Eric Bischoff Addresses WWE's Post-WrestleMania 'Reset'

The hype leading in to WrestleMania 40 was immense, with fans excited to see Cody Rhodes finish the story and capture the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship from Roman Reigns, unsure of what a newly-returned Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would have up his sleeve when it came to Bloodline Rules. Now that the "season" of wrestling is over, the WWE Draft has concluded, and storylines continued through Backlash, WWE looks to reset for the remainder of the year. Former WCW executive Eric Bischoff commented on this reset during "83 Weeks." Bischoff said to him, WrestleMania has always been the reset. He said whether that's defined publicly or not, internally, that fact had always been communicated to him.

"After WrestleMania we start all new stories. It make sense to me," Bischoff said. "I think to the degree that it's either a plan or it just happens by default because of culture and time and history, that seems to be what happens. That's like what, right now, people say, 'Oh, WWE just feels a little flat to me' and that probably is, partly because of the competition, we all know it happens every freaking year, it's not like it's a surprise this year or last year or the year before, or for the last 20 f****** years, because it happened to me, too, because you know it's coming."

Bischoff questioned if WWE would want to spend all its best resources at the time after WrestleMania where "it doesn't really matter." He mentioned pacing storylines, much like what would be done in a match itself. Bischoff said he loves the idea of telling the audience there's going to be a reset, because it's a declaration of intent to prepare the audience to get ready to engage with new stories. "You've been building so much intensity leading up to WrestleMania, you actually have to let the audience take a little breather," he said. "Only so you can build them back up again, get that anticipation going again."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "83 Weeks" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.