Eric Bischoff criticizes AEW's treatment of major signing: "Nobody knows who the f**k this guy is"

Eric Bischoff has been critical of AEW for a while now. The WWE Hall of Famer has now targeted Kazuchika Okada and how Tony Khan and the company have handled the talented wrestler until now.

Okada appeared on the March 6, 2024, episode of AEW Dynamite. The Japanese star stunned everyone by joining The Young Bucks.

During a recent episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff ripped into Kazuchika Okada, claiming that the popularity of the talented wrestler was non-existent outside of the wrestling community.

"I know the Kool-Aid drinking, Snaggletooth, hardcore fans are going to you know, rebel at what I am going to say, but it doesn't mean it's not right. Okada is, no one knows him. Outside of the hardest of hardcore wrestling fans, the Internet wrestling community, and those who worship the ground Dave Meltzer walks on, nobody knows who the f**k this guy is!" he said.

However, Bischoff added that Okada's lack of popularity isn't a reflection of his talent. The former WWE RAW General Manager added that it was incumbent on the Tony Khan-led promotion to build up the star. Bischoff also claimed that AEW made a similar mistake with the presentation of Will Ospreay.

"So, that's not a reflection on him; it's not his fault. He's been wrestling in an obscure wrestling promotion that no one watches, really! It's incumbent upon Tony and AEW to build him up and to make him special. Same with Will Ospreay. They didn't do that week before, and as a result, I think the debut of both—no we have seen Ospreay before, obviously, but he's now full-time on the roster, that should have been a cause for celebration. That should have been a big deal, there should be something, that's done throughout the show to get us excited about that moment, and there wasn't, nothing was done! Therefore no one got excited and the ratings reflected that," he signed off. [8:11 -9:22}

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Eric Bischoff has been a vocal critic of AEW

Not many wrestling veterans are fans of Tony Khan's booking style, and Eric Bischoff is one of them. The former WCW honcho has been constantly vocal about his issues with the Jacksonville-based promotion.

He has also previiously dismissed AEW as competition to WWE and has stated that the latter was not losing viewers to the rival promotion.

Another vocal critic of the AEW set-up is Jim Cornette, who recently spoke about the safety aspect concerning the matches. The veteran recently called out Darby Allin for his extreme spots, especially the latter's recent one during Sting's retirement match at Revolution.