Eric Bischoff: WWE Working with TNA a Smart Move to Avoid Monopoly Lawsuits

Eric Bischoff thinks WWE's recent collaboration with TNA and other promotions is a response to the anti-trust lawsuit filed by MLW. He believes WWE is trying to avoid future lawsuits that could accuse them of being a monopoly. Bischoff sees this collaboration as a smart move on WWE's part.

Speaking on 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff was asked whether he was surprised to see WWE collaborating with TNA and other companies. The WWE Hall of Famer shared his belief that this partnership was a response to MLW’s antitrust lawsuit, where WWE was accused of being a monopoly.

“Yes and no. Actually no,” Eric Bischoff said. “I think it makes sense. If you look at the WWE lawsuit with MLW, the fact that they lost the lawsuit. I think WWE has to do as much as they can to kind of mitigate or eliminate any of the argument that they’re a monopoly. I think by engaging with TNA and supporting TNA, they’re doing what they need to do from a legal perspective to avoid future lawsuits that are similar in nature in terms of accusing WWE of being a monopoly.

“What better way to avoid that than to engage with other wrestling organizations and support them? I think it was a smart move. I think it was a move that really was a reaction to the MLW lawsuit.”

Eric Bischoff continued by stating that TNA working with WWE was excellent exposure for TNA. He expressed interest in seeing how TNA would leverage this opportunity into potentially bigger ventures.

“I am [happy for the TNA talent]. It’s great exposure, it’s a great shot in the arm,” Bischoff said. “Let’s face it, TNA is not on a network that provides a great deal of exposure. You’ve gotta be really, really interested in TNA to find it and to watch it. So to get the opportunity to be on USA Network in a high-profile opportunity with probably 700-800,000 thousand people tuning in, that’s a hell of an opportunity, not only for the individual talent, but for TNA as a brand.

“So I would be curious to see what TNA does with this exposure and are they able to leverage it to a bigger and better opportunity, perhaps on a different network? Who knows. But it’s a good thing all the way around. Everybody wins.”