Eric Bischoff Details Tensions With Tony Khan
From 2020 through the summer of 2021, Eric Bischoff made several appearances for AEW. Those appearances stopped, and according to Eric Bischoff at the Ad Free Supershow Media Scrum, it's due to remarks made by AEW President Tony Khan over past comments from Bischoff.
"What changed the discourse between Tony Khan and I was that Tony felt, whatever he felt was necessary to come out and say that 'Dynamite is where WCW was in 1996,'" Biscoff said. "Well come on. Is there anybody here that buys that? WCW was beating WWE at that time. WCW was an extremely profitable company at that time. WCW had a lot. WCW was promoting massive Pay-Per-Views at the time. Many of them. Not just one or two or three or four a year. You can't compare WCW to AEW. But he felt like he's got to try and get himself up to the outlet, which was fine. That part didn't really bother me.
"What really bothered me was when Tony Khan said 'well, if Ted Turner knew as much about booking as I do, WCW would've never failed.' That pissed me the f-ck off. That was so disrespectful and I gave an honest response to an honest question and that honest response kind of, you know, created an opportunity for Tony to feel his need to respond, which I understand. I don't hold it against him. But that's where it kind of escalated."
Despite the tension, Eric Bischoff claims his critiques have nothing to do with his feelings with AEW. Rather, Bischoff still considers himself a fan of the promotion.
"It doesn't have anything to do with my feelings about AEW," Biscoff said. "I'm a fan of AEW. I'm excited about AEW. I want them to succeed. I see a lot great things. I said that long before our little hussup. We kind of would talk about Dynamite on the 83 Weeks podcast and I would point out the things I enjoy about AEW more than WWE. But at the same time, if I'm asked a question, I'm going to be honest in my critique. But it's not meant to be a shot."
You can watch the full scrum below.