Eric Bischoff Believes Tony Khan Should Sign Jinder Mahal

Jinder Mahal in WWE
Jinder Mahal | WWE

WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff took to an episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including WWEโ€™s momentum as of late.

Bischoff said, โ€œA Lot of energy, a lot of success, a lot of records being broken on a regular basis. Critically acclaimed, really good PPV. Amazing storytelling, new characters. This Tama Tonga character, what an impressive young man he is.โ€

On why AEW President Tony Khan should sign Jinder Mahal:

โ€œNot sure what to make if it [WWEโ€™s releases]. But first of allโ€ฆ if I was Tony Khan and if Jinder is available โ€” and this isnโ€™t a storyline. Iโ€™d hire him so fast. Going back to the comments that Tony made about Jinder, that started a whole thing. I mean, it sort of [set] the internet on fire for about three days, four days. It was awesome, it was fun to watch. People are nuts, man. People are nuts on Twitter, and Iโ€™m here for it all. Itโ€™s the most entertaining thing for me to sit down and watch some of these people go crazy.โ€

โ€œBut I would take advantage of that. Take advantage of the fact, Tony, that you stirred up a bunch of s**t by throwing a grenade, so to speak. It wasnโ€™t a grenade, it was a firecracker. A tiny little firecracker which didnโ€™t even make much noise. But boy, did people react to it. Now you get kind of a built-in โ€” I donโ€™t know, at least an incident to start from. Something, a spark of an idea, to do something fun. Have Jinder come in, Tony, and make you fear for your life. No, seriously! Okay, Iโ€™m having a little fun with it with the โ€˜fear for your lifeโ€™ s**t. But Iโ€™m actually serious about, you know, โ€˜Why not?โ€™โ€

On if Khan should become a regular TV character:

โ€œOh f**k no. I would use Tony, because Tony is the one who lobbed the firecracker โ€” I would use him as the part of the inciting incident. The thing that sparks what weโ€™re going to see in terms of a story. And then I would have Tony being the chickenshit heel that he is, heโ€™s actually turning into a heel right before our eyes. He doesnโ€™t even realize it yet. But I would do Tony, โ€˜Iโ€™m the chickens**t heel,โ€™ because this is gonna get Jinder over. If this storyline plays out, itโ€™ll get Jinder over, heโ€™ll be one of the biggest baby faces of the company. Kinda like MJF did it only a little more well planned and less spontaneous, I guess.โ€

โ€œBut yeah, have Tony surround himself with whatever heels heโ€™s trying to get over, and let them be Tonyโ€™s protector. And yeah, you may see Tony run. You may see him jump and leave his desk or something if somebody breaks into his office. But youโ€™ll never see him โ€” donโ€™t ever give him a microphone. Oh my God, please. Donโ€™t ever do that, itโ€™ll ruin everything. But a storyline kind of like that, or anything remotely close to that, would be interesting. It would be kind of timely in a way. Weโ€™re talking about a couple of months ago, but still timely enough. People still remember. You remembered, you jogged my memory. So yeah, go for it, whatever.โ€

You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.

(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)