Hall of Famer says AEW is "taking advantage" of WWE, claims Tony Khan is "not accountable"
A WWE Hall of Famer recently shared his views on Tony Khan and AEW's expected television deal renewal with Warner Bro. Discovery. The veteran in question commented on Tony Khan's presence in the wrestling business and stated that the Jacksonville-based promotion is capitalizing on WWE's success.
Eric Bischoff has openly criticized Tony Khan and AEW on many occasions. Never one to hide his opinions, "Easy E" recently discussed the young promotion's new deal with their broadcaster, which is expected to go into effect soon.
According to Bischoff, AEW should be thankful for their rival company's continued success over the years. He said the following on a recent episode of Strictly Business:
"AEW isn't contributing. AEW is taking advantage of the success of a WWE, for example. It is because there is this company called WWE that is worth nine billion dollars that makes executives in the industry go, 'Hm, we might be able to be worth nine billion dollars, but we could be worth a lot because the market is here.' WWE has established a worldwide market for this product, more than anybody else. If WWE would have been in the tank four years ago, and would have been flatlining and not selling out arenas, and just stumbling through pay-per-views, do you think Turner would have jumped on AEW? I don't." [H/T: Wrestling Inc.]
A new TV rights deal between AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery will be announced as part of the latter's upfront next Wednesday in New York City.
Both the deal and AEW Collision will be announced at the Wednesday, May 17th event at The Theater at MSG.
- Dave Meltzer
(via F4W) https://t.co/1AAXiq0ThX
Additionally, the former WCW President called AEW a "well-funded hobby" when compared to other promotions trying to compete with WWE:
"Tony Khan had one unique advantage that MLW doesn't have, or anybody else — he had a hundred million dollars. He's got an unlimited budget. He's not accountable. It's a really, really, really well-funded hobby. And that's not a negative. [...] It's not a 'do or die' situation for Tony Khan. This is his passion"
AEW's new TV deal is expected to coincide with the launch of a new Saturday show called Collision.
Eric Bischoff previously called Tony Khan a "man-child"
Tony Khan did not hold back in criticizing ESPN reporter Mike Coppinger after the latter claimed that heard AEW's upcoming All In event at Wembley Stadium would be capped at 40,000 seats — well below the stadium's 90,000 capacity.
In turn, veteran booker Eric Bischoff had some harsh criticism for the AEW boss.
"Tony is a man child. I mean, look, I didn’t see the report from ESPN. I don’t know who the reporter is. And I did see Tony’s response and once again Tony, do yourself a favour to your company, stay away from a camera, stay away. Put out a press release. Have a spokesperson better yet have a spokesperson do whatever it is you need to do to keep yourself away from anything that looks like a red light. If you see a red light, leave the area as fast as you can. Because every time Tony Khan steps in front of the camera he makes his brand looks childish and silly," Bischoff said on his Strictly Business podcast. (H/T: InsideTheRopes)
Thanks to amazing support from our fans, #AEWAllIn London @wembleystadium has sold 60,000 tickets for £6.1M ($7.7M)!
This is one of the greatest success stories in wrestling history!
There are still great seats that are on sale NOW!
See you all on 27/8/23!
ticketmaster.co.uk/event/23005E93… https://t.co/ICtm2hfhMQ
Over 60,000 pre-sale tickets for All In have already been sold. With further details regarding the event's match card still to be revealed, it looks as though AEW is well on its way to selling out Wembley.