Eric Bischoff On Tony Khan’s Ineptness As A Booker, Bryan Danielson/AEW
Speaking on the latest episode of his “Strictly Business” podcast, Eric Bischoff discussed whether AEW’s ‘soft brand split’ will end with CM Punk’s departure, Tony Khan’s ineptness as a booker, why being a fan does not translate into being a good booker/promoter, Bryan Danielson’s growing role in AEW creative, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On whether AEW’s ‘soft brand slip’ will end with CM Punk’s departure: “I have no idea. You know, I don’t know. I do know that unless Tony Khan delegates some creative authority, it’s going to be more of the same. Nothing is going to change.”
On Tony Khan’s incompetence as a booker: “Tony is not the booker that Dave Meltzer promotes him to be, the Booker of the Year. When it comes to creative Tony’s — I think he’s missing the mark and doesn’t understand the broader television product or the television audience. He may be targeting people just like him and like he was when he was a teenager and used to go to wrestling and as a kid. But you don’t you don’t usually find success producing, writing, creating for an audience of one. And while I think Tony’s approach is very ECW-ish, we saw that, you know, it doesn’t lend itself to a broader commercial television product… it just doesn’t, and I think a large part of that is because Tony doesn’t understand television.”
On why being a fan does not translate into being a good booker/promoter: “Being a wrestling fan, all your life does not necessarily mean you automatically understand how to build a wrestling project, or brand, or company. It just doesn’t. Those two are not joined at the hip. There’s a lot of wrestling fans out there that have been wrestling fans all their life and could sit down and detail, probably on a blow-by-blow basis, matches that happened 15 years ago. Doesn’t mean they know how to produce a television show.”
On Bryan Danielson’s growing role in AEW creative: “And I think the thing that I’m most excited about, as negative as those sounds. The thing that I’m most excited about is — and I don’t know why I’ve heard this, but if there’s any possibility that Bryan Danielson is going to get an opportunity to run Collision, or at least have a serious voice on the creative side of that show. I think it has much potential just because it’s a different creative perspective. And Bryan Danielson clearly, vis a vis his experience in WWE, understands television. He has learned it under some of the best that have ever done it. So why would you not tap into that? Bryan Danielson is not the only one. There are other phases.”
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