On a recent edition of his “83 Weeks” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff discussed the incident with Maxxine Dupri where she was booed at a recent WWE live event, the future of the WWE product, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On whether WWE will lean into more risky programming with RAW’s move to Netflix: “The interesting thing will be, if that’s the case — and I agree with you, it looks like that’s going to happen clearly. Being me, and this is the part of having spent time in the pressure cooker of being an executive, I’ll be curious to see how that affects potential sponsorship and advertisers for Smackdown. Does it? Media buyers aren’t going to ‘Oh, that’s Raw on Netflix.’ Media buyers work for the company that’s buying the advertising. Media buyers, they’re agents, right? So if you’re a car company, you’re gonna go to your ad agency, and within that age ad agency there is a media buying group. And that media buying group buys the best media that they can find most efficiently on a cost per 1000 basis to deliver the impact the advertiser is looking for against the audience that is the target audience. And that’s just basically how it works.
“But the people that are on the buying side, that do the buying, these are not wrestling fans. These are not people that listen to wrestling podcasts, read dirt sheets, go online, find out what’s going on. They have zero knowledge of the industry, generally speaking. Not 100% of the time, but generally speaking. If you put 100 of these people in a room — because they’re New York and LA based people, right there in the ad industry, they’re Fifth Avenue kind of people, right? If you put 100 of them in a room and asked him to tell you the difference between Raw and SmackDown, couldn’t do it. Most of them don’t even know what Raw and Smackdown is. They’re buying numbers all day. Professional wrestling as a whole, if you ask them about, ‘What wrestling companies are in the professional wrestling business that currently have television shows?’ Out of 100 people, if five of them, 10 of them could answer, I’d be surprised. I’d be pleasantly surprised.”
On Maxxine Dupri getting booed at a live event and mentioning it to social media: “To me, that’s exactly how you don’t use social media. I don’t want to know what you’re really like. I want to buy into your character. I don’t want to know your feels, or your virtues. I want to believe in your character, especially when you’re promoting your social media under your character name with your character images. I just don’t want that. I want social media — as a fan, I appreciate and enjoy talent who use their social media and stay within character. That’s just me. And the other reason I don’t like it is because all it’s going to do is encourage more bad behavior. You’re acknowledging bad behavior. What happens when you acknowledge bad behavior on social media? You get more of it. It just doesn’t make any sense to me to try to use social media to mitigate or soften a situation like we’re talking about.
“As far as the talent is concerned, suck it up babe. You’re in the entertainment business… it’s part of the process; you have to learn. And you certainly have to learn how to toughen up and not be emotionally affected by it. If you’re that sensitive and you’re going to be affected so badly by somebody booing you because you had a bad night, then you’re in the wrong business. Suck it up. Use it, turn it around, do some jujitsu on that s**t. And make it work for you, as opposed to working against you. And ask your friends not to feel sorry for you publicly, because all that’s gonna do is encourage people to do it even more. It was a mistake, as far as, ‘Should fans or shouldn’t they? Is it a rule, that they step over the line?’… you’re coming to an event so people can express extreme emotion. Cheering, booing. If you’re lucky, throwing stuff. And getting so emotional that they lose control. That’s your job. So if you have a job where you know you’re soliciting and trying to create extreme emotion amongst an audience who’s spending good money to go there, and just let that s**t loose, and you happen to have a bad night, get booed, suck it up.”
In a recent episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff discussed various topics, including the incident involving Maxxine Dupri being booed at a WWE live event, the future of WWE programming, and the impact of social media on wrestling talent.
One of the main topics of discussion was the potential shift towards more risky programming with RAW’s move to Netflix. Bischoff expressed curiosity about how this move would affect potential sponsorships and advertisers for Smackdown. He explained that media buyers, who work for companies purchasing advertising, are not wrestling fans and have little knowledge of the industry. Therefore, it remains to be seen how the move to Netflix will impact the perception and reception of WWE programming among advertisers.
Bischoff also addressed the incident involving Maxxine Dupri, who was booed at a live event and subsequently mentioned it on social media. He expressed his disapproval of talent using social media to showcase their personal feelings and virtues, as he believes fans want to buy into the character portrayed by wrestlers. He emphasized the importance of staying within character on social media and not acknowledging or encouraging bad behavior from fans. Bischoff advised talent to toughen up and not let negative reactions affect them emotionally, as it is part of the entertainment business.
Furthermore, Bischoff discussed the role of extreme emotions in professional wrestling events. He stated that fans attend these events to express their emotions, whether it be cheering, booing, or even throwing things. Wrestlers should expect and embrace these extreme reactions, understanding that it is part of their job to elicit such responses from the audience. Bischoff encouraged talent to use negative reactions as motivation and turn them around to their advantage.
Overall, Bischoff’s insights shed light on the potential challenges and considerations WWE faces with its programming shift to Netflix, as well as the importance of maintaining character consistency on social media and handling negative fan reactions in a professional manner. As the wrestling industry continues to evolve, it is crucial for talent to adapt and navigate these aspects of their careers effectively.