Eric Bischoff Reacts To Recent Report On AEW Streaming Numbers

All Elite Wrestling's attendance numbers and Nielson ratings have been a major topic of online discourse for the past year, with many criticizing their numbers and comparing it to WWE shows after the "Wednesday Night Wars" set the precedent, even going so far as to make Chris Jericho use the discourse for his gimmick at the time: "The Demo God."

However, according to a recent report from Dave Meltzer at "Wrestling Observer," AEW has done impressive numbers on MAX but Eric Bischoff doesn't buy the narrative. "Evidently, it's some individual — not associated with AEW, not associated with WBD, not associated with anybody for all I know — he's just a wrestling fan that somehow discovered information nobody else has, including Tony [Khan]," Bischoff recalled during an episode of his "83 Weeks" podcast, explaining how the report suggested 500 thousand people were watching AEW on MAX with another 500 thousand from television.

"It's just a number pulled out of the air," Bischoff opined, adding how even Khan hasn't confirmed the reports despite commenting that he'd heard of the rumors. "This is more Dave Meltzer bulls***. It's throwing numbers around and stating facts and planting information that people get to talk about on the internet." The veteran then advised AEW to dispute the reports, and further criticized Meltzer for pushing the narrative provided by the reports. Bischoff additionally criticized the tribalism between fans of the promotion and explained that all the viewership reports do is get people talking and fighting amongst one another online.

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