ERIC BISCHOFF's 83 WEEKS | "WCW 1999 = AEW 2024" | *New Episode*
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson take a look back 25 years to Monday Nitro (05.17.99) and discuss the beginning of the end of WCW. Eric shares details on the direction and struggles the company was experiencing at the time and draws a parallel to what AEW appears to be going through now.
Watch along with Eric and Conrad on Peacock, season 5/episode 19
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Eric looks at WCW in 1999 and sees AEW in 2024... agree?
Yea
Nah hes just bitter about tks little comment to him still😂
Well no atleast y'all do around 3.6 mil to 4.8 million viewership yet even we still couldn't hold it down
no NOTT
Aew isn't even in 1999 wcws league
Aew will never have the same feeling are spark of wcw
Agree I got into wrestling by watching nitro!
Nitro was awesome brings back memories
they already did fool
@@BEEFSERPENT when?
Anyone else catch how concerned Dave Meltzer was with stories in 1999 but now AEW doesnt need them? 🤣
Eric, thanks for all the memories you gave me through my childhood. The Monday night wars, I was a Chanel flipper. Not everything was great, on both shows, looking back on it. But man, was I glued to the TV.
Eric Bischoff never ruined WCW I can't stand when people say that. Eric Bischoff is a genius.
LOL
Right. He's literally the most successful wrestling booker in history not named McMahon. He made history and paved the way for AEW to even be possible and smarks to bury him.
All he did was rip off Ted Turner
He didn't, but he DID make mistakes. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.
It's the "cool thing to do", sadly. Some people would rather stew in their arrogance.
Is Conrad finally coming around? We all want it to succeed but 600k views is really bad
I don’t think he wasn’t coming around but they’re on a show so there needs to be a dynamic and plus shit talking comes off as petty
I actually enjoyed podcast. Conrad wasn't overly annoying about his AEW bias. Refreshing to say
Yes, have to give Conrad credit when he is being unbiased.
It's so funny how ignorant people are about ratings. Aew is going to get a TV rights increase and a new deal based on how well they do for the network
Maybe it was because I was youger but I could still watch WCW in 99. AEW in 2024 no.
Same here, Hannibal. Love your channel!
Probably because wcw still had a few stars you could believe in to some degree. Aew hires past their primes though still good wrestlers and waste their debuts/momentum
Even if some of the stories were goofy , they were still stories .
They had stars. They had athletes. They had stories. And even if they stories were bad, they weren't intentionally pumping out bad stories as an attempt to troll WWF fans.
Early 99 wcw wasn't terrible, ddp winning the belt got me watching it more than wwf in April but summer was brutal for WCW
WCW 2001 > AEW
By leaps and bounds. I'd still be watching Nitro today had WCW never died. I gave up on AEW in 2022 late summer before Brawl out happened. Because even before that i saw the writing on the wall and took a life boat off the sinking ship as a wrestling fan. lol.
@@zeromagnum2811 That’s a great point. If WCW had stayed around I wouldn’t have checked out of wrestling like I did. Think i lasted a few years after then I peaced out.
@zeromagnum2811 aew is getting a new tv deal and an increase its so funny people comparing it to wcw 1999 and beyond. Nothing to compare wcw was dying and aew is going to get a TV rights increase and probably get a streaming deal as well. The ignorant people will be shocked when it's announced lol
@@PIP-zf9yb Good for them. Hope they become watchable, and learn what a good story is.
@kalebblair4073 ya I'm fine with people thinking it sucks I just laughter at dipshits who actually think it's gping away when all signs point to them getting a new and bigger deal. I love EB and hid podcasts but he doesn't believe what he says when discussing aew future media deals. He isn't that ignorant that's just for the show
I was 10 years old the night of Starrcade 97, I was a wrestling obsessed kid who never watched wrestling for good or bad booking decisions, I just watched, enjoyed, and went through all the emotions. Kids back then weren’t wired or smart to any of that - no backstage stuff, what these guys did in their spare time, definitely not ratings, we just watched. When it ended we’d talk about it with our friends, and anticipate the next show. I say all that to say this.. I absolutely hated the ending to Starrcade 97 as a kid, and it completely changed me as a fan. Meaning, I questioned the decision of the finish, at 10! I just didn’t understand it, and I wasn’t happy for Sting, I felt bad that he didn’t get a proper (clean) moment. Moving forward, I started wondering if wrestling was completely scripted (again, we weren’t smart to the business like that back then. Kayfabe was very much alive), i started watching how things were being “booked,” I started reading dirt sheets. I still loved wrestling, I just watched it differently now. The innocent kid who was oblivious to the behind the scenes stuff, and just watched for the love of pro wrestling was gone… Fast forward to today I am obviously smart to the business (who isn’t), but I’m back to just watching for enjoyment. I see the news, I know what’s going on backstage (for the most part), we see these people and how they live their lives via social, but none of that interest me. Wrestling is better when you watch like you’re a young kid again. Root for who you like, boo who you don’t, follow the stories, and enjoy the show. (Sometimes bad booking does need to be called out tho)
Man Conrad’s Mando ad gagged me out
Watch tooney Town wrestling with HHH and Conrad its hilarious.
The scrote slasher 9000
When a wrestling show just throws matches out there it’s like a movie that’s all special effects or action scenes. Both need story and characters for context, so viewers can get invested and care, or it’s boring!
AEW 2025 on Tubi
WWE 2025 Netflix, USA, CW
Tubi 🤣
Conrad is a god damn mark.
So are you.
It's not the insult you think it is.
If you aren't, why you wasting your time watching?
Mark is another word for fan.
That's it.
A mark gets pulled in and persuaded to invest, financially or emotionally.
It's not an origin pro wrestling word/term.
A mark is the target of a con.
@@ChasingLamelya mark is an easy person to fool, to make money off…it’s a carnival term. Kinda like “rube”. It is an insult. Someone who enjoys watching wrestling because it’s fun is not the same as Conrad who collects replica belts and starts queefing when you criticize wrestling he likes. There is a difference.
@@JBLegitttt nah, they're all marks. If you've put more money into the business than the business has put into your pocket, you're a mark. That's all there is to it.
Stfu with the Conrad hate already get a life who tf cares
I'm soon going to be doing a month-long experiment of taking a break from looking at dirt sheets, X, spoilers, and listening to reviews and critiques of shows by people like Bully Ray, Bischoff, and Cornette. I want to go back to just watching wrestling shows, like I did in the 90s.
Aew is much, much worse
More like WCW 2000
Conrad is like Meltzer they would never admit that ''All Embarrassing Wrestling'' is S--T!
But bro at least we have a competition ot alternate not boring one way wresting... People can switch.. Careers will not destroy
@@srncet sorry bro but if you like watching S--t good for you
I love it when conrads does healthy eating infomercials.. total inspiration
1hr 11 mins. Thank you Eric for saying this. I was literally about to jump on here to comment saying that everything Meltzer is wining and complaining about WCW in 99 is all the exact same observations of that in AEW today. And I say observations because it is exactly that. Not fact but subjective opinion.
Great Show!
Ahahaha, Macho putting Lippy on Nash, Twas Classic, Ahahhahaha!
Thanks Fellas.
I think Eric might be one the most underrated announcers in the history of televised wrestling. I always thought he was MUCH better than Tony Schiavone. Tony was like the most uncool announcer since David Crockett lol. Tony’s 80’s and early 90’s run was good. But by 97, he just seemed like a tool. It really didn’t dawn on me how good Eric was til he was in TNA, and announced Xplosion. The show was so much better when he was announcing, cuz he knew how to keep everything flowing. And watching Nitro as an adult, I’m much more aware of those things. Eric was solid on the headset.
Conrad doing blood sugar ads is priceless
Conrad: "Eric, is there anything you could have done to make WCW suck less in 1999 and keep viewership and attendance from falling off a cliff?"
Eric: "Conrad, WCW was doomed anyway because Turner execs wanted it to die."
What I wish Conrad would ask in response: "Eric, I didn't ask whether you could have done anything different to save WCW. I'm asking YOU, as the person who was responsible for the PRODUCT, why the PRODUCT sucked so bad that the fans turned away in droves in a matter of months. Are you really going to sit here and blame Turner execs for bad, illogical stories, incessantly disappointing, non-finish main events, and a disgruntled, apathetic locker room?"
Probably. lol Either that or he conveniently "doesn't remember."
You should have a 5 min seg every show where u get into Tony's butt about his booking I love it
Loved the cruser weights on first match. It got the crowd going due to the many different styles never seen before.
No one noticed how Eric looks 15 pounds lighter after his fast? Looks great.
I mean, 5 days of no food will do that…
Elbow Pads| Taped Wrists|MMA Style Gloves Past Present Future
here for you brother always 🤘
I always enjoy watching 83weeks greatest wrestling show presented by conrad and Eric awsome
Aew does the angle all companies have done but with less charismatic wrestlers who don’t understand selling/phycology for 98% of their roster
Love or hate Bischoff. He has been open about his mistakes along the way. But if it wasn't for him there prob wouldn't n mistakes to be made. Respectfully I appreciate Him regardless of the bad and the ending. Bcuz I can only be upset if you was in love in the first place. And I absolutely loved WCW. As a kid u don't know nothing about the biz side and the making money or not. Pushing the envelope that he was able to open is great to me. I appreciate the experience and still watch old videos all the time on UA-cam!
I love Eric and WCW 💛 4Life
Of all the people in the world, why does Conrad have the original Big Gold Belt? Not trying to hate, genuinely curious..
Wcw 99 was not high-spot fest like AEW, but was doing something new when Russo showed up that year. Should have kept the continuity going.
Yes. AEW was always infinitely better than AEW even in 2000-2001. But the Vince Russo 1999 had potential and beats what happened when Bischoff returned and the show became tired old different factions of the beaten to death NWO again.
I notice lil natch before the match but never see him during the match lol 😂
AEW cannot even begin to compare themselves to WCWs 5 million viewers with a full house…..they don’t get 5 million over all 3 weekly shows combined …not even half of that
2:37:35 I love when Eric puts over Russo without realizing it
jim cornette does it has well, 😂
This episode was quite the bait and switch.
"We're doing a watchalong"
*Proceeds to completely ignore the show and barely mention it*
Trust me. We were better off lol
Eric Bischoff took a shot at Aubrey Edwards without saying her name.😂😂😂
She tries to be the major part of the matches. She should go back to the barn.
They need a Booker and fixing the stories issues, Tony need to only be president
All Embarrassing Wrestling is much worse than WCW in 99
WCW is the best
Aew should still tour there bigger markets once a year for dynamite and have paperviews in different arenas, almost like the NXT model. Have 4 weeks at the e sports arena than a PPV in Chicago or NYC then tour with dynamite for a few weeks and rinse and repeat.
Eric is real proof of as u grow old u start realizing ur mistakes and start accepting and praising others... The amount of nonnsesne he spoke in 1998 1999 1997 about wwf which he was proud of then... Now he regrets because he worked at wwf.. He feels wwf is his own child may be the second one but none the less own
Fair to say this podcast is going to a more current topic based vs. the nostalgia of WCW that is started out as? I am just catching up on the past few months and feels like it is mostly about Cody and AEW.
Hope not. I’m over the AEW bs
@83 weeks 10 wrestlers who won their first world championship on the wwe less then 10 years after their career began. . . Steve Austin, Triple H, Kane, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Batista, Sheamus, and Roman Reigns. . . There are more I stopped at 10
Why are we still talking about ‘99 WCW when it’s 2024? Let it go
And Tony khan he said he is real rich, but he only gets what his father or brother whoever is Tony. It’s not all his money. He has dad or brother handle the money manage money spend it all in one place.❤❤
Just asking, I don’t know what to show. I heard that from I’m not sure but I think
I think his name is Vince Uso ❤❤❤
I stopped watching WWE for 4 years during the Cena Era. I only came back because a coworker told me Bret Hart was going to host Raw. I've been back ever since
Eric warned him. 🤷♀
AEW needs more titles and tournaments.
I know about the backstage drama of AEW, but could AEW giving us the same show week in week out could be a part of it? Same guys in the same spots doing the same promos?
Aew 500k viewer's weekly in 12 months time
Hot take maybe but WCW 00/01 >> 99
99 was such a boring af year imo, especially middle of the year. When Jeff Jarrett comes back, things start picking up again. Yes 00 was a clustercrap as far as storylines, but at least it wasn’t boring.
Disagree. Not boring at all. Stuff changed every week.
How sad it is that we were all correct in believing that Mercedes would do absolutely nothing to move the needle in the right direction.
I felt a sleep watching Dynamite.
Watching unmasked rey even 25 years later feels wrong.
Wwe will always be Good as AEW is WWE was wrong before AEW ever came around 🟩🟨🟩
If you guys are really mining the comments please no more Conrad!
Listen to how Meltzer breaks down the problems of WCW in 1999, but he downplays the myriad of problems with current AEW, who are a fraction of the company.
The comment that people make, that Conrad pointed out, about someone not being able to have an opinion about something because the company they ran failed is somewhat silly. People were saying that of Jim cornette because Smoky mountain wrestling failed, or closed I should say. He shut it down before it failed. He pointed out that if the only people who can have an opinion are people whose companies have not shut down or failed then there is no one that can have an opinion about wrestling because every promoter, I guess except WWE but Vince is no longer there, has come and gone. They have all closed their doors whether they sold or went bankrupt. To me even if someone has a company that fails they still have a better opinion about it then someone that's never run the company and that's because they've been there and done it and they have experience.
#AskEric Steve Regal question, would you list him in the top 5 of the legit tough guys you've worked with. And who makes your top 5?
Is that true than AEW’s suffering like talent superstars like one WWE superstar he said he got fired, but then he said he can go somewhere else and show his talent that Wwe made it my mistake, letting him go as he can show his talent elsewhere❤❤❤
Nemeth was literally talking about AEW. As he was talking about Tony's dumb tournament clone off the New japan G1 that created that title kingston had. So he couldnt be talking about anything but AEW in that rant lol. So Conrad is just coping again. World title, TNT title, Tag titles, 6 man tag titles, Womens title, TBS title, continental title, Whatever belt that kingston had after winning that tournament, ROH title, Roh tag. ROH 6 man, ROH TV title, FTW title, so yeah way too many titles. Then they got Moxley with the NEW japan title on there too.
I disagree with Bischoff about the TV Title. It was a good stepping stone for a lot of talent on their way up the roster. WCW felt like it had a ladder to the top. A talent would get the TV Title, then the US Title, then finally they would be a contender for the World Title. Steve Austin seemed like he was on that path. All the more reason i was offended that he lost the US Title to Hacksaw Jim Duggan in 30 seconds then was fired shortly thereafter.
I’m sorry, but I’m more into WWE than AEW. I tried and watch AEW it just turns me down I don’t have interest in at first I did, but my eyes attracted to Wwe . Same thing with Wwe . My eyes would stick on WCW back in the day. ❤❤
AEW is like WCW 2002
I am 5'5" 150 lbs would love to be a referee
You could beat up jack perry
Eric uses his mousepad backwards.
Lol computer difficulties
Sorry that I’m such chatter mouth talking about myself ❤❤
tony needs creative help stat
Idk if it has anything to do with it but AEW in the Pat year or so have dramatically reduced the violence in their matches on tv….I would argue that has part to do with their dwindling viewership
They still have garbage matches with Jericho and Shibata and those trash can spots.
Can we stop putting Meltzer into every show? Is that doable?
I can tell you with a 100% certainty, the Starcade 97 Sting vs Hogan Bloop, was the crack that killed WCW. I have video tape of friends at my house after that pay per view talking about what a shit show it was. And we all never really gave a shit about it again. It was the complete drizzling shits after that. I don't think Eric realizes what affect dropping the ball on an 18 month storyline had with the fans, it just took a while for it all to show, but it absolutely was the crack in the armor of WCW and was the beginning of the end for that promotion.
Had the same reaction myself and with those who watched with me. And a few months later, in April of 98- WWF beat WCW for the first time in their ratings war.
However, financially, WCW still did well for, at least another year.
It really did. Just start watching the shows the night after and going forward. It’s a totally different vibe from the prior year and a half. They were still popular and profitable, but the crack in the foundation was there.
Sorry if I missed spelling stuff it’s Siri that’s putting what she wants. You’re not what I want. Sorry about that. If you lose MJF that promise I think he’s really really trying hard to hold him to him. ❤❤
Where’s all your belts?
I agree 100% bc I hate the way aew has there refs. They aren't the star of the match. Edward's tries to hard to be a star
Love the Biggie shirt
AEW Will Never Be WCW. I Want To Like It But I Just Can't Stand Tony Kahn. He's Constantly Whining About Something And It Just Turns Me Against It.
No, it doesn't. wcw 99 was way better than AEw
WCW was enjoyable to watch. AEW just doesn't have the quality nor the superstars that wcw did. 1999 wasn't the greatest year for WCW and many consider it the downfall of the company but to me it was way more enjoyable then AEW. WWF and WCW back in the day were creating content you wanted to see week to week. It's not like that anymore in todays wrestling but that's jusy my opinion.
2:33:40 I’m an Eric guy but that’s BS and everyone knows it 😂
First off - I'm not a fan of AEW or Tony Khan. I was hoping to listen to a podcast Podcast about 1999 WCW. This episode was obviously titled after it was recorded. EVERY freaking time Eric is asked about WCW and "what went wrong here?"... He talks about WCW for 10 seconds and then shifts over to what he thinks is wrong (even if it's facts) about AEW. Dude will go on and say something along the lines of "I don't want to give AEW too much more attention this episode..." ... Next question "WCW was dropping in the ratings here... what do you think would have been a better move here?" ... "A lot of things.. like a parallel WCW had with AEW today... TONY KHAN blah blah blah blah... " Dude, just stick to the subject. AEW sucks. Tony sucks. We get it. I was hoping to listen to a podcast about WCW in 1999. Not a constant bashing of Tony and Dave (I agree.. they are both marks and awful for the business).
Cody Rhodes' title reign is not what I consider "successful" so far.
Lame and boring af
If aew doesn’t get a deal hoped for they will just leave out key details or try to gloss over it. As an outsider with 0 real world experience I’d have to guess aew would have to bring ratings to other shows sponsors like that come on after them, MJF comes back picks ratings up, or simply hoping to make friends in nfl for future connections.
1999-ish WCW saw WCW stars like Benoit, Eddie, Jericho, and to a lesser extent (they were still over with me a lot) Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn leave WCW for the WWF, I don't think we are quite there with the talent leaving AEW for WWE in that regard with Punk or Jade Cargil but the year is young, who knows who may show up there between now and the Rumble. Other ways yeah with the booking the ratings slide etc. Around this time I was not paying much attention to WCW any more in 1999, WWF was the hot product with the real stars
WcW was awesome , too bad WWE didn’t and will never bring it back apart from the PPC names - we want Road Wild, Hog Eild and SuperBrawl, Badh at the a beach was so cool as a kid
Wcw in 99 were still drawing 4.0 ratings and they were going head to head with raw. Eric, pls dont lower your standards and compare wcw to aew.
kotr is the day before double or nothing
WCW on the worst day they got better ratings then AEW
AEW has 8 championships. WWE has 9. Not counting ROH or NXT. Nor Twitter/X lol
More like WCW 2002 😂
So no Lord Steven Regal episode.....
He walked out when Conrad suggested he need dick pills
Can you lose this MJF you’re in trouble I don’t know what he’s doing. That’s what he said. He wants to go to Wwe sometime this month, but it hasn’t happened this year and this month he sees his ex coworker CM punk Cody Rhodes after and someone I don’t know they’re just going down❤❤
Damn Eric, you are really obsessed with Tony and his company. It kind of like you are doing everything you can to ensure another wrestling company doesn't succeed..........
I wonder why that is....hhmmmm
Lets stop comparing aew to WCW thanks. Even when WCW was not so great, it was still great and better than aew…. No comparison.
AEW….great talent, bad pacing, unfocused storytelling, jarring booking without flow from one thinginto the other.
I used to say same thing about WWE, so not a tribalism thing, but WWE made changes post-Vince and continues to improve bit by bit week after week. It’s the best WWE has been since the nxt gold brand (2013-19). And even back then, that was best thing WWE had, cuz it’s main shows were terrible as well back then.
WWE could still slip up, but presently they keep getting better, and AEW seems to want to double down on stuff that isnt working. Consistency is a good thing, when you have good things to be consistent with. The Bucks and Elite are no threat with guys like Swerve, Brian Danielson, and Samoa Joe around.
Bischoff never acknowledged anything in 99. All he cared about was letting the Wrestlers run the show and it just made it worse and eventually bought out , The storylines we’re stupid , Flair in nuthouse, David Flair wrestling when he couldn’t even fall down with out it being horrible, to everyone in the Nwo wanting Tv time lol. Bad writing and Big Egos ruined Wcw .
I tried watching dynamite for the first time in months last week. It started with a great match between Danielson and pac. Then a few miniscual things happened... Leading to mark briscoe doing a in ring promo which was great... Until the young bucks came out. They just seem so amateur. Within a few minutes of the lame bucks and O'Reilly attack with the aew save I turned off the show. I didn't even care to see anymore. The elite ruined it. It sucked.
I think Tony come he doesn’t know what to do with them give him the Comos and character sound and I don’t run it themselves. Tony don’t know how to boss he wants to just rest. I think they can have AEW bribe if they steer their own way they last him punk the last Jericho and it sounds like MGF months ago Wwe , which didn’t happen yet he’s trying Tony’s trying to hang onto him. I don’t know where the Raiden would go Jericho and whoever else is there they could keep up Wrestling AEW Building alive a lot of injuries on the list that’s just making the company weaker. I like both companies but I watch Wwe more. I used to be a WCW band that went dead. Try and watch AEW but they suck. I was watching WWE before AEW.❤❤ took their spot AEW did❤❤