Eric Bischoff Says TNA’s Return to Cable Was a Production Disaster

Eric Bischoff is not holding back when it comes to TNA Wrestling’s return to weekly cable TV.

On the latest episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, the former WCW President ripped into the production quality of TNA Impact’s premiere episode on AMC, calling it a mess from top to bottom. Bischoff began by questioning who was behind the scenes running the show, offering a brutal take on the visual presentation.

“The format itself was just really not very well – it wasn’t well-produced. I don’t know who’s writing their show, who’s producing their show, who’s directing their show. All of them have some work to do.”

One of Bischoff’s biggest gripes was the decision to position celebrities in a seemingly empty part of the arena. He also called out an awkward camera shot featuring Eric Young that he said made the veteran look out of place. But it didn’t stop there—Bischoff went in on the way the show was directed, especially the ring shots.

“Whoever decided to post those celebrities in the one corner of the building where there were no freaking people… They looked like jabronis.”

“Eric Young looked like some guy that walked in off the street, snuck in and grabbed the first chair he could, sitting by himself, looking around, hoping nobody caught him. What was that?”

“The ring looks like you could fit it in my kitchen… The overhead shot they used made it look like a postage stamp. I would never use that shot again if they’re going to keep that same ring.”

While he refrained from critiquing the creative direction, Bischoff made it clear the visual side of the product left a lot to be desired.

“I’m not even going to address the creative or anything like that, but the production itself was so poor.”

TNA’s return to national cable TV is supposed to be a fresh start—but according to Bischoff, if they want to be taken seriously, they’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do behind the camera.