AEW prides itself on providing a high-level in-ring product and programming that showcases the action in the ring rather than larger-than-life storylines.
This approach has divided fans with some enjoying the emphasis on wrestling, while others feel that there are too many matches that don’t mean anything. This mission statement from AEW has put them at the opposite end of the wrestling spectrum to WWE which traditionally places much less importance on the nuts and bolts of the competition in the ring.
However, one WWE Hall of Famer believes that AEW’s in-ring product simply isn’t good enough to place it head and shoulders above the competition.
Speaking on his Strictly Business podcast, Eric Bischoff claimed that the company is full of “bad wrestling,” adding that if he would have done some of the things he’s seen in AEW when he was running WCW he would have been “trashed.”
“They failed on that ’cause 80 percent of the in-ring presentation is less than,” Bischoff said. “The Jungle Boy silly nonsense, I mean, there’s so much bad wrestling in AEW they don’t care about that. As long as they get their blood, or as long as they get one thing that they’re looking for.
If you take your emotions out of it or your, in my opinion, I don’t wanna say loyalty, but if you take off your fan glasses and just look at the product objectively, the in-ring presentation is not better than, in my opinion. You may feel differently, cool and fans may feel differently. But for me, I look at that, if I would’ve done some of the stuff I’m seeing currently in AEW or have seen recently in AEW, if I would’ve done some of that in WCW, WCW would’ve been trashed.”
Eric Bischoff Claims AEW Is Repeating WCW’s Mistakes
Speaking elsewhere, Eric Bischoff took aim at Tony Khan and AEW as a whole for repeating the mistakes he made in WCW, despite claiming that it was something he would never do. The former WCW boss questioned the wisdom of the company launching another show in the form of Collision, suggesting that he would have tried to talk Warner Bros Discovery out of the move.
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