The latest episode of former WCW President Eric Bischoff’s Bischoff on Wrestling Overrun podcast is now available via the BoW general podcast feed. It features Eric chatting with former WWE Superstars Ken Anderson and Shawn Daivari!
Ken and Shawn chat in-depth with Eric for a majority of the interview about their new The Academy: School For Professional Wrestling in Minnepolis, MN. You can find more info about it HERE.
You can find some of Shawn’s comments transcribed below. The full interview is available in the embeded audio player at the top of this page.
Subscribe to Bischoff on Wrestling on iTunes
SD: In the late 90s MMA wasn’t a red hot thing so if you were a tough guy the thing you would do, especially when the NWO blew up, every bouncer and bodybuilder and tough guy wanted to be a pro wrestler. They wanted to be like Steve Austin or like they were in the NWO. I came in as a high school, 5’8″, maybe 150 pounder and they just beat the dog piss out of me everyday. Whatever success I had with my talent and ability had nothing to do with how tough I was. I never had a promoter call and say, “Hey, I’ve got this kid in Minneapolis and you can beat the dog piss out of him for forty minutes and he’ll keep getting up!” It was usually, “Do you draw money?” None of that other stuff matters. Who cares? What we really drive in when we train is that success is in the eye of the beholder. There is a very specific thing where you can just tell with someone that their values are the things that have been instilled in them. Like, “Oh, he trained with Booker T.” Or Bubba in Florida or wherever else. Our thing is asking, “What is your expectation of success?” WWE is the place where you can make money and that’s the biggest platform around the world but… do you want that? Is that your idea of success? Maybe they say, “No, I want to go to Mexico and be a luchadore.” We say, “Ok, great! That’s how we’ll train you.” We cater our program to you and what you want to do. Maybe you don’t want to go anywhere and you’ve got a wife and kids and six years at a job and you just want to do some bar shows around the area. Great, we’ll cater a program to you. You want to be the next John Cena? Cool, we can cater that program too. Ken and I’s idea of success is your idea of success. Our job is coaching.
A brand new episode of Bischoff on Wrestling will be released later today and will feature Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff as Eric’s guest. If you have a question for Eric and Joe please use the hashtag #BischKoff on Twitter.
Some of the other topics they discuss include:
- Why Shawn and Ken have decided to open their Academy for pro wrestling in Minneapolis
- How Ken has adapted to the midwest as opposed to the east coast
- Eric and Ken’s experiences working together and elk hunting
- The response the Minneapolis area has had to their Academy
- Minneapolis not having a big name talent break out
- How they prefer to train their students
- Catering their curriculum to what the students want to achieve
- Using improv comedy as a tool to help pro wrestlers in their training
- Putting importance on storytelling over just “dives” and “spots”
- How they help wrestling students develop promo skills
- Variety being important in independent pro wrestling shows
- What Ken got in trouble for in WWE
- Shawn’s fondest memories of his time in WWE
- More…
This week’s episode of Bischoff on Wrestling features Eric and Nick talking about a wide variety of pro wrestling news headlines from the past week. Including:
- The Sports Business Journal’s report that the median age of pro wrestling fans is 54
- Why WWE caters to children while their audience is getting older
- ICW moving their video library from FITE to the WWE Network
- What WWE’s plan may be in working with independent promotions like ICW and EVOLVE
- The rumored backstage WWE pitch to make John Cena a “free agent” on RAW and Smackdown
- Bray Wyatt’s divorce
- Dennis Rodman’s current trip to North Korea
- Jesse Ventura bringing his show The World According To Jesse to the RT Network
- Kurt Angle’s rumored bout with Triple H
- More…
Eric also takes some time at the end of the show to answer a slew of fan questions. Some of the topics that Eric addresses in the #BischoffOnWrestling mailbag are:
- The last video game he played
- What was cut out of his recent Table For 3 appearance
- Whether Vince Russo will ever be allowed on Bischoff on Wrestling
- Why the TNA announce team didn’t change when Eric and Hulk joined TNA
- How he would fix TNA today if given the chance
- What Braun’s return to WWE may look like
- Who was responsible for the name WCW Nitro
- The Great American Bash 2000 and all the gimmick matches that were on it
- Vince refusing to turn Roman Reigns heel
- What his involvement was in Matrats
- How wrestlers can get “real heat” today
- Whether he ever got into actual fights with fans during his WCW run
- More…
