Eric Bischoff On How Cody Rhodes Leaving AEW Was A Warning Sign, Compares CM Punk Situation To Infamous Warrior WCW Promo

On the latest edition of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff talked about how he would have handled the AEW All Out post-show media scrum situation where CM Punk started taking shots at Colt Cabana, Hangman Page, and the EVPs (The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega). Bischoff said that he would have snatched the mic away from Punk, and noted that Tony Khan created these issues backstage, adding that Cody Rhodes leaving AEW was a sign of how bad the problems had gotten. He also compared the situation to Warrior going way over his allotted time during his first WCW promo. Highlights from his comments are below.

On how he would have snatched the mic away from CM Punk: “I would have snatched that mic from him so fucking fast.”

On how Tony Khan created these problems in AEW and Cody Rhodes leaving was a sign of how bad the issues had become: “I sound like I’m coming down hard on Tony and I guess in a way I am. This is self-inflicted. Everything Tony’s been going through, and by the way, this didn’t just happen a week ago, a week and a half ago, this has been building. Cody Rhodes leaves. Why would Cody Rhodes leave? One of the guys that was instrumental in creating AEW with a great position and I’m sure a lot of money. He was making a great deal of money. Why would he leave? He left for a good reason. And now we’re seeing this disfunction with Punk and Omega and whatever those two other guys’ names are, Nick and Matt Jackson. What are they called? The Elite? It’s a fucking mess. So this has been building for a long time. Tony has created this problem. He needs a leader. But I would have snatched that mic from him, said thank you very much, Phil, obviously you’re not having a great night, thanks for your time, any other questions out there, and just would have taken the mic from him.”

On how he didn’t snatch the mic away from Warrior when he went over during his first WCW promo: “I recognize my own flaws, I really do. I’m pretty self-aware. I didn’t take the mic away from the fucking Warrior when he went 18 minutes over in his promo and was babbling on live TV. He babbled through a commercial segment, like five minutes of commercial time, he just went right over the top of it. So here I am saying I would have taken the mic away from him, I certainly didn’t do it when I had the opportunity with the Warrior.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit 83 Weeks with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.