Eric Bischoff discussed the backstage issues in AEW on the latest “83 Weeks” podcast (Q&A edition), specifically the media scrum that led to the fight backstage after AEW All Out.
“The worst part of what happened in that media circus was the level to which Phil Brooks, whatever his name is, Phil went to humiliate Tony Khan. He eviscerated him. First he cut his balls off, made him look like a complete tool, and then when that wasn’t enough, and he had more time to just ramble on, I think he humiliated Tony Khan.”
“Now I’ve said some things about Tony. Other people have said some things about Tony that aren’t flattering, but just to sit next to a guy that you’re paying millions of dollars to and have him trash your company and make you look like a complete fu**ing tool, which he did. It’s not the fight. I don’t give two sh*ts about the fight. The only thing I would have cared about the fight is who got the best shot. I think the way Phil humiliated Tony, that was unforgivable.”
“I never had anything like that happen to me. Now, guys would say sh*t that was leaked to the media because that’s what a lot of guys did back then. They would leak things to the media to try to help execute their agenda or get a point across that they couldn’t otherwise make. That sh*t happened and it bothered me, but nobody ever sat next to me in a media scrum just completely trashing my company and making me look like a complete as*hole. That never happened.”
Bischoff also spoke if AEW should side with The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega or CM Punk:
“Let’s just go through an exercise here. Let’s say that The Young Bucks were leaking internal information about what was going on behind the scenes in AEW, they were leaking that information to Dave Meltzer, which is I think, that’s been alleged as to what caused Punk to lose his sh*t, right? I don’t blame Punk for being pissed off about that. That’s chicken sh*t, Juvenile High School bullsh*t, if indeed that happened, I wouldn’t blame him for being hot. What I blame him for is the way he handled it and humiliating Tony Khan as a way to vent his spleen. That’s my issue with Punk.”
“Even if that actually happened, and The Young Bucks actually leaked information to Dave Meltzer and Dave Meltzer published that information as a way to put heat on Punk, I completely believe that could have happened. It still doesn’t give Punk the right to do what he did, to take millions of dollars each year from AEW, and then completely trash the company in the process. For that reason, I would get rid of Punk regardless of what happened that caused that reaction. Punk’s reaction, to me, was far more egregious than the alleged circumstances that caused it. So Punk would have to go under any circumstance. I would never, ever, let a guy that buried me and my company while taking millions of dollars from me, I would never let him on television again with a live mic or in an interview with a live mic. I wouldn’t want him around.”
“I just can’t imagine a scenario where you’d keep that guy around. I cannot imagine one, and if they do, my guess, it’s just a guess having been involved in litigation, that they’re keeping them around until they can determine, they meaning AEW, that from a legal perspective, they’re bulletproof, because otherwise you got this disgruntled piece of sh*t named CM Punk, that oh, just coincidentally, supposedly tore a tricep early in his match. Is there any indication of that? Has anybody seen anything in that match that makes him go, ‘I can see yep, there’s really.’ Now maybe there is. I didn’t see the match. I’m not saying it’s bullsh*t. What I am saying is bullsh*t is when I saw him in that press conference, he didn’t have any fu**ing problem feeding his face with Twinkies. He wasn’t selling anything. He wasn’t in pain. He was stuffing his face like he hadn’t eaten in a fu**ing month. I mean, he looks like a wino. It looks like somebody picked him up on a street corner somewhere in Chicago and sobered him up 20 minutes before the press room. He looks like sh*t, always has. But did you see him selling his tricep when he was eating? He was just fu**ing two fisting Twinkies while he was up there. You couldn’t see it right? So I think it’s bullsh*t. I think he got hurt, I think he tore his tricep in that backstage altercation, whatever that was. That’s gonna be a mess. So if they keep him around it’s because they’re trying to navigate that. That’s my guess.”
“Now, you’ve got AEW that’s got two executive vice presidents, because that’s what The Young Bucks are, EVPs, they are officers of the corporation involved in a physical confrontation with a disgruntled piece of sh*t, who now has a truck torn tricep. I submit that perhaps he got the torn tricep stuffing his face with fu**ing Twinkies in the scrum. If he got hurt, he got hurt feeding his face because he was working hard at that.”
“Now you got you got a potential legal issue on your hand and a big one, by the way, because if Punk can maintain that he was hurt inside of that ring, and then there was a physical confrontation, and now he’s got to have surgery, and he may not be able to wrestle again, and oh, by the way, he’s making millions of dollars a year and if he can’t wrestle again, some attorney on the other side is gonna say, ‘Yeah, but he had at least 10 solid years left in his career because look at Chris Jericho, who’s over 50 years old. Look at this guy who is over 50 years old. Look at this guy is over. He had a good 7, 8, 9, 10 years left and he’s been making a couple million, I know what the numbers are, I just refuse to say it. It’s a lot of millions. So you know, that’s about a $50 million lawsuit. That’s gonna be a mess. So if they keep him around, it’s because they are trying to navigate that. That’s my guess.”
You can watch the complete episode below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
