All Elite Wrestling has recently seen an explosive number of altercations behind the curtain. From CM Punk’s comments at the AEW All Out Media scrum to Andrade El Idolo and Sammy Guevara’s confronation. AEW which is led by Tony Khan, has been in a bit of disarray.
Eric Bischoff is also no stranger to seeing backstage antics in a wrestling company.
He was up close and personal to a lot of politics and drama when he was senior president of WCW from 1994 to September of 1999. On the most recent episode of Bischoff’s 83 Weeks podcast, he was asked if there were any parallels to the backstage drama between AEW and WCW when he was running the company?
“In some ways, of course. You’ve got talent who can be emotional at times. That’s across the board. Some of the biggest names in the industry have been difficult to work with from time to time.”
“Sometimes the emotions can be heightened to the point where they become problematic. It’s happened in WWE, we saw Stone Cold Steve Austin walk out over creative differences. It certainly happened in WCW, I had my own issues with that.”
AEW Backstage
The physical confrontation after AEW All Out that led to the suspensions of CM Punk, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, has upstaged the in-ring product in recent weeks. It brings into question, what’s going on management wise behind the scenes in AEW?
AEW owner and president Tony Khan wears many, if not all the hats in the company. He books the shows on top of making the major executive decisions. Something that former WWE CEO Vince McMahon was often criticized for.
Trying to police a locker room that seemingly has unrest is becoming a larger issue for Khan. When Bischoff was asked if he had any advice for Khan, he said the following.
“Tony has really dug himself in as the end all, be all (of AEW). He’s the CEO, head of creative, whatever six titles he has. I don’t think he has delegated well. I think it would have served Tony much better early on, to set the stage and create the culture.”
“If Tony not only would have surrounded himself but delegated and trusted some of the more senior people around him early on, I think he would’ve quite possibly avoided some of this drama.”