Eric Bischoff On How He Would Handle Requests From WWE Talent To Be Released From Their Contracts
With a nearly 20-year relationship with the WWE, Chris Jericho was always seen as a "WWE guy." Then AEW entered the pro wrestling market and Y2J became an "AEW guy."
Could there be more longtime WWE Superstars who jump ship to the new promotion? Eric Bischoff speculated about that on the latest edition of the aftershow of his podcast.
"It's a talent driven business, and the Khan family is willing to write a big check for Chris Jericho and they're willing to write big checks for other talent who may be in WWE but not happy," said Bischoff.
"If I was Vince McMahon right now I would probably tie them up in as many strings as I possibly could. In fact I'm sure he already has."
Jericho's situation is a bit different than other WWE Superstars as he wasn't under contract with any promotion at the time of his AEW signing. He was a free agent and had been for a while as he cryptically tweeted #FreeAgentJericho in August.
As for the WWE Superstars currently under contract, they don't have the luxury to just go elsewhere as they are bound by the terms of their deals.
"I don't think there's a lot of talent in WWE that can just wake up on Monday morning and go, 'You know what? I'm gonna quit and I'm gonna go work for these guys,'" stated Bischoff.
AEW has previously stated that they will allow their contracted talent to work outside shows such as Jericho with his cruise or Joey Janela with his Spring Break shows. That extra freedom could be appealing to someone looking to break away from the contractual limitations of WWE, but until they reach the same free agency position as Jericho did, they don't have the option to just go elsewhere.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit After 83 Weeks with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.