If there's one person who might know what bringing in big stars will do to a company full of strong in-ring talents trying to make a name for themselves, it's Eric Bischoff. The former head of WCW did exactly that when alienated a group of his young future stars when he landed big names like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. He's hinting AEW is about to experience some similar problems.
Speaking on his 83 Weeks podcast about the rumored acquisitions by AEW of Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, Bischoff is concerned for how all of this will work. Acknowledging that both would be big gets for the company, adding such high profile names could also come with unforeseen challenges.
Specifically, Bischoff suggested that the young talent aren't going to like taking a back seat, even if it's good for AEW to have such a deep pool of stars. "If both [Punk and Bryan] go to AEW, that’s an amazingly cool thing," Bischoff said. But he asked, "What’s gonna happen to a lot of that younger talent that AEW started out with that people were so excited about? What was the excitement when AEW became a thing? "
When you have this many WWE stars coming in, there's simply not enough television time for other members of the AEW roster. For faces that wrestling fans hadn't really seen before, that's one of the things that made AEW so unique. He asked what happens to the core of the company when the focus shifts?
Bischoff Isn't Sure About The Timing Either
Bischoff also suggested AEW not bring these guys in at the same time. "I think each dilutes the other," he said. "You’re spreading the heat, so to speak."
Again, Bischoff knows what he's talking about here. He made this mistake in WCW when guys like Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero and Chis Benoit all felt the squeeze because WCW chose to focus on older talent than helping create new stars.
(H/T- 411mania)