WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff appeared on his 83 Weeks podcast episode. He discussed several topics, including becoming a CM Punk fan.
Bischoff said, “I think I’m becoming a Punk fan. In fact no, it’s not ‘I think I’m becoming a Punk fan.’ I have become a Punk fan. No, it really hasn’t [hell frozen over]. Because when I explain why and how I arrived here and why I wasn’t a Punk fan, it’ll make perfect sense. At least to me, and it’s really all I care about. It’s not true, just sounded good.”
On what changed his mind:
“Look, I didn’t watch Punk a lot when he was ascending in WWE, so I can’t say anything about his work. And when I say ‘work,’ I don’t mean ring work. I just mean overall work, his ability overall. And I certainly don’t think I’ve ever watched one frame of video from his time on the indie scene. What I became aware of — and I was a neutral Punk fan. I didn’t care one way or the other. That’s another way of saying it. Neutral sounds niceer though. I was ambivalent about Punk before he got into AEW, because I didn’t know anything about I saw him in a couple signings or conventions maybe once or twice, and I was kind of within 30 yards of him. And I was watching him, and he’s really good with people, and that was the only impression I had him. Until he got to AEW and, and I’m not going to talk about it all again. We’ve already talked about it to death, but he said some stupid s**t, in my opinion. In my opinion, he showed his ass by going for cheap heat right off the bat with his Hogan comments. I mean, that’s so easy. So all those things gave me my first real impression of Punk. On top of that, generally speaking he didn’t look that good in the ring to me. Because I wasn’t familiar with his character prior, because I didn’t watch him, what I saw in AEW, made me go, ‘Huh? I don’t know. Guy looks like s**t. I think I’m in better shape than he is right now. He’s just, you know, seems tired and just doesn’t really seem too interested.’ And he’d get these big wins against these young guys, because that’s how I think he — I remember him being positioned often whenever I saw him as, he’s in there giving the young guys a shot. You know, passing the torch as it were, right? That’s kind of the way he was positioned. And every time he’d win, he’d hold that belt, it looked like he just saved the baby from a burning building. I went, ‘Man, I ain’t buying it. I don’t see it. And now I watch him. I watched him a little while ago in there with Cena in the Elimination Chamber match. He’s amazing. His timing is completely different in WWE than it was in AEW. His ability to emote in a believable way absolutely is different in WWE, because I didn’t see it. And what I did see maybe go, ‘Eh, quit crying, man. Just pick that belt up, go home. Raise your fist, be happy. Why you gotta cry? How am I supposed to be excited about a babyface that cries all the time? F**k the crying, man up.’ That’s the way I felt about him. So you combine that with the way he was being presented. Didn’t know how bad it was at that point. I didn’t know the politics that were going on backstage. I was unaware of any of that for the most part. But just what I saw of him made me go, ‘Eh, I think this guy’s way overrated.’ And I just got done watching him, while I’m watching that match I’m thinking — and by the way, he brought out the best in Seth Rollins, which kind of elevates him even a little more. Not only did he look good and do his stuff great, but he also elevated Seth, in my opinion. They each elevated each other, which is when you connect with the ball, and it goes out of the park into the parking lot. And that’s what those two did. So my opinion of Punk went from neutral to s**tty to very impressed. And a lot of it had to do with that match that I just saw a little while ago.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
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