It's kind of amazing how Tony Cant has so many championships on air, 2 shows that are essentially 2 Nxts/Ovws, the new RoH, and the RoH titles randomly get displayed on Dynamite - Tony's all over the place. It's a management nightmare.
AEW when it started had potential but booking so many part timers from Mexico and the revolving door of surprise signings doesn't help. Buying ROH too was a mistake - they now blur the lines of promotions. I'd have kept the big names and focused on them - they could have easily had ROH as it's own thing with Joe, Claudio, Danielson and Punk without diluting the AEW roster
IMHO nobody needed ROH because AEW was IMO what ROH should be. ROH was always a small indy company with small arenas and small wrestlers ;-) and AEW brought the good wrestling from ROH and mixed it with a professional presentation and larger arenas. Best of both worlds.
He does. It took several years for Vince to build WWF but Tony did build something huge in just 5 years. Early WWE was good too. Now Tony's booking is failing but till 2021 it was decent. @@TL2354
I don’t even know what Eric is talking about “take him off television”. The only time you ever see Tk on TV is if he has a big announcement like the Wembley PPV and even then he’s on for a minute at most. He’s not involved in any angles or doing commentary. Yea he’s on the scrums but let’s be honest only hardcore fans watch that shit anyway and it’s not going to keep anyone from watching the main product.
@StarshipMythic That's true. TK would come off as the guy lurking underneath the staircase hoping for a peep show with or without the devil's dandruff.
He'd hire Hulk Hogan and put the strap on him. All jokes aside, I think the reason he bashes Tony so much is that he sees the obvious parallels, and sees Tony making some of the same mistakes. Like signing WWE guys he doesn't need, having too much TV time, creative control in guaranteed contracts, being on Turner, etc. The difference is, while Eric let certain talent run wild and have too much control, they were all STARS, proven commodities like Hogan, Goldberg, and Savage. If Glacier cut a promo on Hulk Hogan in the middle of a match, Glacier would've been fired. I also don't think Eric was afraid of talent being in his face. I mean, he got locked in a room with Nash and Hall and walked out unscathed. Tony got yelled at by Punk and pooped his pants. Also, Eric knew that long-term storytelling wasn't his forte. So he was man enough to accept that and let Sullivan book the nWo... until Eric ruined it with Starrcade. But still, he oversaw the creation of Crow Sting, the rise of Goldberg and DDP, who moved the needle, and TK hasn't made one needle mover. Eric had Nitro structured perfectly. Open with a promo or video package, then a cruiserweight match, then build toward the main event -- midcarders in the middle, etc. He had real tag teams. Whereas Tony has his heavyweights work like Cruiserweights, and since the bar has been raised significantly since 97, that means more injuries, and the devaluing of those crazy moves. And that bar raising also means to do a "high spot" now requires silly stuff that no one can suspend disbelief for. Go watch a Malenko Cruiserweight match.... they made sense. And the cruiserweight guys usually told stories in their matches in WCW. Tony doesn't plan any further than "put a top star at the turn of each hour", matches seem to go on in random order, with no rhyme or reason, and while he isn't guilty of 50 run-ins a show, he loves having ppl no-sell finishers then win with a schoolboy, which, btw, DOESN'T HELP EITHER WRESTLER. Maybe that's why the only ppls stock that ever went UP in AEW were MJF and Ricky Starks when they worked with Lord Voldemort. So basically, is Easy E was Eric drunk, Easy T is Eric on coke, minus the testicles.
If Scott Hall showed up in WCW and Tony Khan was booking, Hall would have come from the entry way and then go to the ring and say "I want to work with all the AEW young guys" and then Scott would have had a match against Ray Mysterio on the next PPV. The match might have been good but the heat would have died there. No storylines, no rise in the ratings, pointless.
@johnnyskinwalker4095 lol pretty much. Kinda the problem with Edge. It's like dude... CM Punk said all the same shit when he came in. And maybe Edge doesn't have a Colt Cabana rumor or a Chris Jericho beef to cause drama, but they're only gonna let him get so over before they turn on him too. Anyway, RIP Bad Guy.
@drobinson-uo7ic yeah, I mean he def DID make all those mistakes. I believe some AEW sycophant even wrote a book about it. But the bottom line is TNA and AEW both swore they were competing with WWE. The only company that can say they truly did was WCW, and only when Eric had power. And again, I don't even like Bischoff. But facts are facts
1. No kicking from finishers (few exceptions per year) 2. Cut the roster by half and just have one world champ and a tag team champ. 3. Better storylines.
Its so simple, you just bring back the attitude era. But nobody will. They think zoomers are their fans but gen-x would come back in a heart beat and so would half the millennials.
Theres a reason why that era worked. Because every start had character development, feuds had meaning, and storylines meant something. Random dream matches on tv can only work for so long. Its been exhausted. The key is create new stars and new storylines.@MW-cx3sb
@@LordScrambles1 it was sarcastic. jr is one of the best minds in the wrestling business and if any other wrestler/promoter dont take is word or advices they really must be stupid or ignorant.
Tony Khan as a heel could totally work if done right, the only issue is Tony would be in charge of that lol. Imagine schizo coked up Khan coming out every week to cut a promo to the audience about how the ratings aren't good enough and the fans aren't grateful, and have him punishing wrestlers that are getting cheered for out of jealousy. Just have him go completely insane.
Aew troll here. I agree with Bischoff that AEW isnt what it was 4 years ago or even 2. But in AEW's defense against erics solution its not trying to be WWE i.e wrestlers stage acting with some forgettable wrestling in between the segments. Its good that they're going for the opposite i.e they might compromise the story a bit but give a great match. With the wwe model there's been burnouts and ragequits in the attitude and ruthless aggression and even current pg era. With AEW even after losing Punk Cody and plenty of others its still raking in 850k+ viewers each segment which is going steady. Can there be improvements most definitely yes. But we've seen what bad sports entertainment can be i.e wcw's fingerpoke of doom,wrestlers as bookers,Kevin Nash ending Goldberg's streak etc. Not to say wwe hasn't done it with undertakers streak,supercena,babyface orton,stardust etc. But on average even Cornette whose the loudest anti AEW movement out there has agreed AEW puts out better wrestling matches than WWE
Your assessment is a year old. Since Vince has been pushed he's repeatedly called it the better show. The only wrestlers he praised in AEW have left, injured, or ruined with shit storyline. He wasn't even happy with MJF at the end of the year. AEW is tanking. At least they have the Cagematch ratings, though. 😂
You are right but at the same they have lost good chunk of their audience to 600k on an average now, GREAT Wrestling is fine but most of these matches on AEW TV means nothing in Grand scheme of things that's why there's no story no interest in anything.
People forget Vince got pissed while he was on interviews argued and nearly got into fights. Vince nearly tangled with wrestlers/ Bret Hart 1997. Tony is young he have to make mistakes that's being a leader/boss to learn from them. Eric Bishop made mistakes look at what happened to later years of WCW and that counts that he made mistakes.
I generally agree with Eric. However I do see what Tony is trying to do. Hes trying to build sports based story lines. I dont know how well that works though because wrestling by nature is so over the top. At the same time, theyve been around 5 years, WWE been arounds for decades and decades. Has had tremendous highs and deep lows. Its ok. Let AEW grow, they'll be fine or they wont. Time will tell. Personally I prefer the more athletic styles of AEW, but I grew up on WWE so, now that HHH is running things, watch it and love it too. Some stuff i cant stand, other things I love. Same with AEW. Let it all grow. Its ok.
😂😂😂 oh boy i have to laugh every ol eric bischoff opens his mouth considering he's been fired like his buddies russo and cornette from every company they worked at. Wcw the snoozefest wwe he got fired tony is simply taking the Jerry Jones route because the dallas cowboys are his team and he has every right to run his team as he sees fit. And that's what Tony Khan is doing aew is his company and he has every right to run it as he sees fit it's like Dax Harwood said ol bischoff is just mad because tony khan won't allow him to destroy his company like he did wcw and the snoozefest wwe..
Khan has already destroyed his own company. AEW does NOT make a profit. And the more Tony Khan embarrasses himself on social media, the more fans walk away. Eric may have been fired from companies but he was still far more successful than Tony Khan has been so far.
This is a Kathleen Kennedy Bob Iger problem. The problem IS Tony. Tony should be like Ted Turner was. Now, I may be completely ignorant as to just what that means. From my limited knowledge, granted. I am going to say TK should be just in charge, spending most of his time in sports and working sports and only occasionally opting in on AEW. Unless we get rid of or sideline TK for a person like Eric and JJ. This isn't going to be a good product. It isn't going to be the pro wrestling it should be. Now, the second option Eric said, I completely agree with.
I always said that. What if Tony turned heel, and got into a 2 year program with MJF. Sort of like Vince and Austin. I guarantee that would make money.
Smh, he'd bring Hogan in right away. Then he'd bring in Nash to be head Booker where Nash would defeat the hottest champion AEW would have, then give it back to Hogan, then bring in good ol vic venom to bring in a new creative change
AEW BRAND SPLITS 2025 "AEW Wednesday Night ROH" (Red Brand) Commissioner: Bryan Danielson General Manager: Christopher Daniels 1. AEW-ROH World Title 2. AEW-ROH TV Title 3. AEW-ROH World Tag Title 4. AEW-ROH Women Title 5. AEW-ROH Cruiserweight Title 6. AEW-ROH Trio Title "AEW Friday Night TNA" (Blue Brand) Commissioner: Jeff Jarrett General Manager: Dustin Rhodes 1. AEW-TNA World Title 2. AEW-TNA TV Title 3. AEW-TNA World Tag Title 4. AEW-TNA Women Title 5. AEW-TNA Cruiserweight Title 6. AEW-TNA Trio Title "AEW-MLW" (Power Plant/Developmental) Commissioner: Don Callis General Manager: Billy Gunn 1. AEW-MLW World Title 2. AEW-MLW TV Title 3. AEW-MLW World Tag Title 4. AEW-MLW Women Title 5. AEW-MLW Cruiserweight Title 6. AEW-MLW Trio Title Tony Khan should've own TNA-Impact, Lucha Underground, MLW, PWG, CZW, GCW, JCW, Chikara, HOG, Defy, Progress etc. for AEW library & Network. Renamed Shows: Dynamite, Rampage, Collision, Dark, Elevation, Fusion, Renamed Titles: Impact, X-Division Title, TNT Title, TBS Title, Global Title, Grand Title, Legend Title, Pure Title, All-Atlantic, International, Continental Title etc.
Could ya toss in a trainer to teach the wrestlers that trying to make the matches look as real as possible is a good thing? Cuz that entire roster needs taught that badly..i seen a guy in a clip the other day kicking the bottom rope to make i think it was orange cassidy fall off the rope.. this damn guy slapped his thigh when he kicked the rope!! It's so damn dumb.. pretty much every move in every match is a replay of the match before step by step-by-step, and it freaking sucks
Bischoff can say what whatever he wants but all KNOW what he do, He would bring on Hogan, Bring in Kevin Nash and whoever else is left from the NWO, recreate it, bury all the young guys si they go to WWE and become HUGE starsand run the company into the ground until TK was so deseprate he would hire Vince Russo, who would then make shit worse and AEW would be irrelevant for the next 15 years, Just like he did in WCW, tried to in WWF and did in TNA........ there's an old saying about "Leopards changing it's spots". Bischoff is Literally the last guy, well 2nd to last guy after Vince Russo, on how to "Fix" a wrestling company....... because he's absolutely destroyed everything he's ever touched in the long run.
The only thing I don’t get with AEW is I just don’t understand what they’re trying to be. AEW they trying to be ECW will all gimmick garbage matches? AEW they trying to be NJPW with the 5 star matches but no story line? ROH? WWE?
The great Werner Herzog was on, I think, Conan O’Briens podcast and spoke in glowing terms about WWE and how it’s a modern version of the Greek Classics and how he really enjoys it and appreciates it. Now this is a guy who is the furthest thing from a wrestling audience. I’ve said it from day one with AEW, Tony Khan and everyone over there, except for MJF, don’t seem to realise that the in-ring stuff isn’t what captures people’s attention. It’s the stories. I liken it to going to a great restaurant. You can go and have a great meal at a restaurant, and they might make your meal and forget to add high quality flaky sea salt at the end - the meal will still taste good. The salt is the final flourish. The storyline is the main meal, the in-ring work is the finishing salt. Hulk Hogan never set the world alight with flips and dives over the top rope and 47 super kicks, it was his character work that did 90% of the work, his in ring work was the final 10% There have been hundreds, thousands of guys over the years who were better in ring performers than Hogan, but they didn’t have the character work or story work to get anywhere near his level
“Current wrestling audience” because 20 years ago people that weren’t specifically wrestling fans would tune in to watch specific people and storylines not true today because wrestling has lot that audience and tbh forever at this point. Having 8 followers on Twitter doesn’t mean anything jeez it doesn’t impact their time line if they follow like 5 people then year echo chamber much but no one cares about twitter followers my G only celebrities influencers etc do.
Eric Bishoff would be a breath of fresh air in AEW and they need to do something before they fade out completely. Only issue I ever had with Eric was he stuck with the NWO story way, way too long! He also could have used Bret Hart better and I agree with Bret they had no clue what to do with him and he could have been used better, but I also get he was not in his right mind at the time either and agree that his heart was not in it like it was in WWE. In the end when they took the pocket book of Ted Turner away was the beginning of the downfall of WCW. None of that was Eric's fault.
I agree with Tony getting off tv and twitter and having a new face and head of creative . But that’s not gonna increase aew’s ratings that much , and that’s not gonna make wwe marks who want aew dead to suddenly like them . All getting rid of Tony would do is make the product better for the iwc and give aew more respect with the iwc , it will do nothing to grow their product with the casuals or mainstream non wrestling fans . Wrestling is dead , even wwe has a niche audience, less than 2 million viewers most weeks is nothing to brag about in a country of 500 million people . Wwe is heavy metal . The nfl is pop . Wrestling is dead
As much as aew storylines are terrible just about every creative decision Eric and Hogan made in impact was much much worse.. I like how is first thing was keep Tony off TV when he was everywhere all the time on nitro and impact
I would say do a brand split. Divvy up the roster between Dynamite,Rampage and Collision. Bring the power rankings back and do it for each show because then every match will have meaning to it.
power rankings can't work in wrestling. It never has, it never will. And even if they did, if that's your metric for fixing things...well, you're wrong because power rankings still isn't enough for people to care about why 2 people are in a match together.
Chris Jericho's music a little bit of it is ok . But I think chris jericho was a much better wrestler and personality before he got into music and cut his hair
Yea there’s a lot of B listers in AEW that need to be let go & only a hand full of A lister & some of AEWs A lister went back to WWE , AEW let some of their best A lister wrestlers sit on the shelf to long , make the B lister wrestlers fight for open spots on the roster for a limited time then let them go along with the no name wrestlers or sad gimmick wrestlers , it’s time .
He Will Never Cater To Smarks. If WCW Was Still Here, The Indy Era Would've Never Happened Unless Other Companies Are Stupid Enough To Do The Thing Anyway. ECW Did It.
1. Bring back the Hulkster, brother. 2. Undefeated run for Goldberg. 3. Show guys like Will Ospreay, that their ceiling is the Cruiserweight Belt. 4. NWO is still cool, right? Let's bring them back. 5. Have every match end in a DQ, because the NWO rushes the ring. Now that's booking. 6. Make no stars, bury everyone underneath Hulk, Nash and the NWO! Honestly, EB, you've already had two shots to get it right in companies. I was along for both of those rides - WCW and TNA. Even 13-year old me could tell, that the booking in WCW sucked balls. You couldn't even recognize talent like Eddie Guerrero. That is mind boggling. Maybe it is time to admit, that you have no idea, how to run things properly?
What exactly did you think there was to do with an Eddie Guerrero in WCW when you had the likes of DDP Goldberg Hulk Hogan macho Man Bret Hart Kevin Nash and Scott Hall around?
Bischoff's right; Shakespeare in WWE. King Lear is Mr. McMahon with Steph as Goneril and Shane as a male Regan. 'Cept, of course, Vince doesn't and never will divide his kingdom to Anyone. My favorite Shakespearean work.
Tony just needs to be gently weened off of the stimulants (prescription or otherwise) that he is clearly addicted to. Once he gets some sleep everything should fall into place. 👍😃
Definitely not the same way. The difference is WCW was actually a success with actual stars. And it wasn’t geared towards the indies. The difference is WCW was actually competition and not just random matches trying to pop the crowd with names that nobody knows or really cares about.
If WWE Hall of Famer Edge couldn't even move the needle.....then what will? They can't afford The Rock...and he probably wouldn't want to do it anyway. John Cena heel turn? He seems pretty busy at the moment...and probably wouldn't want to jeopardize his relationship with Vince. So that leaves Andrew Tate...he charges $50,000 per podcast. Work out a deal with him...and the needle may move a little bit. It is seriously their only option at this point.
Edge's fellow countryman Bret "Hitman" Hart didn't moved the needle a bit in WCW.. their "needle mover" was a clone of WWe's biggest name in Bill Goldberg.. so that means the "needle mover" of AEW is Goldberg's own clone, Ryback..
I would hire somebody like Court Bauer to book it. He's someone that always brought in the cool stuff from the old school elements and also inject new ideas in MLW but they never had strong backing for it to flourish. The guy also understand talent as the way he recruited MJF and Hammerstone and many others. He's not an old fart but he's also not some fan that don't understand how to book a product like Tony. He's had some experience as a WWE writer than started his own promotion. And he has had mentors in the field of wrestling. I think he's really a great young wrestling mind that is just waiting to be given a change to really take off.
So let’s take someone who doesn’t really care for the product and asking him with his knowledge and experience of running a company into the ground what he would do 🤔maybe run it into the ground should have been his answer😂 I’m intrigued to see his thoughts on njpw wrestling that also shortens stories and concentrate more on the in ring stuff I’m not sure why people don’t accept Aew is an alternative product they do things differently and surely it’s better to have a choice. You’re not forced to watch it if you don’t like the approach.
I loved the NJPW Bullet Club, Okada/Omega era, it got me into wrestling for the first time in years. Was hoping we’d see the Elite in WWE, then AEW is announced. I’m thinking its gonna be attitude era meets NJPW matches. i get tix for the first Dynamite and bring my brother. We grew up on golden era WWF, went to Summerslam 91 as kids. Knowing Tony was a billionaire, I was expecting the best. The production looked cheap, recycled set from All In, lame pyro. The Cody Rhodes match was cool. The rest was forgettable, these wrestlers were not over yet. Why was the show not built around the stars- Moxley, Elite, Jericho etc. “Wtf is this?” he asked as we took in the women’s championship, where from our seats it looked like a fat guy was beating up a little girl. It went on forever, killed the crowd. This is what you want to see on a debut show. Finally it was the main event, though precious little time remained for the TV show. The “stars” I came for barely featured. Kenny Omega got DDTd into a glass table out of view of the audience, night over. Not much better from the Bucks either. Jericho gets the pin, bunch of run ins, and scene. Maybe Kenny n the Bucks will have a dark match?! Nope. We couldn’t wait to leave, Felt likely a rip off. For a first impression, it was seriously underwhelming. Why not spread your main-eventers throughout the whole show? Why was Kenny an afterthought? Moxley only gets a run in? Its like they purposely push their indie-riffic buddies instead of blowing the roof off the place.
Conrad looks good. Lost some weight, new haircut. More becoming than the steaming pile of style he usually portraits. And he's actually letting the guest speak! Must be listening 😮
Tony should delegate literally everything and just give input when things aren't working. Nothing worse than a boss who never did your job telling you what you should do. You let the experts do it and if they are failing, step in. Give them a chance.
Eric wouldn't know how to turn aew around. He couldn't do it with wcw, tna, or smackdown. I don't see why Tony would reach out to him lol unless he wants to purposely sabotage his company
A lot of people didn’t know AWA. Especially when you were there. No one made a song about any AWA stars. They aren’t even more revered than him. Your ignorance is no excuse.
AWA was one of the biggest promotions in the World. It was WWF, WCCW, AWA, Memphis, Mid-South, NWA/Crockett. Every guys from Hogan to Flair to Scott Hall, etc...were trained by Verne Gagne, the man who ran AWA.
