Eric Bischoff: Hardcore TNA Fans Were Like Owners Of Ugly Dogs

Eric Bischoff’s time with TNA came under a lot of scrutiny, especially from hardcore fans of the promotion, as Bischoff and Hulk Hogan made a host of booking and stylistic changes to the company.

However, Bischoff stands by their decision to change things up at TNA, saying how the hardcore fans were blinded by loyalty and couldn’t see that changes needed to be made.

“You know I think it all comes down to the fact that nobody ever took TNA [seriously],” said Bischoff on the 83 Weeks Podcast. “Now TNA had its hardcore audience that loved everything TNA and loved the homegrown talent and loved the six-sided ring. There was a lot of people, there was a significant amount of people that really loved TNA because at that time, TNA was the alternative, right? It wasn’t WWE, it wasn’t WCW, although they brought in a lot of WCW people, obviously, and some WWE people, but at its core, TNA was looked at as the homegrown alternative. And it had a loyal audience that followed it.

“That loyal audience didn’t care that the show was being shot inside of a soundstage. They loved it so much, they didn’t care. They overlooked, dismissed, some of the obvious shortcomings of the IMPACT episodes under TNA because they loved it so much. It’s like having an ugly dog. You know it may be an ugly dog, but that’s your ugly dog, and you love it, right? But when you get outside of that hardcore super-committed ugly dog owner, and you get out to the larger audience who look at TNA and they looked at that little soundstage, and they never took it seriously. That audience is going to be far more critical of the product than the people with the ugly dog. It just is what it is.”

H/T: WrestleZone