Few wrestlers have enjoyed a decade of dominance in theWWEquite likeSeth Rollins. The summer of 2014 marked the beginning of his solo careerafter he betrayed The Shield. Fast-forward to 2015’s WrestleMania, and he’d close out The Show of Shows as WWE Champion. He’s more or less remained a staple of the main event picture since then, but where he lands in the hierarchy might be questionable.
In a new interview withChris Van Vliet, Seth Rollins reflects on his WWE career, and early on, he talks about the main event of WrestleMania XL Night Two. Thanks to an alley-oop from Seth Rollins as his “shield,” Cody Rhodes ended Roman Reigns' nearly five-year reign as WWE Champion. As Cody celebrated “finishing the story”, Rollins watched from afar. In a surprisingly honest statement,Seth admits in his interview that he was watching Cody with “probably a little bit of jealousy” in his heart.
In the above YouTube video, Seth Rollins starts reflecting on Cody’s WWE Championship win at the 7:28 timestamp.
At first glance, it may seem odd of a five-time World Champion to be jealous of Cody’s first reign, but when reflecting on Seth’s journey, it’s understandable why his perspective of never seeing himself asthetop guy.
Seth Rollins' Mixed Feelings on WWE WrestleMania XL
Feeling Joy and Jealousy over Cody Rhodes' Win
After carving out a name for himself on the independent wrestling circuit (most notably Ring of Honor) as Tyler Black, Colby Lopez signed with WWE in 2010. Under the name Seth Rollins, Lopez was trained under the developmental system, originally known as Florida Championship Wrestling. He stuck around long enough to see FCW rebranded as NXT,becoming the inaugural NXT Champion. Since joining the main roster, he’s found immense success on and off-camera, but one accomplishment eluded him. In his eyes, WWE never pushed him as the top guy of the company, as he explained to Chris Van Vliet:
You know, I had a different experience watching Cody win the title. You know, I felt joy, probably a little bit of jealousy. But, like, I don’t know, I have never really been the guy that’s been handed the ball that way. You know, for the last 10 years, it’s been Roman, for the most part, and then Cody comes back and he gets that treatment as well. And I’ve always felt like I wanted to be that person and I could be that guy … it just wasn’t for me in the eyes of people who were making those decisions.
He then proceeds to express thatneither Cody Rhodes nor Roman Reigns would be in a position to be “the guy” without him. Rollins doesn’t say this out of spite, but in acknowledging his role in the WWE. In Rollins' mind, he’s never been given the WWE’s brass ring as much as he’s been a role player used to help propel other wrestlers into a higher spotlight. Again, from the outside looking in, such a statement may seem ludicrous from a multi-time World Champion and WrestleMania main eventer, but it makes perfect sense.
Seth Rollins' First Run as WWE Champion
Was He Not The Guy as Champion?
His first WWE Championship run came upon using his Money in the Bank briefcase garnered the previous summer. Rollins used his “any time, any place” clause in the contract tohijack the main event of WrestleMania 31. By pinning Roman Reigns at a time when Reigns was quickly being anointed as the new face of the company, Rollins became the WWE Champion. The moment was scripted as such largely because fans weren’t gravitating toward Reigns as WWE’s producers hoped, and so they knew having Reigns walk away as champion would end WrestleMania on a dour note. This was their Plan B.
CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins: What You Need to Know About WWE’s Next Hottest Rivalry
Fans have waited months to understand where this beef between Seth Rollins and CM Punk stems from, and this rivalry goes back a very long time.
Being the WWE Champion and pinning the presumed top guy would presumably make Rollins The Man - as he used to call himself - but it’s not that simple. He was certainly the top heel, yes, but a heel cannot be the face of the company in the same way that a main antagonist cannot be the main character of a movie.A heel like Rollins was only exists to give the audience another reason to like the main protagonist, presenting him as a challenge to overcome. Rollins was a vehicle for then-company-face, John Cena, and, eventually, Roman Reigns, to overcome.
Seth Rollins' Initial Babyface Run
Did Rollins Have a Chance to Be the Top Face?
As such, Rollins was due to drop the WWE Championship to Roman Reigns at Survivor Series 2015. Alas, during a November 4th house show match against Kane in Dublin, he suffered three ligament tears in his right knee, tearing his ACL, MCL, and meniscus all at once. He’d be forced to vacate the title mere weeks before the PPV, butupon his May 2016 in-ring return, he received a hero’s welcome. However,Rollins remained a conniving heel despite returning to cheers, which stalled his momentum at the time the longer he worked against the positive reactions he was getting.
Rollins would eventually turn babyface in the fall, but at that point, it was too little, too late. The overwhelming cheers he gained after coming back from his injury had long died down, and Rollins had to slowly rebuild his momentum. Plus, WWE started pushing Rollins more for a WrestleMania feud with Triple H rather than priming him to be the face of the company. Meanwhile, whether Roman Reigns was in the title picture or not, Reigns continued to be pushed as the new face of the company, never leaving the main event scene while Rollins chased tag and IC gold.
Seth Rollins' 2019 Run in WWE
Was Rollins Finally the Face of the Company?
As Rollins embarked on his redemption arc, Roman Reigns was still undoubtedly The Guy, but things took a turn in 2019. It was then that Reigns took a sabbatical to tend to a real-life leukemia diagnosis. Even when Reigns returned months later, he wasn’t immediately sprung back into the main event picture. In this timeframe, with no other options in sight, the ball was thrown into Rollins' court. With Roman Reigns gone and then out of the title picture,Seth Rollins comes the closest he’s ever been to being The Guyof WWE at WrestleMania.
Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania (then pushed as the top title in WWE, superseding the WWE Championship). He was front and center on the posters, and he was leading the A-show of WWE. Seth Rollins was really The Guy at this point, but one can see why this may have been a bitter pill to swallow for him. WWE didn’t crown him because they felt he was the best on the roster,but because their first option in Roman was restricted to the sidelines.
Rollins beat the company’s top heel at the time at WrestleMania, but it was in the opening match instead of the main event. That honor went toBecky Lynch, who WWE viewed as their top star in Roman’s place, eclipsing future husband Rollins in popularityand, in time, the posters - even becoming 2K’s video game cover star. Much like at WrestleMana 31 when he cashed in Money in the Bank, Rollins was viewed as and treated like WWE’s Plan B rather than their Plan A, all before turning heel again in the fall of 2019.
Could Seth Rollins Ever Truly Be WWE’s Guy?
Analyzing His Most Recent Main Event Run
Seth Rollins wouldn’t flirt with the idea of being the top guy again until 2023, when he became the inaugural WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Still, though,both Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes were unquestionably the bigger stars of WWE. Even when Rollins finally main evented WrestleMania, he was viewed by the WWE Universe largely as a secondary thread in the bigger story involving Cody andWWE’s Bloodline with Reigns and The Rock. It continued an unfortunate trend for Rollins: he’s always the bridesmaid, and never the bride - the role player, never the main player.
In Cody and Roman’s respective stories, Seth Rollins has played the same role that “Rowdy” Roddy Piper played heading into thefirst (and nearly disastrous) WrestleManiaagainst Hulk Hogan - fans loved the babyfaces because of how much they hated that heel. However, something that no one can dispute is that, in whatever role he’s asked to deliver, Rollins plays it to perfection every time.He often has the best matchesand, as a character, can be either the maniacal villain or the noble hero.
Perhaps he’s played his role too well, seeing asWWEnever truly saw him as more than a role player, and with his career winding down (he even admits to CVV that he has “more than a couple years left”), Rollins' potential to be the top guy is dwindling. Still, as Seth’s honest answers reminded everyone, he managed to achieve incredible success despite never being handed the ball, and that’s an a feat worthy of respect in itself.
Source:INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is a global entertainment company primarily known for professional wrestling. Founded in 1953, it produces live events, television programs, and streaming content. Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, WWE operates multiple brands, including Raw, SmackDown, and NXT.
