Eric Bischoff and the Dreadful State of Irrelevant Pro Wrestling Fans

There are only a few people in the business that I have a problem with. For the most part, I try to stay level headed, with the full understanding that not everyone is the same person outside of the ring as they are inside of it. Most of the time, what trickles out of World Wrestling Entertainment, Total Non-stop Action Wrestling, Ring of Honor, or any other promotion, can be hearsay, rumor, or simple misquotes.

In the case of one Eric Bischoff, whatever you read is probably what he said.

Eric Bischoff has a real problem with wrestling fans, and has taken every opportunity over the years to insult us, criticize us, and dismiss us. He specifically targets those of us online, as the particular segment of fans he is most irritated with.

He’s at it again, this time on his Twitter account.

"Seems like 90% of the audience loves what the loudest 10% hates. So who really matters? The 10%er's can't get over the fact that they are irrelevant. Ratings don't lie. Research doesn't lie. IWC smarks need to get over it."  

Funny, I thought that pro wrestling fans were the main source of life for any wrestling promotion, no matter how big or small. Despite who is running the company, or what television deals are in place, without fans to buy the tickets, the pay-per-views, the merchandise, how does the promotion make a dime?

Ratings plummet; there are empty seats in the arena; website hits go down; it’s a bad day for everyone involved when fans leave a promotion.

Simply put, when you lose the fans, you lose the reason you exist in the first place. The company will begin to wither away, dying a slow death, despite management’s best efforts to revive it.

But, Eric Bischoff should know that.

Here is the part where I don’t know what I’m talking about. I am just an irrelevant fan who doesn’t get it.

After all, it wasn’t Eric Bischoff, and the guaranteed contracts he handed out that allowed a guy to sit at home and get paid rather than show up and work, that helped kill the company. WCW’s death also had nothing do with the fact that he gave certain main-event guys creative control over their characters, so they alone could decide when and where they would win or lose a match.

And, please, I do not want to hear one of you other know-it-all irrelevant marks out there say that it was Eric Bischoff’s massive underutilization of talent that helped bury WCW.

I simply will not stand for it.

The fact is, WCW never died. It just went on the shelf for a while, until many years later when it could be downsized, repackaged, and reintroduced as TNA. Or, Impact Wrestling. Or, whatever they’re calling it now.

Sarcasm aside, let me clarify that I have no ill will against the performers in TNA. I consider Gunner a friend and a colleague, and I have mad respect for many of the guys in that locker room. I wish them nothing but the best.

But, TNA, in my opinion, is a train wreck, and the guy currently running off at the mouth, Eric Bischoff, seems to not be doing much about it.

For argument’s sake, let’s say that he’s right. Let’s say we are irrelevant, we don’t have any value as fans, or as critics, of the sport we love and follow everyday.

So, why say anything?

For a guy who feels that fans, and our money, makes no difference to the business that keeps letting him back in, he seems to have a lot to say about it.

On the flip side, Vince McMahon, the promoter of the number one wrestling company in the world, has no response when fans criticize his promotion.

Why? Because he is busy doing everything it takes to make his paying customers happy? Of course not.

WWE has been held to the fire more than any other promotion in pro wrestling history. They will continue to have their fair share of critics, despite everything they do right as a company.

Wrestling fans have a voice. WWE may not always hear it, but they do respect it. This is why Vince McMahon does not blurt out an insult toward fans whenever the mood strikes him. No matter how you look at it, it is not good for business.

Again, that does not mean that he listens. Sometimes it looks as though he could care less. But, every move he makes is in an effort to grow his company, and keep it thriving at the highest level possible. His way makes money. His way keeps fans coming back.

This is not Eric Bischoff’s way, a man who has been all about himself and his buddies in the business for years. To him, simply being in a position of power apparently denotes success. This is not how I see it.

What Eric Bischoff fails to realize is one simple truth that is painfully obvious. Wrestling fans do not exist only online.

Many of us do go to live events, buy the pay-per-views, the merchandise, do everything that true fans of the sport they love do.

But, when we are criticized, looked down upon, considered “irrelevant,” then we will not spend our hard earned money on tickets. The call will not be made on Sunday night to order the latest event, and more importantly, we will change the channel.

If Eric Bischoff were to lower himself to possibly read this ridiculous drivel, let me end by issuing an apology for my criticisms. I will now crawl back under the rock I came from and attempt to do what I can in order to, as Mr. Bischoff puts it, “get over it.”

Thank you, Eric, for your sage words of wisdom. I am forever in your debt.