The news that Eric Bischoff has been replaced as Executive Director of WWE Friday Night SmackDown was made official this week, and as the wrestling world scrambles to try and understand exactly what happened, some are questioning the ratings of the new television broadcast.
During a recent episode of SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio, Tommy Dreamer theorized that Bischoff may have simply been a scapegoat due to what could be poor ratings, as the show dropped down a million viewers from its first week. According to Dreamer, it could be a case of Bischoff being blamed, even if it isn’t his fault.
“That would never be Eric Bischoff’s fault,” Dreamer said regarding a drop in ratings. “But if he’s the head of creative, he has to take that bullet. Dreamer went on to say that we’ll likely hear the truth of what happened in time, even if Bischoff has to wait.
“I’m sure Eric, when the time is right, will talk about it. A lot of times in WWE contracts, they do have, when you can’t speak of your firing after a certain days or all that stuff,” he said. “But it’ll eventually come out, and…Eric Bischoff is a talented person and he will land on his feet no matter what he does.”
While Dreamer didn’t completely put the blame on the ratings, he did that in the world of television, this could happen. “It happens on television shows, television shows will have a really good premiere, or like a debut, and then if the very next week it fails, they’ve canceled television shows,” he said. “I don’t think they’re going to do that with WWE…but with the contracts, and if there’s ratings been promised, every television deal is different, and I’m sure it’ll come out in the wash. It’s unfortunate for Eric Bischoff, but you know you also have to, sometimes…you need your patsies, so that could also be the case.”
Breaking news ? yesterday as Bruce Prichard replaced Eric Bischoff as Executive Director of #Smackdown.@davidlagreca1 & @THETOMMYDREAMER on why the Week 2 ratings may have had something to do with the move ??? pic.twitter.com/F0eghUriYi
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) October 16, 2019
