Eric Bischoff: AEW Need A "Legitimate Larger Than Life Star"
Growth is needed, Bischoff believes
Feb 28, 2022
Speaking about All Elite Wrestling's TV ratings on his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff noted the promotion need a "legitimate larger than life star" if they want to compete with WWE Raw.
"AEW has to grow their business. They haven't thus far. Now they're inching up since NXT is no longer head to head. Dynamite, they're probably 10% or 12% some are estimating ahead of where they were this time last year. But they're still having a hard time consistently breaking a million viewers. It's up and down with a super loaded roster," Bischoff began.
"At some point, they're going to need a world champion, or two, a men's champion and a women's champion, they're going to need somebody that's a legitimate larger than life star, not just physically, but larger than life to a broader audience. Or they're going to have to accept the fact that AEW is basically a million viewers a week tops. I don't think that's what they want to do. Maybe they're happy with that. Maybe more importantly, maybe TBS is happy with that, and if they are, it doesn't really matter so much," he continued.
"But if they're not, and they want to grow, and they want to be doing 1,500,000 or they want to push Monday Night Raw in terms of ratings and get into that 1.6 or 1.7 (million) category, they got a long way to go, and they're going to need to focus on some larger than life type characters that are going to attract more than just the hardcore fanbase that they currently have."
Since December 15, AEW Dynamite has averaged just over 1 million total viewers and a 0.38 rating in the key 18-49 demographic.
H/T to WrestlingNews.co