Seth Rollins On CM Punk, Heist Of The Century, WrestleMania 40, Becky Lynch, Roman Reigns

Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to discuss his main event match at WrestleMania 40 and if there was any concern he wouldn't make it to the match, CM Punk's WWE return and his viral reaction, cashing in his Money in the Bank contract in the main event of WrestleMania, the stomp into the RKO from Randy Orton, wrestling an injured Cody Rhodes inside Hell in a Cell, what goals he still has left to achieve in WWE and more!

Quote I'm thinking about: "All we get is time and choices. Be wise with both."

On what his goals are in WWE now that he has done everything:

"It's a great question. I've asked myself this many times, especially over the last couple of years. I don't know. I'm in this weird space where I feel, especially after WrestleMania this past year in Philadelphia. I had this sense of accomplishment, but in a way that I never experienced before where I felt like I'm good. If I stopped tomorrow, I'm good. Everything that I wanted to do, I'm good. I really felt like WrestleMania was kind of this moment where we really took the business into a different era. It was the first WrestleMania that Triple H was really in control over. I felt a big part of it and I just felt like we ushered in kind of a new era of WWE. Business was amazing and WrestleMania in Vegas is going to be even bigger. It just feels like everything is fresh, everything is new within WWE, whereas the previous 10 years felt like a real fight to get it to that point. I don't know, after Philadelphia, after night two, I just felt this release, like this kind of weight lifted off my shoulders, like I don't have to do everything on my own or I don't have to be the guy that pushes this thing forward. I think we're going to be okay. So with that said, I'm trying to be healthy, trying to be happy, trying to find more of a balance between my home and work so that I'm not just prioritizing whatever next goal is on the horizon. Obviously, you work every year to main event WrestleMania and to be the biggest act in our industry. I think when I kind of don't care about that it might be time to hang it up. Right now I think that's it, but it's not the obsession that it used to be."

On Cody Rhodes winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania:

"I had a different experience watching Cody win the title. I felt joy, probably a little bit of jealousy. But I don't know, I've never really been the guy that's been handed the ball that way. For the last 10 years it's been Roman for the most part, and then Cody comes back and he kind of gets that treatment as well. I've always felt like I wanted to be that person, and I could be that guy, but it just wasn't for me in the eyes of the people who were making those decisions. So there was this joy and this happiness that we kind of crossed a proverbial finish line, certainly a little bit of professional jealousy as well. But I mean, look, Roman doesn't get to where he's at without me, I don't think. I think he would tell you that as well. And certainly, Cody coming back, there's a reason when he came back that I was the first person they put him with, so I don't think he's where he's at if it's not for me. I don't mean that in a way that's arrogant or anything, but I've always been the person who wanted to put the industry and the company before my own personal desires. I was okay with it. If we all did better, if the company did better, and the business as a whole was healthier, I felt like I was doing my part, even if it was kind of unsung in many ways. So I told Drew you f*cking deserve it and he does, did, he squandered it pretty quickly. Because I get it, that moment there's a lot of emotions going on in that moment. There's some things that don't go your way all the time when you're kind of wrapped up in yourself, but Drew had a really good year after that, so I kind of stick with what I said. He does deserve the spotlight. He works really hard. He's a guy who got fired and came back. He didn't leave on his own, he got let go because he didn't know what he was doing, and he went and put in the work and then came back a totally different version of himself and has continued to improve. Say what you will about him being a super troll online, when you get him out there in the ring, whether it's with a microphone or in a match, he's one of the best there is."

On if there were any concerns he wasn’t going to make it to WrestleMania 40 due to injury:

"No, I just didn't know what shape I was gonna be in by the time we got to WrestleMania." 

How much pain were you in? 

"At that point the pain wasn't so bad. So the match with Jinder Mahal would have been in January. I had basically really sprained my MCL pretty bad and tore my meniscus. The meniscus tear was an older tear that I think got displaced. So I'd basically been wrestling on a torn meniscus for as long as I can remember but I had a kind of a mechanism to sort it out. Whenever I kind of dislodged it, it put the meniscus into a different position in my knee. I don't need to get into the anatomy of all that, but basically it was really painful when I would do specific things. So I just had to be smart. So I took, obviously, Rumble off, Chamber off, but then I came back in a brace and I did some live events. I had wrestled Solo Sikoa on one of the Mondays leading up to WrestleMania as well, mostly because I just wanted to get a feel for it. I wanted to know what I could and couldn't do, and I didn't want to wrestle with a brace at WrestleMania because I hate wrestling with a brace. So I wasn't in a ton of pain only because I had gone through the pain the weeks leading up to it, kind of like trial runs. I was like let me test this out at these live events, and then let me test it out on TV. Let me see what's going to hurt me. Basically like stab, stab, stab, okay, now I know what not to do, now I know how to work around it. Then I just had booked the surgery for right after. I knew what the end game was at Mania. I'm like, let's just get through that. I want to help, I think I can be an integral part of this. So let's do that, and then I'll go get it fixed and take a little bit of time."

On what would have happened if CM Punk did not get injured:

"That's a great question. It would have been Seth Rollins and CM Punk I believe. But then you've got The Rock and his introduction into that story right after Royal Rumble. But he comes in and kind of didn't really understand the scope of what he was messing up I don't think. So I don't know what would have happened if Punk won the Rumble or not got injured. Yeah, I don't really know. I don't know where Cody would have landed in all of that. I don't know where Roman, I don't know where anyone [would have landed]. There were just a lot of players and somebody would have been on the outs. I don't know who that would have been. I have no idea. So, I mean, all the stars were pointing towards CM Punk and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. But it's a tough business and things get in the way." 

On if he thought CM Punk would ever come back to WWE:

"When he joined the broadcast team on Fox, when they were doing that Backstage show I thought to myself okay, maybe there's an opportunity here. Then when he joined AEW I kind of thought maybe he'll have a twilight run here. But there were then a lot of times where I just thought, you know, because I know he makes it out like he didn't really like the other guy that was in charge, but the truth is he didn't really get along with the current guy that's in charge either. It wasn't like they were pals as well. So I think that even when Triple H took over, I didn't think there would be an olive branch to be had, so kind of 50/50, but I would waver more towards no, I never thought it was gonna happen."

On if he knew CM Punk was coming back at Survivor Series:

"No, that was a bit of a surprise."

On his viral reaction:

"You know what I wasn't happy about was Randy had just come back from a long hiatus. That was his moment. It was a great moment. The reaction for him when he came through the curtain was unreal. We went out there, there was 10 of us out there, and we went out there and had a hell of a contest. [We] just didn't really need him, but you know, it was Chicago, it's his city, it's just the most classic make everything about me CM Punk moment I've ever seen. So I was just, you know when you're in that moment, your adrenaline just going through the roof, you're on the top of a cage celebrating with your pals, sold out All State arena going bananas. Then that happens and it's no longer about the performance. It's no longer about Randy. It's no longer about what you had done to get to that point. It's just, hi guys, it's about me. Remember I'm the guy that you that you miss, remember me, guys? So yeah, just another kind of throw that on the pile of disgusting CM Punk moments. But don't worry, he's not selfish. He's in it for helping everybody else."

On his WrestleMania 31 Money in the Bank cash in:

"There might be camera footage of this somewhere, but I'm just sitting in this chair right outside of the curtain in Gorilla. This was a smaller Gorilla at the time, we hadn't expanded it to this big one yet. I remember Michael Hayes is in the producer seat and Hunter and Vince are on the far side. I want to say there was panic about the time because we were still on pay-per-view, so we have to be off at this time. It wasn't like an option to overrun like on Peacock, they want a certain time period. With streaming they’re awesome because of that, you get a little window and you're not strict, because the advertising model is a little different. So it's like, by the time we had to be off, done. So I remember sitting there and thinking oh shoot, they're not going to make it, we're going to have to do this tomorrow, that's what I was thinking. I was just if it doesn't work, we'll just do it tomorrow, just hoping that my idea doesn't go up in smoke. So fortunately, they are professionals, and they hit their cue when they needed to and the rest is history." 

So this was your idea?

"The idea to cash in the contract at WrestleMania was my idea. I had put it into the ether probably two months prior or so, because you remember I win this thing in July or June. Immediately when you win it you look at the landscape and you go okay, when can I cash this in? At the time, if I'm not mistaken, there was only one World Championship and the champion was Brock Lesnar. You looked at it, okay, Brock wrestles twice a year. When are you going to cash this thing in on Brock Lesnar? Is Brock Lesnar going to allow you to cash it in on him? What circumstances would be the best for this? Then you start to go down the months and you take off all the shows that Brock's not going to be on. So you look at SummerSlam, probably not going to happen. You look at Survivor Series if he's there, and then it's like, maybe Rumble or Mania. Then you've got that little window after Mania where maybe, so you start to plot it out in your head. The major point for me as I was kind of going along with that was the Royal Rumble earlier that year. I did a triple threat match with Brock Lesnar and John Cena. I kind of had to, I don't want to say weasel my way into that, but that was initially meant to be John vs. Brock, they were in a series of matches and the audience was kind of getting a little tired of it. Not to say that those guys aren't incredible, they are, but you do the same thing and Brock wasn't around to sell the story that much. He just kind of showed up, and when he did he was a huge attraction, especially at that time, but I think the audience was getting a little bit bored of it. And I was like well what does it hurt, I don't need to be in the Rumble because I've got this briefcase. That doesn't make any sense. I don't want to be off the show. I'm like, just throw me into that triple threat, I can mix in there good, change the whole dynamic of the thing up and see what happens. We ended up having a really great triple threat and a really good dynamic. That was the first time I think I worked with Brock, so he got to see how my mind works a little bit. So got to kind of create some little touches of respect there. Then later that night Roman wins the Royal Rumble to a chorus of boos, even The Rock comes out afterwards to try to endorse him and it just did not matter. I was like oh, this isn't good. You don't want to give him this title at WrestleMania. If he gets booed out of the building there when he wins the title the first time, that's not good. So I'm a hated, hated, hated villain at this time. If I win the title, then we can give the audience time to understand the story of who the good guy is supposed to be against me. I'm not cool at all at this point. I'm like, let me be the guy. Let me be the heel that can get what we want out of this change. So I pitched the idea, I let it sit in the ether for a while, and then still even the day of, obviously, I was doing the story with Randy Orton, leading up to WrestleMania, even still until the till after my match with Randy was the first confirmation I had gotten that we were gonna go in that direction. I don't know whose idea the triple threat part of it was. I think my idea was just a cash in after the match. But somebody came up with the triple threat idea in the interim once it was floating in the ether there and it was a brilliant, a brilliant kind of way to do it that I'd never even considered." 

On Seth “Freakin” Rollins:

"I give that credit to the old man. The middle name was his idea back in the day. I don't remember why. I don't remember how it came about. I think he was just bored with Seth Rollins and he was like ah, you'll be Seth Freakin Rollins again. Okay, cool. Sold a lot of T shirts when we did it, so whatever. The thing that killed me was when we first did it, when we first brought the freakin’ back in. Because it was just like The Monday Night Messiah Seth Rollins or whatever, for a while. And then there was the Drip God, which was never my idea. I didn't like that nickname at all. I tried to push The Visionary on him, and he didn't get that character at all, and then added freakin’ in there at some point. But then everybody had to say freakin’ every single time they mentioned my name on commentary, anywhere. The first thing I did when I had the opportunity was let's just pull back on that, how about I just say it? If someone's introducing me in a grandiose manner, they can say it. But if they're just talking about me they could just say Seth Rollins, it's okay. You don't have to say The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns all the time. No one said The Hitman Bret Hart all the time." 

On fighting an injured Cody Rhodes inside Hell in a Cell:

"You know he refused to not do the live events before Hell in a Cell, because they told him that he couldn't hurt his pec anymore, even though he was in horrific pain whenever he moved it in a certain direction. They were like, well you can't tear it anymore. He's like well I've been advertised for these live events, so I should probably be there. I think it was in Rockford and Bloomington, Illinois, or something like that. Everyone was like maybe just stay home. You can just come to the pay-per-view on Sunday. We're probably good. No, I gotta be there. So he comes to these, maybe Bloomington was the first one, and I remember [saying] let me see this thing. He pulled it open and this was two days after it happened so it hadn't fully gotten crazy, what you ended up seeing in Chicago at that Hell in a Cell match yet, but it was gnarly, and I was like, yeah, okay, all right, whatever. I'm not gonna tell you what to do, I mean we just talked earlier about how I wrestled with a torn meniscus for many, many months in a lot of pain. So I get it, I understand it. So as long as you know you feel safe enough and you feel safe enough that you're gonna be okay, we'll get through it. We'll figure it out. That's part of the gig. It was a gnarly pec."

On how much longer he could wrestle for:

"I think about it all the time. I am 38, I will be 39 in May. I think I've got more than a couple years left in me. The dynamic of the industry has shifted so much. I'm not wrestling 200 times a year anymore. I'm not on the road 300 days a year anymore. Live Events, non-televised events have kind of dissipated, which for me, guys like me, I've wrestled over 2,000 matches in my career, that's nice for me. It's just like riding a bike for me. We'll see how it is for people coming up who need that experience, we'll see what that looks like in a few years. But with that schedule, I feel like I'll be able to extend my career probably longer than I thought I was going to, and then it just depends on where I want to go from there, what I want to do next and how much time I'd like to spend at home with my daughter, taking her to do things that are important to her, that are a lot more important than making towns."

On Captain America:

"It releases in February. I wish it the best, but I am not a part of that film. [What happened?] Well, does my NDA still apply if I'm not in the film anymore? Truth be told, any answer I gave would only be my opinion on it. The script went through a lot of rewrites and reshoots so what I was there to do, essentially my role got either repurposed or completely erased. So I did do a bit of an audition to possibly pop into another role, I believe, or the repurposing of my role, I'm not exactly sure on what it was, but they ended up going in a different direction with it. And yeah my understanding was there were just a lot of rewrites and a lot of reshoots, and they know they've got a finished product that hopefully they're happy with, and hopefully it's successful, but it will be sans Seth Rollins."

On fans thinking they spotted Seth Rollins in the trailer:

“To be fair, he looked an awful lot like you as well because you could just see his eyeballs. I’m not in the movie. I will say unequivocally I'm not in the film. I do not want anybody to go to the film thinking I'm here to see Seth Rollins. There might be two people that would do that, but I don't want those two people to waste their time. I don't want to misinform anybody. I don't want to lead anybody astray. I am not in the film. It should be a good one. Marvel does a great job. I mean, if I'm not [in anything else], I don't care. I don't love acting. I love wrestling. My wife loves acting. She's way better at it than I am. She's got awesome stuff coming out, obviously, she announced her bit on Star Trek, which is going to be sick. I think that comes out maybe next year and she's got another thing that I'm not allowed to talk about that'll be coming out sooner than that. Yeah, I can't say anything. People have been like oh she's on hiatus, taking a break. She has not been taking a break. She has been working her tail off the last six, seven months, she's been hustling.”

What is Seth Rollins grateful for?

"My health, people around me and that I get to be Seth Rollins."

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