"AEW is flat" - Former WWE personality fires back at Tony Khan following recent 'hypocritical' remarks
Former Raw general manager Eric Bischoff has responded to the remarks made by AEW president Tony Khan regarding the idea that Bischoff was a hypocrite.
Khan had recently appeared on Busted Open Radio where he fired back at the former WCW personality. He claimed that many matches on Monday Nitro during the 1990s were "cold matches," meaning they were booked with very little build-up and story to go along with it.
The AEW president even went as far as to say that WCW Nitro was at its best when it had more cold matches than hot storylines, theoretically defending the idea that shows like Dynamite and Rampage don't always show matches with long-term stories attached to them.
“I found it very ironic for Eric Bischoff to say, 'why is this match happening?'
Why did 60 percent of the matches on Nitro happen? Honestly, that's when Nitro was a better show”
- Tony Khan
(via Busted Open) https://t.co/6cyiaKpzRc
Speaking on the most recent edition of the 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff responded to Tony Khan's comments. He stated that AEW has gone flat in recent months, even going as far as to bring TV ratings in to back up his claims:
"It makes no sense that every match should have a story, but your main event, your top three or four matches, better have. That is my comment. Those stories are not compelling. I think ratings back me up. AEW is flat. You can spin in, turn it inside out, microwave it, whatever the f**k you want to do, but Brandon Thurston puts up the graph and shows you and all you have to do is take a look at AEW's record for the last six-eight months. It's flat." (H/T Fightful)
Bischoff rounded off by trying to help Tony Khan out, stating that he needs to have compelling stories to grow his audience:
"Pay attention Tony, if you want to build and grow your audience, you're going to have to do it with well-crafted, compelling, well-structured storylines. I don't see it. I see excuses for matches and that's not a storyline. That's my critique, constructive is how I hope it's interpreted, but clearly won't be." (H/T Fightful)
In case you missed it, you can check out the AEW Rampage results here.
Despite Eric Bischoff's comments, Tony Khan has won awards for his creativity
While some might agree with what Eric Bischoff has to say, Tony Khan has often been praised for his booking. He has even won awards on multiple occasions for his booking and promoting.
Congratulations to @AEW CEO @TonyKhan, voted @WONF4W's 2021 Best Booker (for the 2nd straight year) + 2021 Promoter of the Year (3rd straight year). Tony joins Vince McMahon (98-2000) + Giant Baba (90-91) as the only people to win both awards at the same time in consecutive years https://t.co/stkE8O8tR4
Tony won the award for "Booker of the Year" in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards for both 2020 and 2021. Additionally, he earned the "Promoter of the Year" three years in a row between 2019 and 2021.
By winning both of these awards, Khan became only the third man in history to have won both awards. The other two men are Vince McMahon and Riki Choshu.
Do you agree with Eric Bischoff's comments? Let us know in the comments section down below!