The special episode of AEW Dynamite 250, which aired on July 17 on TBS, recorded an audience of 795,000 viewers, as reported by Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomics. This figure represents an increase compared to the previous week’s figure, which reached 691,000 viewers on average. AEW Dynamite recorded a 0.27 share in the demographics of interest, corresponding to the ages between 18 and 49 years old, improving on last week’s data (0.23). As an additional fact, AEW Dynamite was the seventh most-watched cable show Wednesday night in the United States in terms of key demographics.

The episode featured several points of interest, highlighting MJF‘s win over Will Ospreay to win the AEW International Championship, Mercedes Mone‘s win over Nyla Rose to retain the TBS Championship, and Swerve Strickland’s disqualification win over Kazuchika Okada in the night’s main event. Since then, there has been a lot of talk about the next marquee milestone of the program: to surpass WCW Nitro in the number of programs, something that will happen next year if there are no major setbacks. So how did Tony Khan manage to turn things around?

As well, we all know that AEW seemed nothing less than a sinking ship that Khan desperately tried to keep afloat. Well, according to Charles Rudy Ashenoff, AKA Konnan, the reasons behind the complete turnaround in ratings for AEW have been the amazing storytelling on their part as they built up the hype for it. On his Keepin’ it 100 podcast, he said, “I didn’t like the one-hour match but did a good number. Because you built up for a few weeks, two of the big stars ready for a match against each other. And they can continue to do that every week and continue to maybe grow your audience.” 

However, it seems like not everyone is happy with the success of All Elite Wrestling. As Eric Bischoff is looking forward to continuing his war of words with the president of All Elite Wrestling, Tony Khan. The WWE Hall of Famer has regularly criticized AEW for many things, including Tony Khan’s ability as a booker. In fact, he claimed that even a monkey can be a better booker than Tony Khan. If it wasn’t already clear, Eric Bischoff isn’t AEW’s biggest fan. He doesn’t even think AEW is contributing anything to the world of professional wrestling, unlike what WWE does. So what happened when he heard the news that AEW might leave WCW Nitro behind?

Eric Bischoff blasts AEW for their comparisons

The renewal of AEW’s broadcast rights with Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to be officially confirmed in the coming weeks. Not only will this deal ensure that AEW Dynamite surpasses WCW Nitro in terms of the number of shows, but it will also provide the company with a significant amount of extra cash. But like we said earlier, Bischoff does not like All Elite Wrestling. So, he criticized AEW and Mercedes Mone for even comparing themselves to WCW.

On the 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff reacted to some comments from Mercedes Mone, who highlighted the importance of AEW Dynamite soon surpassing WCW Nitro in the number of programs. Bischoff assured that this attitude is childish and that it does not contribute anything, since no one cares in the least if Dynamite beats Nitro. “Who gives a s**t, right? A lot of AEW fans are like, ‘I can’t believe ‘Dynamite’ is gonna be around longer than ‘Nitro.” It’s like a little kid, when you’re around a four-year-old or a five-year-old, and they’re just beginning to learn how to really communicate. … As earnest as they are and as passionate as they are, they’re just babbling,” said the wrestling veteran.

Only time will tell if Tony Khan will be able to improve his programming and counter all the criticism he has received for so long. Bischoff’s congratulations to Tony Khan for a creative decision in AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door was a mirage of his idea for AEW. So maybe he would be able to turn things around like he did with the ratings. What do you think? Has Khan finally found the mantra for AEW’s success? Let us know in the comments.