Former WCW President Eric Bischoff has criticised the recent return of MJF to AEW at the conclusion of their All Out pay-per-view, claiming that it’s “not a story”.
MJF had not appeared for AEW since the June 1st episode of Dynamite, which saw him go on an explosive rant against the company, ending with a plea for Tony Khan to fire him.
Since then, not much was known about the status of MJF, with some questioning whether his comments were a work or a shoot due to rumours of a backstage contract dispute between MJF and Khan.
However, MJF returned to AEW on September 4th at All Out, initially under a mask during the Casino Ladder match, but he then revealed himself at the end of the show to stare down the newly-crowned AEW World Champion CM Punk.
Whilst the return was warmly received by the majority of fans, Eric Bischoff was not sold on the angle, as he discussed on a recent edition of his ’83 Weeks’ podcast:
“But to me, that doesn’t tie into the story. I mean, the fact that okay, MJF is back, we know he had a contract dispute, next. That’s not a story, that’s checking the box. Now, maybe there’s going to be more, but there’s got to be more meat on that bone between MJF and that promo he cut and where we are this minute, and how it leads to wherever we’re going next. Because if it’s just touched on, check the box, oh we acknowledged it move on. That is not a story. That is not even close to a story.”
Bischoff did at least reserve judgment on the angle and will wait to see how the storyline plays out over the next few weeks of AEW television:
“Let’s give the benefit of the doubt. I’m feeling very empathetic today for Tony and AEW, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Let’s hear it, let’s hear what we’re gonna hear on Wednesday. My point is whether it’s last night or whether we’re here this Wednesday, or maybe it’s revealed in chapter form over the next few weeks. I don’t care.
I just don’t want it to be dismissed and skipped over and ignored. Because you know, when you put somebody on TV that cuts that promo on you, you have no choice but to make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t. And ignoring it, it’s chicken sh*t and stays chicken sh*t so we’ll see. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt though, because there’s a lot to work with. There’s a lot of ingredients there to play with and mix and match and see how you can make it turn out to be something good.”
MJF is scheduled to appear on the September 7th edition of AEW Dynamite to discuss his return.
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