CM Punk on AEW Mentioning WWE, Chris Jericho Responds to Seth Rollins, NXT TV

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Punk Comments on AEW Acknowledging WWE

Former WWE Superstar CM Punk suggested Friday that All Elite Wrestling would benefit from focusing less on its competition.

In an interview with Zak Wojnar of Screen Rant, Punk expressed his belief that those involved with AEW would be better off honing in on what they're doing rather than WWE:

"I think AEW needs to focus on themselves and stop talking about WWE. Cody and The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, Jon Moxley, all those guys have something great going on. I just think it lessens and cheapens what they are doing when they constantly attack WWE. There hasn't been an alternative to WWE in so very long, and I think they do a disservice to themselves when they're trying to be the alternative but constantly bring up WWE.

"But I understand, when people ask you the questions during the interviews you have to answer them. But that's just part of life. You have to learn how to navigate that. I would like them to just try to focus on their product and building it up and making it better. I think that would benefit all the fans."

AEW performers are often asked about WWE in interviews, and they generally haven't held back when discussing the world's biggest and most successful wrestling company.

WWE has also been mentioned multiple times on AEW Dynamite. A few weeks ago, AEW World champion Chris Jericho called Jake Hager's "We the people" gimmick a bad WWE creative idea. This week, Cody said the ring in AEW isn't an invisible barrier unlike "the other wrestling company."

While WWE references seem to pop the crowd since it creates the illusion of bad blood and a war between the two companies, it hasn't done much to boost AEW otherwise.

Dynamite has lost viewership in each of the past three weeks, and it dropped below 1 million viewers for the first time this week.

Punk doesn't have a horse in the race since he isn't signed to any wrestling company and has expressed an openness to work with either AEW or WWE in the future, but he is a highly successful figure in the business, and has generally had his finger on the pulse of pro wrestling and its fans over the years.

Jericho Responds to Rollins' 'Minor League' Comment

Plenty of shots have been fired between AEW and WWE since the debut of AEW Dynamite, and AEW World champion Chris Jericho had more to say during a recent interview.

Jericho previously referred to NXT as the "minor leagues," and during an appearance on Grado's Wrestling Daft Podcast (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News), he further explained his stance:

"NXT is still the minor league. Those guys are still unknown performers, it's not a competition to us and I knew we'd win because we have more star power. When you look at the end of our first week of TV who was out there at the end? Chris Jericho—we know him! Dustin Rhodes—we know him! Jon Moxley—we know him, he used to be another name and but we know who that is. Jim Ross is commentating—I know that guy!"

Jericho's comment came after WWE Universal champion Seth Rollins called AEW the "minor leagues" this week when asked about a potential future match against Kenny Omega.

Like Jericho, Omega has criticized NXT and suggested that it wasn't at the same level as AEW.

Truth be told, WWE's main roster, NXT and AEW all have some well-known names in the wrestling business that even casual followers of sports entertainment are likely familiar with.

The likes of Jericho, Omega, The Young Bucks, Cody and Moxley would almost certainly be big stars if they signed with WWE today, while Adam Cole, Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Finn Balor, Shayna Baszler and Velveteen Dream are just a few of the NXT talents who would thrive in any environment.

Reported Future of NXT TV

Since moving from WWE Network to USA Network six weeks ago, NXT has continued to emanate from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, but that reportedly may soon change.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton), WWE is considering running some of its NXT TV events at Full Sail next year, while also touring and holding shows at other venues across the country.

WWE reportedly wants to still run some shows at Full Sail since it is cost-effective but also wants to broaden NXT's horizons in order to come across as more of a big-time promotion as it goes head-to-head with AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights.

Meltzer also reported that the reason why NXT is still occurring exclusively at Full Sail, for now, is because it rushed to make the move to USA in order to combat AEW and didn't have time to negotiate with arenas.

It is reportedly expected that NXT will begin touring for weekly television as soon as January 2020.

Since NXT has sold out big buildings for NXT TakeOver events in the past, it should be a hot ticket on Wednesday nights, and that could help it close the gap in the ratings war after losing to AEW in each of the first four weeks.

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