WWE Co-President Actually Comments On All Elite Wrestling And Reveals If They Are Competition

At the beginning of 2019, Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks announced the creation of All Elite Wrestling. It is a fun time for wrestling fans as this upstart promotion may very well bring about a new world and breathe new life into the sport they love so much. While they are going to be competition for other companies, WWE Co-President George Barrios has finally addressed AEW and revealed if he truly feels pressure from them.

It is not often that wrestling promotions actually mention their competition as they like to act as if they’re the only ones who exist. Of course, they know they aren’t and that Ring of Honor is out there as is Impact Wrestling and New Japan and a whole host of other promotions around the entire world.

Still, they have to sometimes acknowledge that other professional wrestling companies are around and that there is always the chance of an uprising.

Barrios is not only the co-president of WWE, but he also sits on the board of directors for Vince McMahon’s company. Wrestling Inc. reported that Barrios recently spoke at the 47th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media, and Communications Conference in Boston, and AEW expectedly came up.

Now, Barrios didn’t necessarily brush aside the talk of All Elite Wrestling, but he didn’t give it a whole lot of attention either.

When All Elite Wrestling was brought up and Barrios was asked if they were direct competition to WWE, he did indeed give a response.

“The best comment I’ve ever heard was from Reed Hastings who said, ‘Sleep is competition.’ He nailed it. You are competing for people’s time. So, whether it’s Fortnite, the NBA, Kung Fu novels – we are fighting for people’s time.”

It’s really hard to think that the NBA, Kung Fu novels, and the popular game Fortnite are going to be direct competition for a wrestling company, but he does make sense.

“So, everyone is a competitor at everything. So yeah, AEW has announced and welcome to the game.”

All Elite Wrestling’s first-ever pay-per-view will take place from Las Vegas on May 25, 2019. It is only the start of this promotion’s future and no one knows just how well it will do. Still, the company has brought in some big names and is doing a lot of things right to generate a buzz and plenty of attention.

AEW may not be true competition to WWE at this point in time, but if they do well and continue to flourish? Well, that will be a conversation for another day and it could lead to some really fun times for fans of professional wrestling.