Eric Bischoff Shrugs Off AEW Milestone—But WCW’s Golden Era Was a Whole Different Game
AEW Dynamite recently hit its 289th episode on the Turner network, officially surpassing WCW Monday Nitro in total episodes aired. It’s a legitimate milestone—one that ties AEW’s present with the legacy of wrestling’s explosive cable TV boom of the late '90s.
But former WCW President Eric Bischoff isn’t exactly throwing confetti. In fact, he’s brushing it off as little more than a “participation trophy.”
“I just chuckled,” Bischoff told Ariel Helwani. “It’s like a participation trophy. I guess it matters to somebody… At the rate they’re going, it would take AEW another 15 years to reach Nitro’s audience numbers.”
🧠 Context Matters: The WCW Era Was the Peak of Wrestling
To be fair, Bischoff isn’t wrong about one thing — the numbers game was completely different in WCW’s prime. From 1997–1999, Nitro was pulling in millions of viewers (sometimes 5-6 million: August 31, 1998 WCW Nitro, with a rating of 6.01) weekly during the hottest era in wrestling history. Between the nWo, Goldberg, Sting, and the Monday Night Wars, WCW was operating in a cultural frenzy that simply doesn’t exist in today’s fragmented streaming world.
But here's the irony…
Despite all that legacy experience — and Hulk Hogan’s star power behind him — Bischoff still hasn’t been able to land a live broadcasting deal for his new venture, RAF: Real American Freestyle (or wrestling… or combat sports… or whatever it is exactly). The Fox Nation deal for RAF01 on August 30, 2025 and RAF02 in the fall is not a permanent deal, future events are still up in the air. AEW, meanwhile, airs multiple shows weekly on TBS and TNT, and sold out Wembley Stadium.
If AEW’s “trophy” is participation, then Bischoff’s RAF hasn’t even made varsity tryouts yet.
📈 Real Talk: AEW’s Not Chasing the Past — It’s Building the Future
Yes, WCW Nitro changed the game.
Yes, Eric Bischoff was the architect.
But in 2025, AEW is navigating an entirely different battlefield — and it’s still swinging in primetime with an audience loyal enough to keep the lights on and the arena full.
🧨 MainEvent.News | Backstage Take:
Bischoff helped shape the greatest era in wrestling history — no question. But this ain’t 1998, and the TV landscape has changed. AEW’s weekly prime-time slot on a major network is more than nostalgia—it’s staying power. If Bischoff wants to talk broadcasting milestones, maybe he should get one first.
