Over the last week, Eric Bischoff and "83 Weeks" co-host Conrad Thompson caused a stir when Thompson called WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns overrated, a statement Bischoff agreed with. Many were unhappy with the opinion, including Booker T, but it's done little to sway either Bischoff or Thompson's opinion. On this week's "83 Weeks," Bischoff explained why he wasn't super high on Reigns at the moment."I don't find him interesting to watch, because I've seen it all," Bischoff said. "I've seen every match that he's...I can watch half of one of his matches and see everything that he's done over the last two years. There's a sameness to it, much like there was with Ric Flair."Bischoff was quick to note, however, that while he wasn't interested in Reigns' work at the moment, that didn't mean Reigns was bad or not doing good work. Again referencing Ric Flair, he pointed out that Ole Anderson had complained about Flair having boring matches, only for Bischoff to point out Flair was over and doing good business. That, according to Bischoff, matters more than one person's opinion."As long as they [the fans] like it, it doesn't really matter, does it?" Bischoff said. "If they're buying tickets, if they're watching on television, if they're showing up and buying your merchandise, as they were in the case of Ric Flair when Ole Anderson was complaining about the fact that every one of his matches looked exactly the same."Well, so does Roman Reigns' matches lately. But guess what; people are still buying his merchandise, people are still showing up, people are still buying tickets. So yeah, maybe creatively from the subjective perspective, I'm bored. There's just nothing new going on there for me and that's what I said last week. But from a business perspective, he's bankable."
Bischoff wasn't done with his praise for other aspects of Reigns, including expressing his belief that no one else in wrestling right now carried the aura or star power that the "Tribal Chief" possesses. He also noted that just because he was bored with Reigns' current run didn't mean he didn't have plenty of respect towards Reigns, particularly for how important family life was for him and the health obstacles Reigns had overcome to accomplish what he had."I respect the hell out of Roman...it has nothing to do respect," Bischoff said. "I look up to him in a lot of ways. As a human being, look what he's overcome. Look at his priorities. I don't know Roman, I've maybe said our words to Roman in my life, so I don't know him. But I know of him, and I know what a priority his family is.I know what he's gone through. How many of us have faced the types of things and fear that Roman has, and then not only overcome it, but reached the level of success that he has? So my opinion of his performances as of this moment have nothing to do with the respect I have for the man."If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "83 Weeks" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
