Eric Bischoff Accuses Tony Khan of Treating AEW Like a Hobby

WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff, known for his deep knowledge of the pro wrestling world, has frequently criticized AEW, including questioning Tony Khan’s skills as a booker. He even accused Khan of managing AEW as if it were a fantasy league.

If it wasn’t clear already, Eric Bischoff isn’t the biggest fan of AEW. He doesn’t even believe AEW is contributing anything to the world of professional wrestling, unlike what WWE does.

While speaking on his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff criticized AEW’s recent decline in viewership, attributing it to the quality of the product offered by Tony Khan and his team. Bischoff pointed out that the audience’s lack of engagement is evident from the low turnout at AEW’s 250th episode of Dynamite, which saw fewer than 3,000 attendees despite featuring the company’s top stars. He suggested that the show’s poor attendance was a sign of a more serious issue rather than just a temporary dip and that the company is dying.

“They’re down because the audience is not buying the product,” declared Bischoff. “Less and less people buy the product every week. What do they have, like 2800 people at their 250th landmark show, with the two biggest stars in the company and they drew less than 3,000 people? That’s not cyclical, that’s just dying.”

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Bischoff was also unhappy with the choice of venue for the milestone episode, feeling it should have been held in a larger location. Conrad Thompson defended the decision, noting that the event was hosted at the Simmons Bank Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas, due to its proximity to Texas, where AEW has a regular show, and the financial advantages of that choice.

Bischoff acknowledged the financial reasoning behind the venue selection but called out Tony Khan for potentially running the company like a hobby rather than a business. He warned that focusing too much on cost-cutting might lead to a “death spiral,” where the perceived value of the product diminishes, making it even harder to attract viewers and achieve significant growth. Bischoff drew from his own experiences to underscore the risks of such a downward trajectory.

“I get it. Can’t be critical of that if it’s actually being run like a business, because there’s a lot of other things that suggest to me that it’s really not. It’s being run as a fantasy, a hobby.

If that’s the case, that’s the case, and the only risk in that is, as you become more efficient and are managing your cost, as you need to do, the perception of your product suffers and that’s the downward spiral. That’s the death spiral, and I’ve been in it; I know exactly how it feels.”

Eric Bischoff also finds the comparisons between AEW and WCW to be laughable. Eric Bischoff even stated that AEW is bleeding on the table when it comes to their storylines. Nevertheless, only time will tell if Tony Khan will be able to improve the company to ensure it lasts for a very long time.

What do you think of what Eric Bischoff had to say regarding Tony Khan running AEW like a fantasy? Let us know in the comments section below!