WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff has been a regular critic of AEW, especially Tony Khan’s booking abilities. Bischoff recently stated that even a monkey could be a better booker than Khan.
Bischoff is not a fan of AEW and believes it doesn’t contribute to professional wrestling as WWE does. Reports indicate AEW spends around $104 million annually on wrestlers, leading to significant criticism of Khan’s booking decisions.
On the Keepin’ it 100 podcast, Bischoff criticized AEW’s spending, noting many wrestlers earn substantial amounts but rarely appear on television, likening them to being in a witness protection program. He questioned the high spending, including Mercedes Mone’s rumored $5 million salary and her creative control, expressing skepticism about Khan’s decisions.
Here’s what the former WCW President said:
“According to Dave Meltzer, and you’ve got to be careful, but I’m using it as a reference because I just saw it the other day, Tony Khan has a talent budget that’s over $100 million. Guys are making $100,000 a year, and 75% of the people on that roster feel like they’re in the witness protection program. Half of them, you see them only once every 6 months.
If you look at his talent budget and his expenses, I mean, look at Mercedes Mone, $5 million a year. Are you kidding me? And giving her creative control?
When it comes to Tony Khan giving talent creative control, it’s probably not such a bad thing because anybody can do a better job than Tony Khan, right? You could give me a case of bananas and a young monkey, I could teach that monkey to be a better booker than Tony Khan.”
Despite these comments, Bischoff praised Khan a few days back for booking AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland to defeat Will Ospreay at Forbidden Door, calling it the best booking decision Khan has ever made. However, it came out later that Ospreay pushed for this decision.
Here’s what Bischoff said about this Forbidden Door outcome:
“I’m gonna say this right off the f**king bat, kudos to Tony Khan in his creative decision, perhaps the best one he’s ever made. Having Will Ospreay put over Swerve and not only, by the way, put over Swerve but make Swerve look like a billion bucks. Ospreay can make himself look really, really good, he made Swerve.
Swerve got the opportunity and he was in there with a pro in Ospreay. Ospreay did everything he could in his power to make that a phenomenal freaking match. Not taking anything from Swerve but Swerve couldn’t have done what he did to the level he did it without someone as professional and as talented as Ospreay.
I can’t say enough good things about it. It gives me some hope, it actually does, it was powerful enough to give me hope.”
