The days of AEW nipping at the heels of shows like RAW and SmackDown are long gone. It's also become clear that Dynamite can no longer beat NXT when they go head-to-head, a far cry from the "Wednesday Night Wars."
Vince McMahon's WWE departure did Tony Khan no favours and his attempts to counter what Triple H has delivered - a new era of critically acclaimed matches and storytelling - have done AEW no favours. His brief on-screen feud with The Young Bucks was proof of that.
AEW's longtime critics have taken great delight in being proved right, and we can count WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW boss Eric Bischoff among them.
In a new interview, he shared his scathing take on the current state of AEW:
"They’re horrible. I’ve given up. You know what? I used to get really frustrated with them because I actually hate seeing people screw up good opportunities. I know what that feels like, and I don’t want that to happen again. I know what that feels like and know how hard good opportunities come by so when you see somebody shooting themsleves in the foot day after day week after week in every possible way it’s frustrating for me and I would vent that frustration."
"Now, it’s just like yeah, whatever. It is what it is. There’s no hope for them. Nothing’s going to turn their company around. There’s no light bulb gonna go off on anybody’s head and realize, oh, this is actually getting people who watch TV. They have no idea about what they’re doing and they’re too stubborn to learn."
As for why he believes it's too late to turn things around, Bischoff explained that there's no story capable of saving a company he feels is now running on fumes.
"Not there because there’s nobody that knows how to tell the story. There is nobody there who knows what a story actually is. I use this analogy sometimes because it’s easy to understand. Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. That’s a story. It’s not very compelling. Nobody cares, but if Shakespeare gets a hold of it, it’s kinda like a version of Romeo and Juliet. So yeah, you’ll hear the fans, Oh, there’s a great story. There’s stories. Dave Meltzer says the problem with AEW is there are so many stories that people can’t keep up with them. I kid you not, he said that. And people take him seriously."
"The stories, if there are any, are so bad that only the lowest form of wrestling intellect on the planet finds enjoyment of that. Now, you will find some people and I think this is cool If you just like the physical presentation of guys flying all over the place and doing all kinds of athletically amazing stuff and you don’t care about story. You don’t care about characters. That’s your jam. AEW is your jam and if that’s what you like then more power to you. It’s just not viable for the masses."
"As Tony calls them, it’s for the sickos. First, why would you want to call your fans sickos because the majority of them prefer not to be called that. Just a hint. Tony’s vision for the company I guess is to provide content for that percentage of the audience that only cares about high risk, high altitude, fast-paced action and not about story and not about characters."
You can watch the full interview with Bischoff in the player below.