Eric Bischoff Believes AEW Is Making The Same Mistakes As WCW

Eric Bischoff has been something of the Ghost of Christmas Past for AEW but hasn't always been as explicit in that advice as he was on the most recent "83 Weeks" where Bischoff admitted that he sees a lot of the past repeating in AEW.

"Tony Khan once said, early on after the start of AEW, 'I'm not going to make the same mistakes WCW made,'" Bischoff said. "I'm not going to go into the litany of mistakes that have been made and continue to be made by Tony. Many of them are similar to the mistakes I made. He's making the same ones."

The biggest mistake Bischoff thinks AEW is making? Going along with the plan to launch "Collision" on Saturday nights. 

"This is another one where if I was Tony and I was looking at the long-term viability of my brand," Bischoff explained. "I would do everything I could to talk Turner out of making that Saturday night show if indeed they're pushing it on him. If Tony's stepping up and wanting to do another show for any reason, then I question his judgment, because he clearly doesn't have the resources."

Bischoff referred to the "clown car competition" surrounding CM Punk and the chaos that has been whipped up behind his potential return to the company.

Bischoff reminisced on how bad a decision adding "WCW Thunder" to its weekly lineup was, "and keep in mind we were hot." Bischoff reminded his co-host that WCW was profitable and beating WWE in the ratings, and "Thunder" still ended up being a burden, calling it the "beginning of the end" for WCW.

"Because I lived through that, I hoped Tony wouldn't make that mistake again," Bischoff confessed, "but here we are."

Bischoff noted that he arrived at WCW with the company already producing a number of syndicated shows and that he didn't even want WCW to start "Nitro," as he was trying to cut back on programming, which he feels Khan should consider. Bischoff says that Khan has been "proactive" in adding content as opposed to removing it. 

"The point is Tony needs to establish AEW to begin a growth pattern in AEW to create a demand in that growing audience for additional programming," Bischoff explained. "I don't know that he's created that demand."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "83 Weeks" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.