Batista Says He Doesn't See AEW As "Legitimate Competition" For WWE

Batista sat down with Chris Van Vliet to talk about his retirement from wrestling, WrestleMania 35, and his thoughts on All Elite Wrestling. When asked about AEW, Batista felt WWE is so far ahead in terms of production and building a roster that AEW has a long ways to go before they could be considered on the same level.

"I don't see it as legitimate competition," Batista responded. "I see it as competition, which is great, there should always be competition but until they actually produce one of their own major stars, until they have a production that is as big as WWE.

"I mean WWE already has the next three generations of Superstars because they have NXT camps all over the world now, they're so far ahead of the game that I don't see any real competition. Not even close."

Batista last appeared for WWE at WrestleMania 35 where he lost to Triple H in a No Holds Barred match. The next day he announced his retirement from pro wrestling.

For AEW, up next is Fyter Fest on June 29 in Daytona Beach, featuring Jon Moxley's in-ring debut against Joey Janela. Fight for the Fallen takes place on July 13 in Jacksonville, Florida, and then All Out in Chicago on August 31, featuring Adam Page vs. Chris Jericho for the vacant AEW World Championship, and Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley.

Making news earlier this week, All Out sold out in 15 minutes, demand was so high there were reports that the promotion could have sold 100,000 tickets.