Seth Rollins recently made headlines once again, this time with his comments about Kenny Omega. The current Universal champion wasn’t shy about stating his belief that AEW’s Best Bout Machine is wasting his time in Tony Khan’s company.

Rollins’ comments came during an appearance at the Fandemic Convention in Houston, Texas. The Beastslayer spoke his mind and in the process, mixed things up as only he can. Seth has never held back with his comments and this time was no different.

“When Kenny’s done playing in the minor leagues over there [AEW], then he can come and work at the absolute top professional wrestling company in the world, in front of the most people, and make the most money, and have the biggest matches, which is with me at WrestleMania.”

Seth’s words upset Jim Ross, who spoke about the situation on his podcast. The legendary announcer made it known that he wasn’t happy and suggested that Rollins is upset because he’s not as over as his girlfriend, Raw Women’s champion Becky Lynch. But even as JR rebutted Rollins’ comments, many fans immediately cried foul.

That’s because they immediately recalled Omega’s comments about NXT back in September. Omega also wasn’t shy about causing controversy when he said that NXT’s best and brightest couldn’t compare to him in the ring.

“Let’s pretend there were no wars, let’s pretend there were no promotions, let’s pretend there’s just one promotion. If these guys were on the same show as me, they’d be in the dark match. They’d be in the opening match for my main event match.”

At the time, Omega’s fans immediately defended his comments by pointing out that Kenny was likely in character. According to them, the former IWGP champion was merely taking pride in his company and putting himself over in the process. Of course, Rollins’ fans are now saying the same thing about him as well.

But this isn’t the first time that Seth has made headlines and it probably won’t be the last. The notion that WWE doesn’t care about AEW, or any other pro wrestling company for that matter, has been repeated ad nauseam, for quite some time. However if that is indeed the case, then why is Rollins still taking shots?

It’s as if WWE and AEW’s top stars want the heat, while their respective companies claim that it’s not necessary. So who does this latest round of controversy actually benefit, WWE or AEW? The fact is that while AEW seems to be doing just fine, their presence is being reinforced by Vince McMahon’s company.

Seth Rollins, whether he intends to or not, is giving free press to Kenny Omega and AEW. While it’s a bit silly to expect both sides to simply ignore each other, the truth is that Seth could’ve given either a short answer, or simply moved on to the next question. By slamming AEW, he reminded every WWE fan that yes, there is life outside of McMahon’s four walls.

Any fan who’s not familiar with Kenny Omega or AEW, may eventually tune in to see what all of the fuss is about and they may do so because of Seth Rollins. One simple search on social media is all it takes for anyone to absorb the AEW product. Whether or not that will create new fans, is anyone’s guess.

But what does all of this mean? While WWE critics are likely having a field day with this, AEW critics did the same when Kenny ripped into NXT. Both sides have made noise in each other’s direction on more than one occasion and that’s likely not ending anytime soon. So could it be that fans are reading too much into this?

Maybe the war of words between Rollins and Omega is nothing more than just both stars flexing for each other. Each man has a company that depends on him and each company wants to be seen, as well as heard. WWE is in the driver’s seat due to their immense size and worldwide platform. AEW may perhaps never come anywhere close to the level of WWE. 

But that probably won’t prevent both sides from acknowledging each other. This is not the era of the 1980’s territories, when the NWA would never directly speak the name of anyone in the WWF. Fans of both companies knew about the competition, but were content to simply follow their favorites. 

Of course the pro wrestling world is a much larger place than it was just 10 years ago. But it’s also much smaller, thanks to social media. It’s perhaps impossible for WWE Superstars to go on with business as usual and never reference the outside world. The same is true for the roster in AEW. 

It’s been said that fans are the real winners in this “war” between both companies. It’s hard to dispute that notion. It’s even harder to believe that the verbal attacks will ever come to an end. No matter what happens, it’s definitely an entertaining situation and in the end, that’s the point.