Felix Upton on March 14, 2026
Eric Bischoff isn’t holding back about the scary OVW incident that left referee Dallas Edwards hospitalized — and he says someone should have shut the show down immediately.
Speaking on the March 14, 2026 episode of the 83 Weeks podcast, the former WCW boss reacted to the moment during the March 12 OVW Rise taping where Edwards suffered a serious head injury in the ring. Bischoff didn’t mince words when describing how the situation unfolded.
“Everybody f***** up. There’s only one thing that should have happened, and that would be to shut the show down and make sure this young man was not in a situation worse than he was.”
Bischoff explained that the usual system for dealing with injuries in wrestling relies on the referee communicating with the production truck — but in this case the referee was the one in trouble. Because of that, Bischoff believes many of the wrestlers in the ring likely didn’t understand how serious the situation was.
“Where everybody f***** up — it’s usually the referee who talks to the truck when a talent gets hurt, but it was the opposite here. You’ve got wrestlers who probably have not considered, what if the referee has a heart attack or a brain bleed? That process probably never occurred to anyone in OVW.”
He also criticized what he sees as a lack of experience in many independent wrestling environments, saying performers may not know how to react when a real emergency happens. But Bischoff made it clear the responsibility shouldn’t fall on the wrestlers — it should fall on whoever was running the show that night.
“You’ve got such inexperienced — in most cases somewhat trained, in some cases well trained, and in some cases horribly trained — wrestlers out there in the indies in situations they’ve never encountered before, so they’re not going to react properly. The real issue is the director, whoever is in control, should have shut that down.”
He added that the signs were obvious that Edwards wasn’t performing or “selling” as part of the match. Bischoff said someone in charge should have stepped in almost immediately once it became clear something was wrong.
“What that referee Dallas was doing had nothing that resembled selling. That was pretty obviously a seizure, and that’s not 20/20 hindsight. Someone should have had the authority to shut that show down… 15 seconds after seeing what was happening.”
He also warned that situations like this can quickly lead to lawsuits if promotions don’t have clear safety procedures in place. And according to Bischoff, many promoters only start taking safety seriously once their finances are on the line.
“The market will eventually determine what those processes are because of the litigation that’s going to come out of it.” It’s not until it hits someone’s pocketbook that it becomes an issue everyone needs to be concerned with.”
He added that independent promotions need to show they are actively thinking about safety when running events. Bischoff closed by warning that legal trouble is almost inevitable if the industry doesn’t improve.
“They have to figure out ways to make some of these choices and decisions to at least make an effort and demonstrate that you’ve got safety in mind when you have a pro wrestling event — at least for no other reason than because you will get sued.
As an independent promoter, it’s just a matter of time. You’re going to have some lawyer knocking on your door. If you at least made an attempt, that could work in your favor down the road. Once a couple of people get sued and make headlines, they’ll start a process.”
The criticism comes after Edwards shared a personal update about the injury. The OVW referee revealed doctors diagnosed him with both a concussion and a subdural hematoma — a type of brain bleed — following the accident. Edwards said he plans to step away from wrestling while he focuses on recovering.
The incident happened during the main event of the March 12 OVW Rise taping in Louisville when Edwards was struck during a diving move and appeared to lose consciousness, forcing the show to stop. With Bischoff now publicly blasting how the situation was handled, the controversy around the incident continues to grow across the wrestling world.
Do you think Eric Bischoff is right about how the OVW incident was handled, or are fans being too harsh about a chaotic situation? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
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