Eric Bischoff Has Rare Praise For AEW

Eric Bischoff has offered up rare praise for AEW after a recent company announcement.

WWE Hall Of Fame Bischoff has been an outspoken critic of AEW television programming over the years, in particular the booking of matches and angles by AEW President, Tony Khan.

The 69 year-old made a handful of appearances for AEW during it’s early years but has since become largely negative towards the product whilst also expressing his loss of respect for Khan.

The former WCW President, however, has praised the company for it’s recent announcement of a residency at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia in late August 2025.

The company will host three episodes of Dynamite, three episodes of Collision, and Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor at the famous venue, which rose to prominence as the home of Extreme Championship Wrestling in the mid-1990’s.

Speaking during a recent edition of his popular podcast ‘83 Weeks‘, Bischoff applauded the prudency of hosting multiple tapings at the same venue:

“What do I think about it? I think it’s probably a smart move for AEW, for a couple of reasons.

One is, yes they can potentially tap into that nostalgic factor. There’s also just the efficiencies, production efficiencies, cost efficiencies of not transporting stuff all over the country every week.

That’s a really smart move, prudent is a good word. It’s a prudent move.”

Eric Bischoff Assesses Risk Of AEW Residency

Whilst voicing a positive stance on the decision to host multiple events from the same venue, Bischoff did acknowledge that the move could also be considered risky given the obvious comparison to the popular mid-90’s ECW product:

“Do I think it’s risky? A little bit, because whether you intentionally, you’re doing it or not,people are going to compare you to ECW.

if you can meet or exceed their expectations, if they’re kind of expecting a ECW version of AEW. If you can do a good job of that, it can be great and also backfire. So we’ll find out [if the] proof is in the pudding.”

H/T: WrestlingNews.co for the above transcription.