Eric Bischoff isn’t saying WWE ruined the Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar story, but he does think the road to SummerSlam has been messy. His biggest issue is that WWE made some major turns without giving fans enough explanation.
While speaking on the 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff said Oba turning down his King of the Ring title shot is a clear break from what fans usually expect from the tournament.
“Yeah, you know King of the Ring, they’ve done a pretty good job branding King of the Ring and we all kind of understand its significance in the big scheme of things.”
Bischoff said he understands why that caught people off guard. King of the Ring has a built-in reward, and fans know what that usually means, so having Oba pass on Roman Reigns for Brock Lesnar was always going to raise questions.
“And yes, this is a departure from the norm, I guess, for those people who are really dialed into this type of thing and watching the creative closely and the things that work and the things that don’t work.”
That said, Bischoff didn’t act like WWE had destroyed the tournament. He said one unusual move is not a huge deal unless WWE keeps changing the value of King of the Ring over and over again.
“If it’s a temporary thing, if it’s a pattern, then yeah, I think long term you’re going to be affecting the branding or the positioning or just the structure, the inherent inferred structure that provides stakes that people can understand.”
For Bischoff, the bigger problem is Brock Lesnar. He pointed back to Brock appearing to retire, only for WWE to quickly move past it without giving viewers much of a reason.
“I like to look at things in the most simplistic way first. Let’s go back to the confusing beginning of Oba and Brock when Brock took off his stuff and retired and then just unretired two days later or whatever it was.”
That is where the story started feeling shaky to him. Brock’s retirement angle came and went so fast that fans were basically asked to forget it ever happened and just accept the next chapter.
“No reason, no explanation, just pretend that didn’t even happen and we move on to okay where we are today.”
Bischoff also left room for the idea that WWE may have had reasons fans do not know about. He floated the possibility that TKO, timing, or even Brock’s own emotions may have played a role in how things changed.
“What if contractually TKO didn’t want him to retire then? What if this retirement is because he’s from Minneapolis theoretic, you know, kind of sort of. But yeah, he’s Minnesota kid.”
He then wondered whether WWE may be saving the real retirement moment for later, possibly because of Brock’s Minnesota connection.
“What if he retires for real this time? What if he pulled the trigger, got emotional, jumped the gun? Instead, we’re going to see it this time. I don’t know. Maybe.”
That is what makes Bischoff’s reaction interesting. He is not trashing the match or saying Oba vs. Brock is a bad idea. He is saying WWE skipped some important storytelling steps, especially with Brock’s fake-out retirement and Oba’s King of the Ring decision.
Dave Meltzer previously reported that WWE always planned for Oba to win King of the Ring, turn down Roman Reigns, and face Brock Lesnar instead, with the goal of making Roman vs. Oba feel even bigger later. If that is the plan, WWE still has time to make it work, but Bischoff clearly thinks the audience needed a cleaner explanation along the way.
Do you think WWE has explained Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar well enough, or is Eric Bischoff right that the story has been confusing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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