During a recent conference call with WWE investors, Vince McMahon made reference to AEW featuring “blood and guts” … and now Cody Rhodes has responded to his former boss.

In case you missed it, McMahon talked about plans to loosen up the family friendly nature of WWE programming during the call and made a few subtle digs at AEW in the process.

“There will be something we do in terms of a direction of content — more controversy, better storylines, etcetera,” Vince explained. “But at the same time, we’re not gonna go back to the quote ‘Attitude Era,’ and we’re not gonna do blood and guts and things of that nature, such as being done on perhaps a new potential competitor.”

He also said WWE has graduated from “gory crap.”

In a new video for AEW promoting tickets to their October 2 debut television show taping on TNT, Cody didn’t shy away from responding and stated:

“Recently there were some very public comments made about us where we were referred to as ‘blood and guts.’ Blood and guts. And it was said with such a braggart candor that you would think the person saying it felt that they were bullet proof. But I wonder, before they said it, if they tasted their own words before they spit them out. Because the entirety of our business is built on blood and guts. Every man or woman who ever stepped foot in the ring — regardless of race, color, creed, political affiliation, sexual identity — has felt blood and guts and PASSION! Because if we don’t care, they don’t care. So if you say we’re blood and guts, I say you bet your ass we are blood and guts.”

Watch the video below.