What’s the story?
On a recent edition of his podcast Bischoff On Wrestling, veteran pro-wrestling personality Eric Bischoff gave his take on the recent ‘…dive’ controversy instigated by WWE Champion Randy Orton.
In case you didn’t know...
Orton recently retweeted a post by pro-wrestling trainer Rip Rogers, in which the latter criticised the current independent professional wrestling scene, alleging that all that the indie performers do nowadays is roll around the ring, without any story-telling, no selling, and so on and so forth.
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The Viper reposted Rogers’ criticism of the indie scene, with the caption ‘…dive’, which in turn led to several members of the pro-wrestling community reverting back to him, with the most prominent amongst them being Bubba Ray Dudley, who had an online altercation with Orton as a result.
The heart of the matter
Bischoff addressed the controversy on a recent edition of his podcast, stating that he has nothing against Orton, but the WWE champ has the luxury of having a successful career in a monopoly like WWE - a privilege that’s not accorded to most competitors in the sport.
Here are a few excerpts from his statements regarding the same:
”Yes, WWE makes a lot of money and as a result so does Randy. Randy hasn’t had to change his style because he has the privilege of working for a company that is able to pay Randy a lot of money. And he doesn’t have to go out and make his living on the independent circuit. Randy doesn’t have to go out and create new fans. All Randy has to do is stay on the treadmill.”
“(Randy) has that luxury, that privilege of getting (his) seven figures and having a check show up in the mail once a month for things (he) don’t even remember doing, and getting merchandise money because (he has) this machine behind (him) that prints that money.”
What’s next?
Randy Orton will defend his WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal at the upcoming SmackDown brand-exclusive Backlash PPV on Sunday, May 21st at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
Author’s take
It’s interesting to note that the go-home show for Backlash drew the lowest SD Live ratings for this calendar year, which, in other words, doesn’t bode well with Randy Orton’s box-office drawing power as WWE champion.
By no means am I discrediting the Viper’s accomplishments or even his current brand value in the sport’s premier promotion, but all I ask as a huge fan of the indie pro-wrestling scene is for established stars like Orton to accord our performers the respect that they most definitely deserve.
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