Eric Bischoff is getting a chance to put what he preaches to the test — and plans on backing it up.
The former WCW president will be the executive producer of MLW’s show at Queens’ Melrose Ballroom on Dec 5, appropriately named “Eric Bischoff’s One Shot” (7 p.m., YouTube).
He has spent the past six years – and even more so recently, on his “83 Weeks” podcast – talking about what he believes works and doesn’t when producing a wrestling show.
This one‐off opportunity sounded like a no-pressure chance to work with MLW CEO Court Bauer and COO Jared St. Laurent to put some of his ideas into practice and “walk the walk” after close to two decades away from being in that position.
“Now I’ve got a chance to kind of get in there and, you know, put up or shut up,” Bischoff said in a recent Zoom interview. “And I like that. I like putting pressure on myself. That to me, that’s fun. I like the idea of being able to collaborate with Jared and Court and his team. That’s a whole different kind of vibe that I miss.”
The task for the 69-year-old Bischoff isn’t to mess with any of MLW’s creative plans and decide winners and losers, but to fine-tune the product in his vision, enhance its characters and try to put a new spin on some wrestling staples.
“My role in this really is going to be taking the story that they have or they’ve had and presenting it a way that just feels a little different,” Bischoff said. “I’m hoping to do backstage interviews a little differently than they normally do them because everybody does them the same way and they all suck. Some are better than others, but it’s always a person, I hold a stick mic and you talk about you, ack, ack. There are different ways of doing that.”
Bischoff, who with the help of creating the nWo in WCW, beat WWE in the rating for 83 straight weeks during the late 90s, is hoping to take the MLW audience on a special one-night journey from Queens – grab their attention early and build anticipation for what’s coming at the end.
It’s something he wishes was more prevalent in wrestling today.
“I think the way we thread stories throughout a show, particularly a wrestling show, is something that doesn’t get enough attention sometimes from producers,” Bischoff said. “So I’m anxious to do that. I’m anxious to work with the talent and see if I can bring out a little bit different parts of their character no matter what they’re doing.”
One person in particular he is looking forward to working with is former WWE star Matt Riddle, who owns a shot at the MLW World championship at a time and place of his choosing. Bischoff was a big fan of Riddle’s character while watching his RKBro days with Randy Orton.
“Matt’s got a very unique character, and I’d love to see how much fun I could have with that character and how much fun he could have with me, having fun with his character,” Bischoff said.
The deal with MLW came to completion while Bischoff interviewed actor-turned-wrestler Paul Walter Hauser on his podcast on Halloween.
Hauser conferenced Bauer in and he offered Bischoff the chance to work with MLW. The WWE Hall of Famer has been impressed with the in-roads the Golden Globe-winning Hauser has made into wrestling.
“He’s going out conquering the feature film world, becoming a big star, so he can come back and be a star in wrestling,” Bischoff said. “I love reverse engineering anything, and he’s reverse engineering a wrestling career. It’s awesome.”
This week’s MLW show will be the first time Bischoff, also recently announced for an appearance with NXT, will have this name on the marquee on a wrestling show and the first one he will produce in New York City, a place WCW steered clear of because of WWE’s hold on the era and Madison Square Garden. But it’s the energy of the New York fans he hopes adds something to this experience.
He can’t help but remember the atmosphere for “ECW One Night Stand” at Hammerstein Ballroom with WWE in 2005 when pretty much every fan “wanted to kick my ass.”
“There’s an energy with New York crowds that’s different,” Bischoff said. “It’s not always better, but it’s different. And my experience with New York crowds has been really, really fun, sometimes just on the edge of dangerous, but that’s kind of fun too.”
It really is about having fun for Bischoff, who will be donating his fee for the MLW event to the Tunnels for Towers Foundation, which he and his wife, Loree, have been supporting for years.
“I want it to mean more than just a check, so that’s a good way to do it.”
Bischoff is hoping to get the job done for MLW and has a different barometers for what a successful night will look like for him – not caring as much what the internet wrestling community thinks afterward.
“I’ll know if it was successful or not based on the vibe of the people I’m working with,” Bischoff said. “If the talent is having fun, if the people in the audience are having a great time, probably more importantly, if Court and the rest of the team who work on the show all the time, if they walk away going, ‘Wow, that was a positive experience. I’m really glad we did it.’ I’ll know that pretty quickly, and that’s all I hope for.”
