Eric Bischoff wasn’t impressed by Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay’s violent main event at AEW All In 2026. While Ospreay left Wembley Stadium as the new AEW World Champion, Bischoff felt the match failed to live up to the enormous expectations surrounding it.
Speaking on 83 Weeks, Bischoff acknowledged that viewers who enjoy AEW’s wrestling style probably got exactly what they wanted. However, the bloody and weapon-filled match didn’t work for him, and he compared it to something involving The Nasty Boys.
“I didn’t like the match at all, and I know people are going to say, ‘Bischoff’s such a hater.’ Look, for those who like the AEW style of wrestling, it was fine. You got what you wanted. You got what you paid for, and it met or exceeded your expectations, and I’m happy for you. For me personally, subjectively, based on what I enjoy out of professional wrestling, it was like watching a Nasty Boys match. It was a hardcore, slow-paced match.”
Bischoff said the problem went beyond the main event, as he felt several matches throughout All In were sloppy and built around wrestlers taking turns hitting big moves. He still acknowledged that AEW gave its audience what it wanted, but the actual wrestling was only average in his eyes.
“Yes, it was bloody and there were great spots, but that’s my overriding critique throughout most of the matches. The entrances were, by and large, ranging from really, really good to okay. The majority of them fell in the really, really good category, but the matches were okay. There was nothing special. There was a lot of garbage in there. There was a lot of stuff that you could see through. Timing was off in a number of matches, and a number of them just looked sloppy.”
After Conrad Thompson reacted to the Nasty Boys comparison, Bischoff clarified that he wasn’t comparing Omega and Ospreay themselves to the team. He was talking about the match becoming a hardcore fight with no real structure and a referee who had little control.
“It was like a hardcore, anything-goes, no-rules, bring-a-weapon match. I didn’t see a kitchen sink in there, but for the most part, it was anything goes. You had a referee that might as well not even have been there. So, there’s no structure. It’s just two guys getting into the ring and exchanging high spots until one of them starts bleeding. Two minutes into that match, they looked like they were 58 minutes into a 60-minute Broadway. It’s just not what I expected out of those two.”
Bischoff understood that Omega could no longer perform exactly like he did during his celebrated 2017 run in New Japan. His bigger disappointment was how Ospreay spent most of the match taking punishment before making his championship-winning comeback.
“Certainly, the way they’ve been built, I didn’t expect Kenny to go out and be Kenny Omega from 2017. He’s being honest about that. I like that. But I expected so much more out of Ospreay than just getting his ass kicked for 18 minutes and then making a comeback.”
Ospreay still got his crowning moment in his home country, but Bischoff clearly didn’t see the masterpiece many expected. To him, the spectacle surrounding the match was far better than what Omega and Ospreay delivered after the bell rang.
Do you agree with Eric Bischoff’s Nasty Boys comparison, or did Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay live up to the hype at AEW All In 2026? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
