in and you s--t the bed, in terms of ratings."

Bischoff was referencing something Punk said after Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole made their AEW debuts at All Out in September.

At the time, Punk expressed his belief that himself, Danielson and Cole arriving in AEW was bigger than Hulk Hogan, Hall and Nash forming the nWo in WCW in 1996.

Punk's AEW debut after seven years away from wrestling was huge news, and it undoubtedly had a positive impact on the ratings at first.

While AEW didn't announce Punk's debut ahead of time, it was widely assumed he was set to appear on the Aug. 20 edition of Rampage in his hometown of Chicago.

Despite the show airing in the 10 p.m. ET timeslot on a Friday night, that episode of Rampage averaged an impressive 1.129 million viewers.

Ratings have dropped precipitously since then, though, even when it comes to shows that feature Punk.

Punk most recently wrestled on Rampage on Oct. 15 when he beat Matt Sydal in the opener, and that show brought in only 578,000 viewers.

Bischoff has taken great exception to the idea that AEW is anywhere near the level of WCW in the mid-to-late '90s when WCW was bringing in millions of viewers each week and beating WWE in a head-to-head competition on Monday nights.

AEW may reach that level at some point, but the numbers suggest Bischoff is right for now.

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WWE Reportedly Planning UK PPV in 2022

WWE released its pay-per-view schedule Monday for 2022, and it was notable that the event listed for Sept. 3 or 4 didn't include a PPV name or location.

According to Fightful Select (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), the current plan is for that show to take place in the United Kingdom.

It was noted in the same report that WWE has put an "increased focus" on holding stadium shows and making WWE pay-per-views a "destination" for fans.

Holding a pay-per-view in the UK is significant, since WWE has not put on a main roster pay-per-view there since Insurrextion in 2003.

The first official UK pay-per-view was SummerSlam 1992, followed by One Night Only in 1997. WWE then held two pay-per-views per year in the UK from 1998-2002 and finished up with Insurrextion 2003.

WWE did return to the UK for NXT TakeOver: London in 2015, and it also held three NXT UK TakeOver events there, with two in England and one in Wales.

A main roster UK pay-per-view has apparently been in the works for quite some time, as heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury divulged back in March that he was supposed to face Drew McIntyre at a UK PPV in 2020.

Fury said the plans got nixed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it seems as though WWE is back working toward a return to the UK.

It is unclear if Fury vs. McIntyre is still the plan for that show, but given how big of a star Fury is after beating Deontay Wilder again this month, bringing him in would be a major coup for WWE.

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WWE Reportedly Holding 2-Night WrestleManias Moving Forward

As part of its 2022 pay-per-view announcement Monday, WWE made it official that WrestleMania 38 will be a two-night event on April 2 and 3, 2022, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

That will mark the third consecutive year of two-night WrestleManias, and it reportedly may be here to stay.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News), it is presumed WWE will continue with two-night WrestleManias for the foreseeable future.

WrestleMania 36 in 2020 marked the first-ever two-night WrestleMania, and it was essentially born out of necessity since the COVID-19 pandemic forced WWE to hold the event inside the WWE Performance Center with no fans in attendance.

The two-night format was well received by fans, as it allowed for more wrestlers to get on the card and didn't burn out the viewers, as they got to watch two three-hour shows rather than a six- or seven-hour marathon.

WWE went back to the format for WrestleMania 37 this year with fans in attendance, and it seemed to work well once again.

WrestleMania has long been one of the biggest spectacles in sports entertainment, and getting more people involved and more eyes on the product by spreading it over an entire weekend will only serve to make it even bigger.

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