Eric Bischoff On TNA's Six-Sided Ring: "It Was F**king Stupid"

Some people loved TNA's use of the six-sided ring. Eric Bischoff wasn't one of them.

Bischoff, who joined TNA a decade ago as a performer and executive producer, gave his very candid thoughts on his 83 Weeks podcast about the hexagonal ring that TNA had begun using in 2004, before reverting to a traditional four-sided "squared circle" in 2010.

"It was f**king stupid. It was stupid," Bischoff said. "Here was the logic that I heard: 'Yeah, but when people are flipping through the channels, they're going to see that six sided ring and stop and go hey, what's that?' That was the entire psychology and strategy behind the six sided ring, you're hoping to build an audience because people are clicking through channels. First of all, people aren't clicking through channels anymore, even in 2010, it was just an absurd psychology. 

"To come up with a six sided ring for no other reason but to capture the audience that maybe surfing channels or clicking through channels and stop because they were going to see something that was odd to them. Think about that. That was pretty f**king stupid."

Bischoff notes that he was highly vocal about his dislike of the ring, adding, "I pissed off 75 or 80% of the people in the TNA office because of course they thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread, with no point of reference.

"I just said 'You want a six sided ring? Okay how does it change the performance in the ring? What does a six sided ring mean? What statement does it make?' And the answer was crickets. They didn't have one, there was no reason for it. It was a distraction that didn't mean anything."

(Credit to WrestlingInc for transcription)