Eric Bischoff took a brutal shot at Jon Moxley after watching his match against Nigel McGuinness at AEW All In 2026. Bischoff didn’t just dislike the match—he accused Moxley of copying Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Speaking on 83 Weeks, Bischoff said the repeated elbow exchanges immediately killed his interest in the match because they didn’t look believable. He understood that wrestlers were trying to recreate the famous Don Frye and Yoshihiro Takayama exchange, but argued that the spot had been copied so many times that it no longer felt special.
“Sports entertainment being what sports entertainment is, we try to adopt some things that we see that work. Now we’re doing them in the ring all the freaking time, and everybody does it. Everybody looks like a clown when they do it because you can see through that shit. It’s not believable. It’s not dynamic. It’s not fun to look at. It’s not interesting. It’s just two guys beating the shit out of each other with their elbows, and it looks horrible.”
Bischoff then compared Moxley’s entire presentation to Steve Austin. He pointed to Moxley’s entrance, mannerisms and habit of pouring water over his head as examples. While he understood Moxley’s rough brawling style, the repeated elbow exchanges completely took him out of the match.
“He’s like a Stone Cold Steve Austin wannabe. He does a lot of the same things. He carries himself the same way, hitting himself in the head with the water. He’s coming out with all that Stone Cold Steve Austin-esque stuff. Inside of the ring, I get his style. He’s got that rugged, rough, street-fighter, brawler style. But man, when they start exchanging elbows like that, it just takes me completely out. Completely out.”
Conrad Thompson pushed back by explaining the story behind the match. McGuinness had fought through a tournament with an injured foot to earn the opportunity against Moxley, creating a hometown underdog story at Wembley Stadium. Bischoff conceded that he might have viewed the match differently if he had followed the entire build.
“That’s a good point, and I concede that. I acknowledge that without reading the first 10 chapters, the last chapter might not make any sense. That is the perspective from which I watched that match. I would have probably felt differently about it had I been engaged in the story going forward.”
That explanation still didn’t change Bischoff’s general opinion of Moxley’s work. He praised McGuinness as both a wrestler and commentator before admitting that he has never found a Moxley match he truly enjoyed.
“I too am a Nigel fan. I worked with Nigel in TNA, and I’m very well aware of some of the issues that he had as far as being dealt a bad hand early on in his career when he was at TNA. I love his work on commentary. I think he’s one of the best, actually. But for the most part, I’ve yet to see a Jon Moxley match that I’ve really enjoyed watching.”
Moxley may be one of AEW’s biggest stars, but his presentation clearly does nothing for Bischoff. Even after hearing the full story behind the McGuinness match, Bischoff couldn’t get past Moxley’s Austin-like mannerisms and in-ring style.
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