83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff

[flyonthewall2983]

It's official

 

https://twitter.com/HeyHeyItsConrad/status/978769512681082881

 

 

 

Quote

The new @EBischoff show will NOT be "Bischoff on Wrestling" in name, format, or co-host. No politics, tucked tees, or whatever. We're doing deep dives on WCW mostly (some AWA or WWE). We haven't announced the name or a debut date yet but we will release more details next week.

 

I'm looking forward to this because I get the feeling Conrad can break through some of Bischoff's bullshit, and call him out on it like he does with Bruce.

[fakeplastictrees]

WHW sold me on Conrad as a co-host. I will definitely check out the Bischoff podcast. Hopefully Bischoff isn't 'working' the entire time and is open to sharing warts and all.

[Victator]

I think Conrad has become insufferable. Seems like now that Flair was keeping him in check. For some reason the last straw was him saying Tom Zenk was better than Lex Luger.

[Cox]

Conrad doesn’t break through any of Bruce’s bullshit. He is basically a smart mark/Meltzer strawman that exists for Bruce to knock down so that smart fans can claim that he asks Bruce the tough questions while Bruce runs roughshod over him. I’m starting to tire of the format to be honest. He’s finally going to get the podcast he thought he was getting when he got Tony to start doing these but between tiring of the format and Bischoff being an even more smug version of Bruce, I can’t imagine a podcast I’d want to listen to less that doesn’t feature Vince Russo.

[The Thread Killer]

I don't mind Conrad Thompson, but he is definitely an acquired taste. He took quite a while to grow on me, at first I didn't really care for him or Bruce Prichard at all, but in time I became a fan. I'm actually looking forward to this new show. I saw the WWE Documentary they did on Bischoff, I saw his (surprisingly good) interview with JBL on Legends, and most importantly I heard the interview he did with Steve Austin on Austin's podcast. He's arrogant and smug, no doubt - but a lot of that is an act, I believe. And I actually find him to be an interesting interview, intelligent and fairly insightful on certain topics.

 

My only major concern is his memory, he tends to "not remember" a lot of things, whether that be by design or not, I don't know.

[Victator]

Conrad doesn’t break through any of Bruce’s bullshit. He is basically a smart mark/Meltzer strawman that exists for Bruce to knock down so that smart fans can claim that he asks Bruce the tough questions while Bruce runs roughshod over him. I’m starting to tire of the format to be honest. He’s finally going to get the podcast he thought he was getting when he got Tony to start doing these but between tiring of the format and Bischoff being an even more smug version of Bruce, I can’t imagine a podcast I’d want to listen to less that doesn’t feature Vince Russo.

I found it pretty easy to figure out when Bruce is bullshitting. Or the truth even when he is. Sometimes Bruce seems like a cult member who can't break his programming. But I can't deal with the impressions, like two of them are good. Is the Cornette one ironic?

 

The Schiavonie show kept getting derailed with Conrad wanting to talk about dicks.

[fakeplastictrees]

I like Conrad now, but the man is not exactly an early 2000's Lafite-Rothschild Bordeaux Blend. Getting into Bruce's podcast was a chore mainly due Bruce irregularly shifting in and out of work mode, but Conrad's overall craziness definitely did not help. Maybe WHW works better for me because Conrad works best when he is not being forced into playing the straight man to a person's gimmick. Never got around to listening to Bischoff's podcast as I consider him a shill. I believe Conrad might be able to get Bischoff to loosen up and get him out of work mode. Bischoff is doing his best to protect his legacy, and I totally understand why, but I hope this new show doesn't turn into a PR pitch to get Bischoff a job behind the scenes working for WWE.

[Matt D]

The trick with these are to listen to them at 1.5x speed and only in curated situations. For the Bischoff one, the trick will be getting deep into the minutia.

[Victator]

Does Bischoff really want to work in wrestling. I think peace has hurt some of these interviews. People aren't angry and are weary of reopening wounds. So you get a lot of polite responses. Which is better for them personally, but not great listening.

[El-P]

Not sure I want to spend my time listening to Bischoff.

As far as Conrad does, he can get grating at points. The forced loud laugh is one of my pet peeve about him. So obvious when he does it.

[SomethingSavage]

I'm curious, so I'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

 

Regardless of how much of it is just a work & strictly shtick, a lot of what Conrad gets away with on Bruce's show is owed to their friendship. What's his deal with Eric? Are they close personal friends like that? If not, then there's no way he "calls out" bullshit or addresses all the Observer quotes the same way he does on Something To Wrestle.

 

I like Conrad well enough though. He's got his faults, but that comes with familiarity of ANY host over the long haul. You just need to know what you're getting into with the guy. He plays a uniquely different role on his two existing shows, so at least there's some sense of variety.

[BigBadMick]

Conrad's an interesting chap in that he's been reading the observer for at least 20 years, has sort of been on the inside to some extent for several years, but i don't think there's a poster here that knows less than him.

[flyonthewall2983]

83 Weeks With Eric Bischoff

 

Source

[Bix]

Hopefully they've been over this but with how hostile the Bischoff and Meltzer dynamic has gotten I really hope Conrad just uses the Torch and/or non newsletter sources on this show. As grating as the Prichard/Meltzer stuff has gotten, this would be so much worse.

[flyonthewall2983]

My guess is that this will cover each episode of Nitro during the 83-week run it beat Raw in the ratings. It's a clever, if not entirely original concept, focusing on one particular point in time. It could even mean that each episode is just a watch-along, which would almost eliminate the need to refer much to the newsletters at all.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

If it’s 83 weeks of watch-alongs, there is no way they will make it to the end. This is some of my favorite stuff ever, so I will definitely give this one a try but I can’t say I am overly optimistic about it because of how much of a tool Bischoff generally comes off as.

[flyonthewall2983]

The launch date and first topic will be revealed sometime this week. They have a poll going on their official Twitter and it's looking like the topic will be about "The Third Man", referring to who Hall and Nash's partner would have been at Bash At The Beach '96.

 

Should be fascinating whether or not Eric defends the idea of bringing in Mabel for that spot.

[flyonthewall2983]

I glanced at the news, but Bischoff announced that he's doing a show of his own on Twitch, the day after each episode of this airs as like some sort of post-show explanation. Not interested in it one iota since it's clear to me he's going to spin whatever might come out between him and Conrad every Monday.

[flyonthewall2983]

[Victator]

I can't imagine Bischoff will tolerate Conrad's shit for long.

[The Thread Killer]

I have to admit, I am looking forward to this. I listened to a few minutes of the preview clip, and Conrad sounds a lot more formal and organized than he does on STW, and miles apart from his shtick on WHW. That was a concern of mine. It's probably more formal because it's the premiere episode and I imagine with time and comfort he'll relax, but I liked the brief clip that I heard. Hopefully Conrad will use his research (which he apparently has people doing for him now) to call Eric out when he's B.S.ing, but he won't revert into dickjoke mode like he does on WHW. Like I said earlier, I actually like Bischoff in this setting from what I have seen. I'm going to give it a good chance, and the timing couldn't be better because I am rapidly getting tired of STW.

[The Thread Killer]

I listened to the first episode tonight, and I thought it was excellent. It turned out exactly the way I hoped it would. Conrad was prepared and much more professional than he is on STW and WHW. Eric did claim he didn't remember quite a few things, but he also remembered quite a bit too. He provided some interesting details and insights I had never heard about the formation of the nWo. I really enjoyed this a lot.

[flyonthewall2983]

This is doing very well on iTunes, nearly topping the overall podcast charts which is unheard of for a wrestling show.

[fakeplastictrees]

First episode was pretty good. Bischoff didn't sound like he was working. Hopefully as time goes on he will feel less and less pressure to defend his legacy.

[Matt D]

I'd put it this way. There are things that I always sort of accepted (like the fact Mabel was at least considered for the role of the third man or that Savage vs Hogan was promised to Slim Jims at Halloween Havoc) that I'm now at least willing to doubt.