Eric Bischoff Reveals Real American Freestyle Is In Discussions With "Major Platform" For Streaming Deal

Despite a pretty lukewarm reaction online, Eric Bischoff has revealed that Real American Freestyle Wrestling is in discussions with not one, but two platforms and expects to land a streaming deal somewhere by August 30.

Bischoff, alongside long time friend and former WWE and WCW Champion Hulk Hogan, unveiled Real American Freestyle at the end of last month. With many fans expecting the initial tease to be part of a new podcast launch, reactions were more than mixed when MMA coach Israel 'Izzy' Martinez was revealed as the mysterious 'third man' to spearhead a new freestyle wrestling promotion.

However, despite a rather inauspicious start, things appear to be on track for Real American if Bischoff's recent interview with Ariel Helwani is anything to go by. The former WCW President confirmed to Helwani that the up and coming freestyle promotion is in discussions with two platforms over a potential media deal.

Excited and grateful to be a part of #RAF. It’s going to be one of the biggest challenges of my career. And I live for that. Grateful to my partners @ChadBronstein @HulkHogan @IzzyStyle and the entire team at #RAF. LFG! pic.twitter.com/Ls8ix7MNGP
— Eric Bischoff (@EBischoff) May 1, 2025

The former WWE Raw General Manager and nWo creator was keen to emphasize that Real American are only in discussions at this moment in time, and not negotiations, however.

“Well, there’s two answers. In the short term, as a matter of fact as soon as we’re done with this, I have a call with a major platform that everybody would know about and recognize. We may end up there, we may not. We’re going to end up on a platform on August 30th. We’re in discussions, I don’t even want to call them negotiations, we’ll be really straight forward with you on this. We’re in discussions with two different platforms, like I said, one in the next 45 minutes.

"I’m confident that we’re going to land a streaming opportunity, and it may be cable or broadcast, but time will tell. It’s a challenge in that the exciting thing about creating something new and something that nobody has ever done before is that, you know, if you’re successful it’s a major accomplishment. The downside is, you’ve got to convince somebody, you’ve got to convince a network or platform that your vision is real and that we can execute on it and that we can build on it.

"Those conversations have gone great and I am not concerned that we won’t have a platform, I’m only concerned with which one it will be and how it will work for us.”

Just the beginning! #RAF https://t.co/sKNOFRCqCY
— Eric Bischoff (@EBischoff) May 9, 2025

Outside of the trio of Bischoff, Hogan and Martinez, Real American Freestyle will also feature David Carr, Kyle Dake, Trent Hidlay, Kyle Snyder and Aaron Brooks as participants in the league.

Carr is a two-time national champion at Iowa State, while has won bronze medals at the Paris and Tokyo Olympics in addition to four national championships at Cornell. Brooks also won a bronze medal in Paris and four national titles out of Penn State. Hidlay is a four-time All American and a winner of four ACC Titles.

(H/T Fightful for the transcription)

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