Eric Bischoff Confident On Broadcast Deal For RAF
It’s fair to say that Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff’s announcement of Real American Freestyle Wrestling — a new amateur freestyle wrestling promotion — has been met with a fair bit of scepticism from fans and industry insiders alike. One of the big questions hanging over RAFW is whether Aussie audiences will actually be keen to tune in when the promotion holds its debut event on August 30, and which local broadcasters or streaming services might be willing to pick it up.
But if you ask Eric Bischoff, it’s not something he’s losing sleep over. Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, the wrestling veteran sounded quietly confident about securing a platform for the promotion’s launch.“Well, there’s two answers to that,” Bischoff said. “In the short-term — actually, as soon as I’m off this call — I’ve got a meeting with a major platform that just about everyone would recognise. We might land there, we might not. But one way or another, we’ll be on a platform come August 30.
“We’re in talks — not quite negotiations, but serious discussions — with two different platforms, one of them in the next 45 minutes. I’m confident we’ll lock in a streaming deal, maybe even a cable broadcast. We’ll see.”Bischoff admitted the challenge lies in selling a brand-new, untested concept to media outlets, but reckons the interest has been promising so far.
“The exciting thing about building something no one’s done before is that if you pull it off, it’s a huge deal,” he said. “The tough part is convincing a network or a platform that it’s legit, that we can deliver and build an audience. But honestly, those chats have gone better than expected. I’m not worried about having a home for it — I’m more curious which one it’ll be, and how it’ll work for us.”
No word yet on whether any Aussie services like Kayo, Stan Sport or even 7mate might get involved, but it sounds like we won’t be waiting long to find out.
PPV + PLE Content. Northern Adelaide suburbs resident with a lifelong passion for professional wrestling since the age of 14. What drew Rhys to wrestling was the antics of Eddie Guerrero and the freestyles of John Cena, and has been hooked ever since. Currently, Rhys watches WWE and AEW programing. This passion for wrestling has led to Rhys writing for PW Down Under, where he has become the resident PPV guy.
