Seth Rollins Says The Way AEW Wrestlers Mention WWE on TV 'Reeks of Desperation'

The battle between WWE and AEW has been discussed quite a bit, and both companies view the other quite differently. This conversation typically gets brought back up every time someone mentions the other company, but in a new interview with Jimmy Traina of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast, Seth Rollins was asked about when he mentioned Jon Moxley's name during a promo with Roman Reigns. During that conversation, he was also asked if it's a bad thing to reference the competition or if it's an easy way to get attention, and Rollins views the way the other company does it as 'tacky' and said it 'reeks of desperation.

First Rollins was asked if he heard anything backstage after mentioning Mox's name in his back and forth with Reigns, which referenced his time with The Shield. Rollins said no one addressed it backstage, and he has no problem with mentioning a name or competition in general when it's simply addressing the obvious.

"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," Rollins said. "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."

Where it gets tacky for Rollins is when a reference to WWE is simply done as a putdown. "To me, it's one of those things where, if it's very useful, it's fine," Rollins said. "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," Rollins said. "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."

What do you think of Rollins' view on AEW mentioning WWE? Let us know in the comments!

H/T Fightful