Cody On Roman Reigns Saying It’s ‘Generous’ To Call AEW Competition, His Post-WWE Popularity Boost, More

Cody recently spoke with Sport1 in Germany about AEW combining old school and new school, his post-WWE popularity boost, Roman Reigns saying it is generous to call AEW competition, and more. Highlights are below.

On AEW combining old school and new school: “They say in wrestling: What’s old is new. There is so much of the territory wrestling and even pre-Crockett, pre-television wrestling, that has so many great stories and element to bring to the squared circle and tell a story within the ropes. To be able to do that on worldwide television is huge. But we also have to do our best not to be a parody of what’s old. Not to be nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. You have to give people the buffet: some old, some new. We are melting those worlds. I like Memphis Wrestling, southern wrestling, I revel in that old school, but not lazy old school – the diligent, committed old school. If you mash that up with the new school and create something new, like Darby Allin does or MJF: People will let you know how much they love it.”

On his popularity boost after leaving WWE: “I don’t think I expected it. The truth is: I am very honest to myself when it comes to my spot on the card. When AEW came to fruition, I was rising up and I was being greeted so generously by its fandom. But if you compare it to fishing: That’s a bite and I’m not gonna let go of that. That’s what wrestling is about. The beautiful thing about AEW: Everybody thinks that way, everybody wants to be at the top, but everyone’s doing it the right way: by performance.”

On Roman Reigns saying it’s “generous” to call AEW competition: “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 are turning away from it, but there’s no turning away now. 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.”