Eric Bischoff Apologizes to Tony Khan, Raises Questions on AEW’s Strategy

Eric Bischoff, former wrestling executive and host of the 83 Weeks Podcast, recently offered his perspectives on All Elite Wrestling (AEW), including some surprising remarks and a public apology to AEW President Tony Khan. The podcast episode covered a range of issues from the promotion's match strategies to what Bischoff perceives as repeated mistakes.

A Public Apology to Tony Khan

Discussing his past criticism of Khan, Bischoff stated, “And that’s probably why sometimes I get overly passionate when I see things that are so obvious to me, which people should have been able to learn from some of the mistakes that I did make in WCW or I allowed to happen in WCW. Yet they’re being repeated now and it’s like, Dude, you know, Tony, and I’m not being negative on Tony on this show. He, you know, congratulated Tony Khan and actually apologized. I want to apologize publicly to Tony. I was a little hard on him when we did Strictly Business regarding how he handled certain things. And I think I was a little too hard. That’s just my emotion because of passion. I really want to see it work. But, you know, Tony came out and said a while back and it’s probably one of the things that started setting this thing off was between him and I was, you know, I don’t want to make the same mistakes WCW made. Well, dude, you are. And not only are you making the same mistakes that Eric Bischoff made in WCW, but you’re. They’re on steroids and they’re actually worse than some of the mistakes I’ve made or the same mistakes, but with greater impact. So I apologize for being as verbose and as rough as I was on Tony, but it’s really only because of passion. I want to see him succeed. I think Tony is a wonderful human being. I think he’s a very smart guy. I just think in certain aspects he’s in over his head.”

Questions Surrounding Kenny Omega's Role at AEW All In

Bischoff also commented on the noticeable absence of a singles match featuring Kenny Omega at the AEW All In event. He expressed, “I really am. And it’s kind of an overall, you know, feeling. And I didn’t make any overall notes, but you know what? There were ten matches? How many did I actually write them down? Each one of them. There were nine matches and all but 2 or 3 of them were. Some kind of trios or tag team or six bands or whatever the fuck. Yeah, I think that hurt as well. You know, when you don’t have a story, you put on a spectacle and this was a spectacle. You had 81,000 plus fans. It was a beautiful venue. There were some great production shots. Not as many as I thought I’d see. I didn’t think they’d put the event over quite as much as I think they could have or should have. But that’s probably being slightly over critical or maybe two over critical. But, the lack of individual matches and the drama that usually comes with it because there’s a story, there’s psychology in the match, even if there isn’t a back story leading into the match. The match itself can have a story, which is fine.”

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— Ben Jordan Kerin Aug 29, 2023 04:13PM