Alongside Jim Cornette, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff has been one of AEW's most ardent critics. However, AEW President Tony Khan isn't letting it get to him.
While the executive is known for dodging hard questions in interviews, he didn't shy away from addressing Bischoff's latest round of criticisms which saw him say there's "no hope" for the company.
"I have no idea," Khan said when asked why Bischoff frequently takes issue with AEW. "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."
"It’s pretty amazing because for a company that’s only five years old, we’ve accomplished so much," Khan continued. "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."
The world record Khan is talking about refers to the widely disputed attendance number for the AEW All In PPV in Wembley Stadium, London, last year.
However, recent reports show that recent AEW shows like Dynamite and Collision are struggling to sell more than 4000 and 2000 tickets, respectively. Those numbers have declined by 1000 since last year, but Khan was quick to hype up each show's presence on television.
"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."
You can read Bischoff's recent comments about AEW by clicking here.