I don’t think Eric Bischoff likes AEW.
First, the WWE Hall of Famer called the promotion a “f**king failure” and now Bischoff is trashing another performer - Mercedes Mone. Or at least her booking.
The former Sasha Banks has striked controversy since she made her debut for AEW at Double or Nothing. Many have cited the head scratching booking that led up to her first official match. Though her first match with Willow Nightingale reminded fans of the old Sasha Banks, some feel that Mone’s overall performance has not lived up to the hype.
It’s been reported that Mone was signed to a seven-figure deal. But given how lukewarm the reception has been, many fans and critics feel that she hasn’t earned that paycheck. That includes Eric Bischoff, who calls Mone’s run in AEW so far a “disaster”:
"Mercedes Mone is not old, she's relatively young, she was a massive star in WWE, massive, and she came to AEW and it's been an unmitigated disaster because of her creative and because Tony doesn't know how to produce her," Bischoff said on 83 Weeks podcast. "In WWE she was protected because people understood what her strengths were, but more importantly, understood what her weakness were and they produced her accordingly."
But Bischoff isn’t putting the fault on Mone. He’s blaming Tony Khan, a man who he has no problems bashing:
"Because Tony Khan is clueless and he has zero experience and no feel or instinct whatsoever for the television industry, he brought this megastar in from WWE, who's not over-the-hill and old, who was an established superstar and, again, abject failure," Bischoff continued. "It's the creative and Tony's inability to produce compelling television."
Bischoff has never been afraid to call out Tony Khan. The AEW President has responded to Bischoff’s rants and Khan doesn’t care too much about what the WWE Hall of Famer says.
"I don't really care what he says," Khan said on 105.3 The Fan. "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."
There’s no doubt that AEW is struggling creatively at the moment. That’s reflected on the weekly ratings, which have dropped massively to the 500,000 - 600,000 range. Fans are telling Tony Khan that they’re simply not happy with his product. AEW does seem to be taking strides to fix their current issues and hopefully, they can turn this ship around very soon.