AEW News: Cody Rhodes responds to former WWE Universal Champion's comments

With the arrival of AEW, WWE probably had their first taste of competition in 20 years. But some didn't see it that way. Some months ago, Roman Reigns said that Seth Rollins calling AEW competition was him being generous.

In an interview with Sport 1 in Germany, Cody Rhodes was asked to respond to those comments and Cody said that Roman was very smart and has a WrestleMania main event under his belt. He explained:

"To Roman's point: He is very, very smart, he has WrestleMania main event under his belt, he has incredible talent. I think at the time, a lot of people were … I don't wanna say naive. People were turning away from it, but there's no turning away now."

Rhodes also said that AEW is trying to deliver a wrestling product that fans have been wanting for 20 years and that it's better to have competition. He elaborated further by stating:

"WWE's on a 49 year head start and I tip my hat for that. But what we're doing is to build upon what fans have been talking about for 20 years, what they want from a wrestling product and what perhaps wasn't delivered to them. We want to be the alternative. If that means stepping into competition, so be it. It's better to have competition for me, for Roman, for everybody."

Cody's measured response is poignant as it does seem to capture the actual fuel behind All Elite Wrestling's rise. The year 2020 is going to be an interesting one for the new promotion - AEW Dynamite returns on January 1, 2020.