I don’t think Tony Schivone is happy with critics.
As much fans as AEW has, the product certainly has its detractors as well. With WWE intentionally counter programming against AEW, the spotlight has been on the promotion even further and the concern for the product grew once it was known that Will Ospreay, Swerve Strickland, and Kenny Omega would not be competing at All Out.
The former International Champion (Will Ospreay) is out due to a serious neck injury. Following his win in a lights out steel cage match, The Death Riders destroyed Will Ospreay’s neck, putting him on the injured list indefinitely.
But before that huge injury angle, Swerve Strickland was taken out in his quest to become the AEW Unified Champion. That honor goes to Wardlow, who made his grand return by attacking the former AEW World Champion once his match against Kazuchika Okada was over.
Just a couple of weeks later, Kyle Fletcher and The Don Callis family put a serious beating on former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega that effectively took him out for a good number of months. Plenty of people were worried that AEW wouldn’t have a strong enough card for All Out, and Tony Schivone is firing back at all the critics.
"So, the critics were saying that we weren’t going to have a good card. They said, with three of your top guys out, how can you possibly carry on? Well, the answer is we have about 14 top guys.”
And when you look at the All Out card, it looks pretty good. Sure, it sucks that Kenny, Swerve, and Will aren’t on it, but this card has the potential to be another one of AEW’s best.
“Why don’t we do this—why don’t we get one of those critics on here and have them book a card for us? See how they come up with one. I’m all for that. Find them, bring them on, have them book a card. And as we have them book a card, have them go f*** themselves, too. How’s that sound?”
Interesting enough, I think some of the critics would take Tony up on that offer. Except the go f**king themselves part, of course. We’re less than a week away from the annual pay-per-view and as previously stated, the card looks really good. Tony Schivone is right that AEW has like 14 top guys. MJF, Adam “Hangman” Page, Darby Allin, Jon Moxley; while it would’ve been great to have Kenny, Will, and Swerve on the card, AEW will be fine in the meantime.