Roman Reigns believes WWE is light years ahead.
With All Elite Wrestling scheduled to debut on TNT on Oct. 2, the promotion already has a groundswell of support from wrestling fans. Their recent Double or Nothing event did nearly 100,000 buys on pay-per-view, they sold out their debut show on TNT, and the upcoming All Out event is set to be another box office success.
Despite the rise of AEW, Roman Reigns isn't quite ready to put them in the same league as WWE.
"I think [Seth Rollins] is being generous in calling them a competition.," Reigns told Sport1. "I don't want to get too deep into this [?], I said it before: It's an option and that's great for professional wrestlers, pretty cool for fans. Before my family was WWE only, we've been a territorial family. You had to move, work with different promotions and territories. I'm always gonna be 'pro pro-wrestler', but at the end of the day: WWE is my home, it's what I represent and we're so far ahead. You can see it in other shows: It's not easy to have a clean production, you have to have a lot of experience. Our talent is top-notch, we've got main eventers for days, but it also is our crew. They're busting their asses all night to get the show running. There are so many people that make this place work. When you see other people out there tryin' to do it, you see the flaws and it makes you respect what we do even more. It's easy to complain and to say this and this on paper, but when it's time to go out there and actually do it: Nobody will do it like WWE. Period."
Reigns continued, discussing how WWE has evolved to remain ahead of the game, not just in wrestling, but in pop culture as well.
"I think we're at the forefront. We have one of the strongest social media platforms in entertainment, if not the strongest. We're right ahead; we're living it, we're trailblazing. They're doing case studies on us, that's where we're at. It comes down to the little things, we do the little things properly, always making sure the little details are correct. I think that's how we take things to the next level. We're lightyears ahead when it comes to that. I have fans everywhere, all over the world and every single person in our locker room can say that. There's nothing like us; we're lightyears ahead."
Landing the cover of WWE 2K20 has set Reigns on a media tour that has seen him answer multiple questions about AEW. In an interview with ESPN, Reigns gave his thoughts on Jon Moxley voicing his frustrations with WWE creative. You can read his comments by clicking here.