Tony Khan is not bothered by Eric Bischoff’s recent criticism of his company.
Bischoff said he has “no hope” for AEW during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show this week. It was the latest in a long line of negative comments the former WCW President has made about the company.
“There’s no hope for [AEW]. Nothing is going to turn that company around… They have no idea what they’re doing, and they’re too stubborn to learn.” – Eric Bischoff on The Ariel Helwani Show.
"There's no hope for [AEW]. Nothing is going to turn that company around… They have no idea what they're doing, and they're too stubborn to learn." – @EBischoff on the state of AEW 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/cEXYyd46tB
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 2, 2024
Khan was dismissive of Bischoff when asked why he believes the former WCW President is so frequently antagonistic toward AEW during an appearance on 105.3 The Fan on Friday.
Khan said:
“I have no idea. I don’t really care what he says. We’ve done really, really well and we’ve got a great thing going with AEW. We’ve got something really, really to be proud of. We not only are going to be for years to come doing the shows on TBS and TNT, we’re going to set the record for the longest run of pro wrestling ever on TNT, in fact.”
Khan continued to tout the success AEW’s had in its first five years:
“It’s pretty amazing because for a company that’s only five years old, we’ve accomplished so much. Like I said, we set the world record for wrestling ticket sales, and we’re just going into this new media rights deal that is historic and it hasn’t even kicked in yet.”
“Starting January 1st, every week you can watch Dynamite still on Wednesdays on TBS, but we’re going to be live streaming on Max, which is a top streaming platform, and I really think it’s the best streaming platform with the best movies and TV shows. And we’re going to have AEW every Wednesday night live streaming on Max and every Saturday night on Max in addition to TNT. So, it’s really important for us because cable is massive, it’s massive for sports and wrestling and TBS and TNT, those are staples of cable, as Eric himself knows very well but it’s really important for the future to also have a foothold in streaming. And that’s what we’re going to have now with AEW also on Max, in addition to TBS and TNT. So I think AEW is doing fantastic.”
On an episode of his podcast in January, Bischoff explained his dislike of Tony Khan stems from a comment the AEW president made about Ted Turner that he found “ignorant and disrespectful.”
“Paraphrasing, if Ted Turner knew 1% of professional wrestling as I do, maybe WCW would still be around. Completely ignorant. Tony doesn’t have a fucking clue what went on in WCW and why it’s not around. The only thing he knows is what Dave Meltzer told him,” Bischoff said (Transcriptions via SEScoops.com)
The comment in question was a social media post by Khan in October 2021, responding to a Wrestling Inc. article.
I’ve never met Ted Turner. It’s very possible Ted Turner is smarter than me, but he didn’t know 1% of what I know about professional wrestling or WCW would still be on TNT/TBS. @AEW is here to stay, watch #AEWRampage LIVE tonight on TNT or WatchTNT app on your phone or any device https://t.co/eYLCzCiMiQ
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) October 15, 2021
Bischoff’s appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show kicked off a big week for the WWE Hall of Famer. He later appeared on Tuesday’s edition of WWE NXT in a segment with Ridge Holland and Trick Williams, helping to set the stage for their match tonight at NXT Deadline. Bischoff was also a special guest General Manager for MLW One Show on Thursday. MLW posted a video on Saturday teasing possible future storylines involving Bischoff as well.
𝗜𝘀 𝗘𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗕𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗮 𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁? At the end of #MLW1Shot, our cameras managed to capture Bischoff speaking with someone on the phone about confidential documents he had acquired.
— MLW (@MLW) December 7, 2024
Read more on https://t.co/ByFMF5wbmA, and watch MLW One-Shot, now… pic.twitter.com/rTLCVrI1rP