Eric Bischoff Questions Element Of MJF's AEW Return Promo

In the aftermath of Sunday night's "All Out" pay-per-view and the controversy that followed, this week's "AEW Dynamite" opened with a promo from Maxwell Jacob Friedman that referenced rival company WWE several times, both directly and indirectly.

MJF spoke about a potential bidding war between AEW and WWE for the star when his contract comes up in 2024, and referenced several WWE employees, including Cody Rhodes, WWE co-CEO Nick Khan, and WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque, calling him "the greatest wrestler of all time and my personal hero."

Former WCW Senior Vice President Eric Bischoff had some issues with MJF's promo and shared his thoughts on the most recent episode of "Strictly Business with Eric Bischoff" on Ad Free Shows. Bischoff started by praising Friedman and his work as a heel, but would go on to criticize elements of the segment.

"I question ... bringing up the WWE, 'I'd rather be somewhere else.' I get it, and he delivered it in an amazingly talented way. I just don't know if that segment was the right segment to do that in," Bischoff told co-host Jon Alba. Bischoff's reasoning was that the promo compounded the negative stories coming out about the company in recent days.

Still, Bischoff complimented MJF, saying, "It was really effective, it worked. It set up [Jon] Moxley perfectly." The former head of WCW also said that MJF may have had deeper intentions with the segment.

"Perhaps MJF was really, in his own way, personifying the CM Punk situation," Bischoff said. "Making it his own so that Moxley could dismiss it the way he did and turn him into a ... heel. ... I did love that dynamic. I just wish they could have done it without the WWE references."

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