Tony Khan’s booking has come under fire from Eric Bischoff, who claims that many of the bouts have no clear story. Khan recently provided a response, noting that Nitro had numerous matches that lacked a story.
On the latest episode of the podcast “83 Weeks,” Bischoff was questioned about whether or not he had the opportunity to hear Khan’s comments and, if so, what he thought of them:
“No, I didn’t see it or hear it. I’m aware of it, obviously, because people kept blowing me up yesterday, you know, wanting me to react, or the day before? I think it happened on Thursday. I’m not sure. It probably happened Wednesday. You know, I’m aware of it and look, hey, I’ve criticized myself plenty on this show for things that I wish I would have done differently or things that I’ve learned subsequent to my time in WCW that I wished I had the knowledge or the the instinct or insight that I have now, 25 years ago. It would have been a better show. But there were certainly random matches that didn’t have any story in WCW. I’m not denying that. But I’m also going to point out that I don’t think I ever said in any of my commentary about AEW that I believe that every match should have a story.”
“When you’re introducing new talent, or when you’ve got talent that you haven’t really matched up storyline wise with an opponent yet, but you want to expose that talent. You want the audience to become familiar with that talent. You want to establish that talent. Sure, put them in there in a match or put people in matches that don’t really have a story, but use that time in non storyline matches to give us some real backstory and information about said talent. Make us care. It doesn’t always have to be in the form of a storyline, a traditional structured act one, act two, act three kind of story.”
“If I’ve ever given the impression that I thought every match on Nitro had a storyline, forgive me now. I never meant to. My issue and my comments about AEW and the creative behind it is really about your top matches that don’t have sufficient story or structure, or at least a compelling one. There’s always an excuse for a match. There’s always an angle, you know, your traditional, from back in the beginning of time, you know, an inciting moment that creates a match or creates a storyline, but your top matches your A, B, C and D storylines, that’s different. I’ve seen a lot of matches, a lot of storylines, well, what AEW considers a storyline, that I feel are just nothing more than excuses for a match. They’re not well crafted stories.”
“That’s my criticism. It’s not a shot. I’m not making fun of anybody. I’m not trying to belittle anybody. I’m pointing out that I believe in today’s competitive environment, with television being what it is, that if you want to, pay attention Tony, build and grow your audience, you’re going to have to do it with well crafted, compelling, well structured storylines, and I don’t see it. I see excuses for matches and that’s not a storyline. So that’s my critique, constructive as I hope it is interpreted, but clearly won’t be.”
