Eric Bischoff Discusses CM Punk’s ESPN Interview

On a recent episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast, Eric Bischoff discussed various aspects of the premiere episode of AEW Collision, including CM Punk’s highly anticipated return in the main event and Punk’s controversial interview with ESPN. Bischoff acknowledged that Punk’s mic skills are strong and expected the interview to have significant value. He said,

“Perhaps he would’ve gotten more value out of that, but I would expect that the Punk interview would’ve been strong because he is good on the mic. There’s no question about that. And I mean look, he was — there was a lot of things that were perfect, right? I mean, in Chicago, probably pretty close to a sellout if not a sellout. Certainly, enough hype now around CM Punk.”

He further speculated that the pre-interview buzz about potential controversies might have been a strategic buildup to attract more viewers. Bischoff also noted that if there was a non-disparagement agreement in place, it could have been a calculated move to generate intrigue around the interview. He added,

“I think I even mentioned on Twitter that you know — look, if there’s a non-disparagement agreement in place given all of the other things that were going on from a litigious point of view. If there’s a non-disparagement clause in Punk’s agreement — if, and I don’t know that there is, but that’s what I’ve heard. Then I thought, ‘You know, this is just a work, they’re building up all of this angst and drama about this so-called interview just to get people to listen to the interview. We spent three or four days getting the word out that, ‘Oh my God, this is gonna be another catastrophe. And ‘Oh, the wheels are gonna fall off even, whatever.’”

“And it came out and I actually think Punk handled it well. He apologized, or he said that he apologized to Tony Khan. And that — look, I think Punk would’ve been better served had he apologized sooner, like months ago. And kind of cleared that air, and just taken responsibility for something that I still consider to be abhorrent. But if he apologized to Tony, and I believe he did, I think the interview actually cleared the air. You know, Punk did go into a little bit more of an explanation about his issues with [Hangman] Page and the chop in the face and all that. And that was a little unnecessary I think, given everything else that was going on in that interview. But overall, I thought it was a good interview and I think it served Punk well. And I actually think it served AEW well, so I was happy to see it.”

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