Felix Upton on May 22, 2023
AEW revealed their new Collision logo, and plenty of fans were very intrigued by the company’s decision to pay direct homage to WCW Nitro. The color scheme and layout of the logo are almost identical, and this was immediately picked up by a lot of fans. Eric Bischoff certainly noticed as well.
During his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff spoke about AEW Collision. He called the new logo a “rip-off,” and then went into the longevity of the program, or lack thereof.
Eric Bischoff doesn’t have the best outlook for the future of AEW Collision. He also went into how fans will likely perceive this addition to AEW’s weekly schedule.
“I think if it’s a short term, the colors and the logo and the direct rip-off, that’s what it is, as flattering as it may be, it is what it is. It can work and parts of me would love to see it, but having had some experience in trying to recreate something, you run a very high risk.”
“Here’s the truth from my perspective. It doesn’t mean it’s a fact, it’s just the way I look at things, and I believe it to be true. The fans’ perception, those fans who watched Nitro and were part of that, and it changed their lives, and it brought them back into wrestling, let’s keep in mind in the early 90s because of the steroid trial, and WWE at the time and all the craziness that was going on there, and the fact that WCW couldn’t hit their ass with both hands and a compass, they couldn’t find their ass with both hands and a compass creatively speaking, because that is a big part of the business, the audience for wrestling was leaving. The prevailing opinion, the consensus opinion among television executives that I worked with, ‘92, ‘93, ‘94, was that wrestling was dead. The audience has come and gone. Wrestling is going to be a part of television history. It’s never going to come back to its glory days. That was the consensus of opinion among people that were not only in the wrestling business, but in the television business as well.”
“That changed and we created this Monday Night War thing. People will have a feeling about Nitro and a relationship with Nitro and what was, and it’s overblown in their minds in a way. I’m not saying this in the way I want to say it. People who were fans of Nitro and recognize Nitro for what it was and how it changed the industry and during that period of time, put Nitro and the product on a little bit of a pedestal in some regards, and to a large degree, it’s unfair. This is not really true. I mean, there were a lot of things that we did on Nitro that changed the industry. Yes, there are a lot of things that made it better, made it more interesting, created the Monday Night Wars, yes, but when you bring something back, much like bringing back the Four Horsemen or trying to bring back a character, the audience expectations, and their kind of fantasy relationship with the original version, makes it almost unattainable.”
We will have to see how AEW Collision pans out. They’re not off to a great start. CM Punk pulled out on them, and they also didn’t sell many tickets at all for their first events. Now, Eric Bischoff is outright calling them out for ripping off WCW Nitro’s logo. Obviously, Tony Khan’s company has a lot of eyes on them after some interesting choices in recent memory.
Keep checking back with Ringside News as we continue providing the best coverage possible for AEW as they embark on adding two hours to their weekly television schedule.
What’s your take on AEW Collision? Are you excited at all about the new show? Sound off in the comments!
May 22, 2023 12:34 pm
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