The latest episode of former WCW President Eric Bischoff’s Bischoff on Wrestling Overrun podcast was released tonight 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 their comments transcribed below. The full interview is available in the embeded audio player at the top of this page.
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EB: What’s the one thing you learned while working in WWE that you don’t like to talk about but will if a student asks you about it?
KA: I would say my mouth was really a big negative. There was a point in time when I felt like, “Everybody needs to know what Ken Kennedy thinks about this topic right here!” I maybe would slow that roll a little bit. That did get me in a lot of trouble.
EB: Shawn, what was the one thing when you look back that’s a highlight that you like to relay?
SD: Ken knows this and probably a couple psychiatrists know this but I was really raised in the pro wrestling business. From a sophomore in High School I have pretty much been in wrestling. I’ve been really lucky in that when I was in high school in ’98, ’99 into 2000 the hottest thing in the world was pro wrestling. It kind of trickled down to the indy scene. Me and Ken used to wrestle on this local independent wrestling show in Green Bay, WI and in that town you were like a quasi-child star. We were like, “Man, this is awesome!” We were getting people’s numbers just because we were a part of this pseudo pro wrestling show just because it was a fraction of the pro wrestling audience and the pro wrestling audience on national television was huge. Being raised in that and getting to be around so many different people in WWE. I was having dark matches and try outs in WWE on Sunday Night Heat when I was a senior in high school. Right after high school I had to drop out of college because I was signed by WWE. I met you Eric when I was 19. I could not possibly have any sort of influence or prejudice of any kind. Status, racial, religion, financial or anything. Just being around this three ring circus has been a lesson.
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…
