Seth Rollins comments on referencing the competition on television.
During his feud with Roman Reigns leading up to WWE Royal Rumble, Rollins mentioned Jon Moxley (formerly Dean Ambrose) in a promo, referencing the history between the three men as The Shield. Moxley left WWE in 2019 and signed with AEW and many fans were surprised to hear Rollins make a reference to a competitor on another program.
Speaking to Jimmy Traina of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast, Rollins said no one backstage mentioned anything to him about bringing up Moxley's name.
"Not one thing. Not one single thing. Nobody said anything to me about it. 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 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 ignore that and pretend he didn't exist is silly. I referred to him by the name he prefers to go by and that's where we're at. I heard nothing in response to it backstage," he said.
While WWE superstars will rarely mention AEW wrestlers on TV, AEW wrestlers freely mention WWE and their past, with promos between CM Punk and MJF being a recent example.
When asked if it's a bad thing to reference the competition or if it's an easy way to get attention, Rollins replied, "To me, it's one of those things where, if it's very useful, it's fine. The references you spoke of [Rollins mentioning Moxley, CM Punk mentioning WWE] are two kind of different things. 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, Roman wouldn't be the same if it wasn't for Mox and I. 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 low-brow, personally. I think it looks and reeks of desperation. 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 step down for us to use it as an insult. That's my perspective. People may not share that opinion."
Moxley is currently aligned with former WWE stars Bryan Danielson and William Regal on AEW television while Rollins is headed to WrestleMania against a mystery opponent. Reigns will clash with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38 in a Winner Takes All Bout.
Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Dynamite beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday and both nights of WrestleMania 38 beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.
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