— WWE CCO Paul “HHH” Levesque appeared on the Pat McAfee show yesterday and without naming AEW specifically, was asked about competition that he faces. Unlike in the past when Levesque stated that “everything” is competition, this time he noted that WWE’s only competition is with itself when asked to compare today’s WWE to the one from the Attitude Era.
“In some way then, we were fighting for our lives. When the Attitude Era was first coming to be, it was us literally fighting for our lives. There was a company that was out there that had more money and was doing big things and was kicking our ass in a way and we wouldn’t let them.”
“We were building up against something. Right now, we are up against ourselves. We’re up against the Attitude Era, we’re up against the Ruthless Aggression era, whatever you want to call it. The best of the absolute best of WWE…that’s what we’re working against. And these talent, they are hungry, they are excited for it. My job now is to not make anybody as successful as it gets is to not get complacent. You gotta keep that fire, you gotta keep that passion because if you don’t, it goes away.”
— Levesque also took what seemed like a subtle shot at AEW’s strategy of signing free agents as well as wrestlers who sign for a lighter schedule, saying that he used to be on top of knowing what wrestlers are everywhere but that he doesn’t have time for that and instead relies on trusted advisors like William Regal filling him in on talent. He also said:
“I don’t subscribe to the ‘this guy says they’re good, that guy says they’re good’… I have to see it to feel it. It’s just keeping track of who’s out there, how good they are and what you think they can do. And because they succeed someplace else doesn’t mean they’ll succeed at the big time.”
“When I see people that come out of trying to make it and then they pick the job where they go, “Well, they work less, the schedule is lighter…alright, then I’m glad I didn’t get you because if you’re not in it for the grind at that point early in your your career, you have no business being here.”
