Jim Ross fires back at Seth Rollins.
WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins made headlines on Oct. 21 when he called AEW the "minor leagues" in a response to a question about when he would face Kenny Omega. Rollins was speaking at Fandemic in Houston and you can view his full comments by clicking here.
The comment was viewed by many as another jab between WWE and AEW, which began seemingly the moment All Elite Wrestling became a reality at the start of the year. Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho have taken similar strikes at WWE and NXT talent in recent months. However, AEW announcer Jim Ross didn't dismiss the comment as a light jab or "workers working."
"I'm pissed off about it," Ross said on the latest episode of Grilling JR. "It doesn't do any favors for our business. Any promotion, is bigger than any individual. I'm not inferring that Seth thinks he's bigger than the business. But, by what he says sometimes, you can make that assessment, rightly or wrongly. It's not a classy thing to say for an athlete of his designation.
"I talked to two Hall of Fame guys, off the record, that were embarrassed by those remarks as well. It doesn't do the business any good and one of these cats even said to me, 'Maybe Rollins is breaking under pressure because he's getting a lot of criticism.' Here's the deal, the WWE is a whole different world today than it was when guys were earning above their downside based on live events and pay-per-view. A guy like Steve Austin might be making $1 million a year, downside guarantee. But he might have a year where he could make $10 million, $13 million, $9 million. It's always over that. Now guys in WWE, like Rollins, is on a salary. In broad terms. I don't know how many houses Seth has drawn that has sold out. As another Hall of Famer mentioned to me, it's not about the individuals being over or drawing the house. It's about the WWE brand selling out."
Ross didn't let up on Rollins, saying, "Rollins is in a great spot, he's blessed, maybe someday he'll be as over as his girlfriend [Becky Lynch]. I don't know. I've always liked his work. He's a solid guy. But saying things like that makes him look bad. I feel bad for him. I was upset at Seth because I thought his comments made him sound bad. Made him sound bush league, like he was born on third base, woke up, and thought he hit a triple. I don't know what's happened to some of these guys. I don't know if it's internal, what they're driven to say, what they're obligated to say. They think it'll gain favor of their bosses. I don't know what the answer is."
Despite his criticism of Rollins' comments, Ross did admit that he believes Rollins is a great worker and that a match between him and Omega would be great.
Along with looking back at landmark WWE/WCW events, Ross discusses the latest news on his Grilling JR podcast. Last week, he weighed in on Eric Bischoff being fired from WWE. You can view his full comments by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to Fightful for the transcription.