Seth Rollins Says AEW Stars Blasting WWE "Reeks Of Desperation"

In what was likely a calculated promotional move ahead of WrestleMania 38, Seth Rollins has criticised the longstanding AEW habit of All Elite wrestlers mentioning WWE on television, saying it "reeks of desperation."

Speaking on the Sports Media podcast with Richard Deitsch, Rollins, who has never been shy of playing a staunch company man in interviews, started by going over his mention of Jon Moxley on SmackDown's 21 January 2022, calling the former Dean Ambrose part of his story with Roman Reigns (h/t Figure Four Online/Wrestling Observer):-

"Everyone knows he's a part of our history. You can't do Seth and Roman without Dean or Mox, whatever you want to call him, you can't do it. To ignore that part of our history and to just try and put him aside and focus on Roman and Seth, the focus was Roman and Seth, that was the story but he's a part of that. So, to just ignore that and completely pretend he didn't exist is just silly. I referred to him by the name that he prefers to go by and so that's where we're at with that. I heard nothing in response to it backstage at all. I didn't use the reference to Mox to talk down to somebody. I wasn't trying to diminish anybody's accomplishments, it wasn't like that. He's part of our story. Roman wouldn't be the same if it wasn't for him and I."

Continuing, Seth compared the situation to how AEW typically uses the market leaders' initials. Calling the habit "tacky and very low-brow", he dropped the "reeks of desperation" line, saying that while he is happy that AEW is doing well, it'd be a "step down" for WWE to take shots at their closest competition:-

"The other side of that coin is the way that it can be used by those guys. They can do whatever they want, I find it very tacky and very low-brow, personally. I think it looks and reeks of desperation and I just don't think it's anything on our television show that we need to go there and talk down about those guys. They're 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've got a long way to go to catch up to us and that's fine and they know that. They do things differently but for me, my perspective, it's just a little step down for us to kind of use it as an insult. That's my perspective on it but people may not share that opinion."

That these words come days ahead of Rollins' expected WrestleMania 38 match with the returning Cody Rhodes can't be a coincidence. No AEW wrestler was more known for poking barbs at WWE during their time in Tony Khan's promotion. And, as an ex-EVP and founding roster member (critical to forging the environment that led to AEW's formation), Rhodes is synonymous with the behaviours Seth is describing.

Rollins is promoting, knowing his words will rile people up ahead of WrestleMania. Whether or not he is right or wrong is almost immaterial.

He has done his job.