Eric Bischoff criticizes Tony Khan for promoting a surprise on AEW Dynamite

Eric Bischoff has criticized Tony Khan's promotion skills on the latest episode of the 83 Weeks Podcast. Bischoff specifically discussed last week's episode of AEW Dynamite and targeted Tony Khan's continuous hyping of a "big surprise" on Twitter.

Tonight we have a great lineup for #AEWDynamite Live on TNT at 8pm ET/7pm CT! For the rest of 2020, #AEW will keep delivering great matches on Wednesday Nights + there are massive surprises ahead! Please join us on TNT tonight, the balance of power in wrestling will shift tonight

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) November 11, 2020

Eric Bischoff brought up Tony Khan's post on the surprise, suggesting that Khan should stop setting expectations and focus on making the surprises more organic and natural. The surprise in question was PAC's return after an eight-month absence to start a feud with Eddie Kingston.

"Don't set your expectations so high for surprises! Because even if you deliver, people are let down. And oh my god, if you fail to deliver even just a little bit, it goes the other way on you. If you have a surprise, just let it be a f***ing surprise! Don't promote the surprise! Don't raise the expectations to the surprise - just let it be a frickin' surprise, will you!" H/t Wrestling Inc.

Eric Bischoff believes not promoting it would have been best

Eric Bischoff went on to state that Tony Khan had messed up on this one, and it would have been better if he had not promoted the return it at all. He feels like Khan needs to realize that over-promoting surprises not only kills the surprise, but also sets fan expectations really high. Most of the time, these expectations cannot be met.

Thank you everyone who watched #AEWDynamite last night! A shift in wrestling’s balance of power has begun & the winners will be the wrestling fans. PAC’s returned after 8 months & I have aces up the sleeve in the weeks ahead. You won’t get them all at once but you’ll get them all

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) November 12, 2020

Eric Bischoff also mentioned that under-promoting a surprise may have worked in his favor, as it would have served as a bonus for fans watching the show. This would have made the surprise a genuine surprise, making it all the more special.

"Yes, Tony, for crying out loud, you're doing everything else right. Come on, come on. Don't make such a big deal out of a surprise that even when you reveal the surprise, it doesn't matter anymore. And conversely, yes, if you under-promote, if you don't create so much build up and just deliver the surprise, even if it's not quite as big of a surprise as you'd like to have, it will mean more anyway. Its added value - its bonus you didn't promote it. You're just over-delivering on something that no one expected. That's what a surprise is supposed to do!" H/t Wrestling Inc.

Eric Bischoff was very critical of Tony Khan's promotion of PAC's return, and in many ways he makes a lot of sense.

The fact that Khan hyped the return so much did have an opposing effect to what he was expecting. However, Bischoff did throw in a compliment for the AEW President, suggesting that he gets "everything else right."