Paul Heyman says AEW ‘can’t match’ what WWE is about to do

Paul Heyman appeared on the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch to hype up WrestleMania 38, which takes place this weekend (Apr. 2 & 3) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

When he was asked a question about how closely he follows the AEW product, Heyman said the following:

“Well first of all, I have no problem putting AEW over if AEW does things that’s worthy of being put over. I don’t live in a bubble. I would also offer to anybody that wonders why I would be so willing to put over the competition. If you look at WrestleMania and you look at the fact that over the course of these two days, WWE has sold more tickets...to this event, this WrestleMania, than to any other event in WWE history. Combine those two nights. So with that in mind, and the spectacle that this show will be, and you combine that with the worldwide publicity that it’s going to garner, and the fact that the entire industry is focused on what’s going to happen at WrestleMania, and therefore what comes out of WrestleMania, I would argue the case that I could sit here and praise AEW all day long. They can’t match what we’re about to do next weekend. And until they are in a position to match what we do next weekend, I’m not that concerned with praising the competition, because they’re still a long way away from what we do, and our level of success, and our market dominance.

That being said, do I watch AEW? Of course I do. But I also watch everything else that’s out there as well. If I can get my hands on Buenos Aires Championship wrestling, I’d watch it. If I can get my hands on Antarctica All-Star Wrestling, if there is such a thing, I’d watch it. I’d watch it. I watch anything to do with this industry.”

There are plenty of things that AEW does better than WWE, and vice versa. That being said, it’s impressive that Paul found a way to turn a question about AEW back into a superb hype job for the reach and popularity of WWE’s WrestleMania brand, because that was his primary goal during this interview. Stating that AEW has never put on a weekend event that sold 100,000+ tickets isn’t an insult to AEW’s product. AEW hasn’t done anything like that yet, and it will be interesting to see what happens whenever they do attempt to fill up larger stadiums with paying customers.

When do you think Heyman will become more concerned with praising the competition, Cagesiders?