Former WCW President Eric Bischoff has rubbished AEW's Tony Khan's recent comments about the WWE-TNA collaboration.
Bischoff recently analyzed Khan's recent interview with Ariel Helwani, where one of the topics the AEW CEO spoke about was the WWE-TNA partnership. Bischoff's co-host on "83 Weeks," Conrad Thompson, suggested that Khan is taking on the partnership head-on and is viewing it as a challenge to compete with WWE andTNA, a notion Bischoff didn't buy.
"He's [Khan] putting himself over because he's the challenger brand. So, the fact that they're having to make these moves to hurt AEW suggests that they look at AEW as a viable challenger brand. That's a beautiful story to tell. It's just got nothing to do with reality. It's cosplay," he stated bluntly.
The WWE Hall of Famer then pointed out the main purpose behind WWE entering a partnership with TNA, as well as the unintended benefit the company has gained from it.
"Here's why I think WWE is in business with TNA. The sole reason is to mitigate some of the potential that may exist down the road when it comes to monopolizing business. It's a strategic, legal maneuver that had a very specific purpose. And the fact that, you know, AEW is somehow affected, yeah, maybe that's like garnish on the plate for WWE. [WWE may think] 'Hey, by the way, we've achieved this great strategic success by entering into this relationship with TNA, and oh, by the way, makes Tony scream.' That's kind of fun. The idea that WWE views AEW as a 'challenger' brand it's entertaining."
Khan, in his interview, argued that WWE has previously collaborated with other promotions to counter-program a rival brand, pointing to the company sending wrestlers to Smoky Mountain Wrestling in the '90s when they were competing with WCW.
