AEW Officials Reportedly Furious Over MJF/Alicia Atout Wedding Photos Leaking, Eric Bischoff Slams AEW Fans

— MJF and Alicia Atout’s wedding photos recently surfaced online, revealing that several AEW stars — including Hangman Page, Kip Sabian, and Penelope Ford — were in attendance.

On the latest episode of “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer noted that AEW was displeased with the leaks. He explained,

“I know that they’re not particularly happy it happened. It’s not the end of the world. I mean, everyone knows and this and that. But it’s still, especially for people who have kind of the mentality that he [MJF] would have, and I would presume Page would have, but I know he would have, in the sense of he wouldn’t want that. He’s…look, he’s trying to be a heel from the 70s and 80s in 2025. And it’s not the easiest thing to do, and he works very hard at being that kind of a heel that people genuinely hate, and trying to make…and there’s nothing wrong with trying to create the illusion that these feuds are real. I mean, we know they’re not, but you do want to create the illusion. And I don’t think you want to break the illusion.”

It was added by Alvarez that while people in AEW shared the photos later, fans first found them on Facebook family albums.

— On a recent episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast, Eric Bischoff weighed in on AEW’s declining ratings, suggesting that if the trend continues, Dynamite’s viewership could eventually fall below 300,000.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

On AEW fans: “Look, I wish AEW and Tony well. I got no issues, I could care less. I can’t even describe to you how irrelevant anything that has to do with AEW really is to me. But I do like screwing with their ridiculous, ridiculously stupid, willfully ignorant fan base who just absolutely collapse and overreact to anything that is said about AEW. They are the lowest of the low. They’re the low-hanging fruit that’s so low-hanging to the ground, the fruits are starting to rot on the vine. That’s the typical online AEW fan base. And collectively, the dumbest group of people I think I’ve ever been exposed to, right? So it’s fun to tweak them, because they’re so easily tweaked.”

On Dave Meltzer: “And at the head of that you know group of rotten, low hanging fruit, is your buddy, Dave Meltzer, who is proving himself on a daily basis to be the single most out-of-touch person to talk about, write about, or watch professional wrestling. I have never met anybody so out of touch with the mainstream as Dave Meltzer. But now it’s becoming evident to everybody.”

On AEW ratings: “So what was it about a year ago — no, eight months ago. I was sitting down and there was this debate about ratings and network deals, and what the AEW could be doing in the future. And I just sat down with a glass of wine, and I looked at the previous two years of ratings for AEW. And it’s simple math. If I can do it, it’s pretty simple math. And a little $8 calculator and a glass of cheap red wine, I went and punched in a couple numbers. I went, ‘Oh, they’re losing an average of about 20 to 23% of their audience every year.’ And Dave, this is — for a guy who studies so f**king much, you should just figure this part out. It’s a simple math equation.

“I took their existing audience, averaged it out over whatever it was, three or four months. Said, ‘Okay, that’s my baseline of what their current AEW is currently doing.’ Now, I went back and looked at even learning average, losing about an average of 22 or 23%. Whatever it was at the time. So I just did that simple math, Dave, you don’t have to study. You just have to actually do s**t. And I did the math, and I went, ‘Oh wow, this is where they are now. This is where they’re going to be a year from now. This is where they’re going to be three years from now, unless they reverse the 20% average attrition per year.’”

On his prediction: “And I came up. And I said by the by the by the end of their existing contract, they’re going to be hovering around 300,000 viewers. But I projected on November 14, 2024. I said, ‘A year from now, they’re going to be–‘ they, meaning AEW — ‘will be hovering around 500,000 viewers.’ And I was absolutely right, once again. Any moron can sit back and watch something that has already happened and then give you their out-of-touch, inverted logic perspective on anything. It doesn’t take any particular talent — clearly, in the case of Dave Meltzer. But who can look at the present and predict the future with a precision and prescience that I can? The answer is nobody. Nobody that’s writing about, talking about professional wrestling today can tell you — not only what’s going to happen, but tell you why it’s going to happen. And just to make it a little sweeter, tell you when it’s going to happen.”

On Tony Khan: “Those are the people [AEW fans who listen to Dave Meltzer] that I like to tweak, not Tony. Tony’s doing the best he can. Tony’s living his dream. If I had access to a couple of billion dollars, I’d be chasing and doing some silly stuff too that made no sense to anybody else, but I wouldn’t care. I’d just be going out and having fun, whatever that was. And that’s what Tony’s doing. So God bless Tony and his father for allowing him to do it, because it’s a gift.”

— On a recent episode of the “Kairouz Bros” podcast, Bryan Danielson admitted he isn’t sure if his body can still keep up with AEW’s hard-hitting style.

Danielson noted that he’s open to working smaller independent shows instead, where the pace wouldn’t be as demanding. The former AEW World Champion explained,

“Actually, from a wrestling perspective, it seems to be more fun to go do an indie show in front of 200 people or something like that. That doesn’t say anything about AEW. It’s just that the expectations for me would be so much less, in the sense that I don’t feel like my body can do what I would be expected to do in AEW, and that’s one of the great things about going to AEW shows, is that there’s so much. It’s action-packed, it’s hard-hitting, it’s great, but I don’t feel confident that I’m able to perform at that level anymore.”

— And finally, AEW Women’s World Champion “Timeless” Toni Storm is set to appear on The Sandman’s podcast in the near future.

Ahead of the appearance, Storm humorously “knighted” the ECW legend, and to promote it, The Sandman tweeted,

“You gotta check in with Uncle Hak if you touch down in Philly. But if you meet the timeless one you better be bearing gifts. “Timeless” Toni Storm on The Sandman Podcast dropping soon!”

You gotta check in with Uncle Hak if you touch down in Philly.

But if you meet the timeless one you better be bearing gifts.

“Timeless” Toni Storm on The Sandman Podcast dropping soon! pic.twitter.com/JvTwtQBd7B

— TheSandmanPodcast (@SandmanPod) September 10, 2025