Last week, Dax Harwood was doing media work in Norfolk, VA promoting AEW Collision and made these comments:
“I don’t think Tony Khan gets the credit that he deserves because he afforded a lot of people a lot of jobs and a lot of income. I mean, even if you look outside of AEW, you got all these old time, miserable podcasters like Eric Bischoff and, you know, some of the others who make a living just by going on their podcasts and burying Tony and AEW when they know that AEW is a place where business is thriving, where AEW is a place that is helping change professional wrestling for the positive. So not only did Tony give us and hundreds of other people a living, he’s afforded a living to some people who otherwise would be sitting miserable, bankrupt in the house.”
On the latest “83 Weeks” podcast, Eric Bischoff responded, “Well, either my skin has gotten so thick,that I just don’t react to things the way I used to or maybe you just get wiser with age and having kind of been there when I was younger, kind of where Dax is right now. So I kind of get it. Where is Dax in his career? He’s got to say these things. He’s out there promoting his company. He’s defending his company. His boss made a complete jackass of himself on social media during the week previous to this appearance. I get it because what else is Dax going to do if he doesn’t have a gig in AEW? I don’t mean that as a shot because I like him, and I like the tag team like you do for the same reasons, but I don’t know if going back to WWE is an option. Maybe it is. We’ve seen crazier things, right? I don’t know the situation where Dax left and how he left it and if he had heat or didn’t have heat. I don’t know any of that stuff. Maybe there’s a chance he could go back, but I think those odds are probably remote at this point. So what’s he got? He’s got the gig and I don’t disagree. Tony Khan has put a lot of money in a lot of talent’s pockets. I know people personally who are making more money who have been in the business for longer than I have and are making more money than they ever have and you know that. I’m not exaggerating anything here. You don’t hear anybody in AEW complaining about their paychecks. Quite the opposite, and I’m sure that’s great for talent. That’s great for those individuals and I’m happy for them just like I’m happy for somebody that wins the lottery. I don’t want to see anybody not get what they can get out there in the marketplace. So let’s dispel that because I agree with that. That’s a wonderful thing for humanity, but it doesn’t mean it’s good for the business. What Tony Khan has been doing and some of the presentations that we’ve seen out of AEW is not better for the business because it’s turning off advertisers. It’s turning off his own viewers. The audience is deteriorating. It’s not growing. WWE is growing in the same environment. Why isn’t AEW? It’s because of the lack of story. It’s because of a lack of character development. It’s because of lack of vision, and it’s because of a lot of the chaos that’s going on behind the scenes.”
Eric Bischoff on how he would use Jim Ross in AEW:
“I would make Jim Ross the Hulk Hogan of announcers for my company. Make him an attraction. Keep him special. Build up his legacy. Showcase him. Make him the John Madden, if you will, of professional wrestling, because that’s who he is. You don’t even need to make him that, it’s to take advantage of the fact that he is and promote and build it and use him in the right spots much like they used Undertaker towards the end of his career.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit AdFreeShows.com with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Quotes were transcribed by Jim for WrestlingNews.co.
