"You can't constantly create surprises" - WWE Hall of Famer reveals how Tony Khan can improve AEW Rampage

Eric Bischoff recently opened up about AEW Rampage's issues and gave his take on how Tony Khan can improve the show.

Rampage's ratings have been on the decline overall since it debuted in August 2021. A couple of reasons behind the ratings being low is the timeslot as well as the fact that the show is usually taped on most weeks.

Speaking on his podcast 83 Weeks, Bischoff stated that Khan needs to build more storylines and focus on episodic television to draw in viewers because it is not possible to have surprises regularly on a taped show:

"You need to build episodic TV. Just because backstage you’re calling whatever it is you’re involved in a storyline, doesn’t mean it’s structured as such. It doesn’t mean it’s building anticipation, not the way that it could or should. That’s what it’s going to take. That’s the one thing within Tony’s control on a Friday night. You can’t constantly create surprises because it’s a taped show. It’s in a horrible time slot. It just is what it is."

"The only thing that’s in Tony’s control is to capitalize on the episodic nature of what makes wrestling work. Wrestling has always worked best when it was extremely episodic, and it was extremely episodic because the stories were well constructed and structured. They built in a predictable manner that allowed you to build and promote your show. That’s what episodic TV does. But when you’re just putting up really cool matches each and every week for a really cool match sake, that’s not episodic TV, and you’re not building your audience as a result," said Eric Bischoff. H/T: WrestlingNewsCo

---

The match card for this week's AEW Rampage

This week's AEW Rampage promises another stacked hour of wrestling. A number of matches have already been announced for the show, including Adam Cole taking on John Silver of The Dark Order as well as Red Velvet taking on The Bunny.

CM Punk also addressed his backstage confrontation with Eddie Kingston on Dynamite last week, saying that on this week's Friday night show, he'll be waiting for an apology from Kingston.