Back in January, Seth Rollins shocked fans by actually referring to former WWE Superstar Dean Ambrose as Jon Moxley during an episode of SmackDown. It's rare for WWE to acknowledge that anything exists outside its sports entertainment bubble, with AEW references pretty much non-existent.
With WrestleMania now days away and Rollins set to likely face former AEW star Cody Rhodes on the Grandest Stage of Them All, it's going to be interesting to see whether anything changes.
For his part, though, Rollins isn't a fan of AEW's regular shots at WWE on TV. "It’s one of those things where, if it’s very useful, it’s fine. To me, the references you spoke of are two kinds of different things, right?" he started. "I didn’t use the reference to Mox to talk down to somebody. I wasn’t trying to diminish anyone’s accomplishments. it wasn’t like that. He’s part of our story."
"The other side of that coin is the way that it can be used by those guys. And look, they can do whatever they want. I find it very tacky and low-brow, personally. I think it looks and reeks of desperation," Rollins continued. "I don’t think it’s anything on our television show that we need to go there and talk down about those guys. They are doing their thing, they’re doing it very well, we’re very happy for them. I am, at least personally. Are they on our level? No."
"They have a long way to go to catch up to us. That’s fine and they know that. They do things differently. From my perspective, it’s a little step down for us to use it as an insult."
It's actually easy enough to see where Rollins is coming from here. While AEW has levelled some well-deserved shots at WWE over the past few years, there are times when it feels unnecessary or just a way to generate a cheap pop. What AEW does do better is in acknowledging WWE actually exists, but mentioning Moxley and Rhodes' upcoming return could lead to that changing in the latter.
What's your take on Rollins' opinion?