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Seth Rollins on WrestleMania 40: ‘I’m Right Where I Belong’

“I like all the other stuff, but in the ring, that’s where the lasting connection is built with our audience”

Justin Barrasso

Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins / Courtesy WWE

SI.com’s Week in Wrestling is published every week and provides beneath the surface coverage of the business of pro wrestling.

Seth Rollins: “A match against Punk, that was never on my radar”

For the first time in his career, Seth Rollins is headlining WrestleMania.

After giving his body and soul to WWE for the past dozen years, and just barely escaping an MCL injury in January that could have sidelined him indefinitely, Rollins is ready to main event the opening night of WrestleMania 40 in a tag team bout with Cody Rhodes against The Rock and Roman Reigns.

“It’s been a long journey to get here, but I’m right where I belong,” said Rollins. “It’s a very stressful time, but I’m enjoying it. I truly hope the audience is enjoying it as much as I am.”

If the MCL injury were only incrementally more severe, Rollins would have been ruled out of WrestleMania. Remarkably, he is now cleared to compete.

“It was not as serious as it could have been,” said Rollins. “My biggest fear when I felt my knee go in the direction it wasn’t supposed to go was that it was going to be a repeat of 2015 [when he tore the ACL, MCL, and medial meniscus in his knee during a match]. I’d have had to vacate the title, miss WrestleMania, all the hard work from the past few years was going up in smoke, and I’d have to start all over. That wasn’t the case. I was able to continue to work on the injury, continue to tell stories and continue to build rivalries. I always looked at it from a glass half full situation.

The Week in Wrestling

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  2. WWE-produced documentary on Bray Wyatt offers an ending that is yet to be finished
  3. Tweet of the Week

“The fact that we missed out on a few Seth Rollins matches on Raw breaks my heart as much as it does yours, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s all working out in the way it was intended to. I’m happy at full strength and ready to go for not one but two nights of WrestleMania.”

Seth Rollins and CM Punk
Seth Rollins and CM Punk / Courtesy WWE

The journey to this particular WrestleMania has been eventful. Rollins confirmed that the initial plan was to wrestle CM Punk. That would have seemed like an outlandish suggestion only months ago, but it was shaping up to be one of the most compelling matches in 40 years of WrestleMania before Punk suffered an injury during the Royal Rumble, tearing his right triceps and landing on the injured list that Rollins so narrowly avoided.

“A match against Punk, that was never on my radar,” said Punk. “I believed I would never see that guy again. I thought that until I saw him at Survivor Series.”

In Punk’s absence, Drew McIntyre has performed the best work of his career. He will challenge Rollins for the world heavyweight title on Night Two of WrestleMania, less than 24 hours after Rollins shares the ring with Rhodes, Reigns, and The Rock.

“We are living in one hell of a timeline,” said Rollins, who is 37-year-old Colby Lopez. “It’s crazy to think about all the people in WWE at the same time. The Rock is back, and all that’s happened with him and Cody and Cody’s fans, it is incredible and I’m still making sense of it. Years from now we’ll look back on this; it’s going to create a moment that lasts forever.”

Seth Rollins is one of WWE's ambassadors for C4
Seth Rollins is one of WWE's ambassadors for C4 / Courtesy WWE

Rollins is one of WWE’s ambassadors for C4 Energy, which is now the company’s first-ever official energy drink partner. It is also the first-ever sponsor of WrestleMania Skycam, an expansion to their multi-year partnership that also includes being the presenting partner of the WrestleMania 40 Night Two press conference and WWE’s multi-day talent tryout throughout the week.

Best of all for Rollins, C4 is a product he was already using.

“Fitness has been part of my life for over 20 years,” said Rollins. “In this industry, you have to look the part, too. I remember growing up and watching Rick Rude, seeing how incredible he looked. So I’ve stayed involved in fitness and supplements, and C4 was something I used for years pre-workout. It was very cool they approached me. I’ve been using C4 for a long time, so it’s very cool to be a part of it.

“I wrestled over 100 matches in 2023, and I’m still in the gym cooking. C4 has been great for me. I wouldn’t partner with anything if I didn’t believe in it. Fitness is something I love, so I wanted to incorporate that into what I do, and C4 is the perfect partner.”

Seth Rollins curb stomps Solo Sikoa
Seth Rollins curb stomps Solo Sikoa / Courtesy WWE

Over the last year, Rollins has deepened his connection with the WWE fan base. His eclectic outfits have become more colorful, and they only add to what he is accomplishing between the ropes.

Rollins has been extraordinary in the ring. Given the unenviable task of establishing the world heavyweight championship, a belt with absolutely no lineage, Rollins surpassed every expectation. That belt is now a central piece of Raw every Monday. While Roman Reigns has wrestled less and less, Rollins increased the frequency at which he wrestled.

And though he connects with the fan base in a variety of ways, none are greater than the way he does through his wrestling.

“I like all the other stuff, but in the ring, that’s where the lasting connection is built with our audience,” said Rollins. “It’s not something I take lightly. The guys I admire–Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Eddie Guerrero–they always won the audience over through their workhorse effort. I was a fan of the catchphrases and everything else too, but what really gravitated me toward this industry was that physical, ethereal connection through the in-ring performance. I’ve always taken pride in doing that to the best of my ability.”

At different points since the start of the new year, it appeared WrestleMania 40 would be built on the back of Rhodes, Reigns, or The Rock–and then a combination of the three. Yet Rollins never allowed himself to be taken out of the mix.

One of WWE’s greatest stars, Rollins found his way into the WrestleMania main event the only way he knows how: by earning it.

“I don’t feel out of place a bit,” said Rollins. “I’m not looking around starstruck. This is where I belong.”

The (Online) Week in Wrestling

  • Also, congratulations to The Rock’s grandmother, Lia Miavia, who The Rock will induct into the WWE Hall of Fame. She passed away in 2008, but she made a long, lasting impact in the industry as one of its first female promoters.
  • One more Rock/Roman note: the A&E Biography special on Reigns this past Sunday offered a lot, including notes about his health, The Shield, and a very touching part that revolved around his brother Matthew (Rosey in WWE), who passed away in 2017.
  • Vince McMahon was back in the news on Monday, as it has been revealed that Janel Grant wrote a love letter to McMahon. But the case remains complicated, as Grant’s attorney is alleging that she was coerced by McMahon to write the letter.
  • In an industry that has long lacked diverse representation, it was very powerful to see Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Naomi flourish beside one another on SmackDown this past Friday.
Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Naomi
Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Naomi / Courtesy WWE
  • New TNT champion Adam Copeland kicked off his open challenge in style, welcoming former partner Matt Cardona back to AEW.

WWE-produced documentary on Bray Wyatt offers an ending that is yet to be finished

If you haven’t already watched Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal, I highly recommend it.

Wyatt’s career is covered in detail, as is the life of Windham Rotunda, who brought the Wyatt character to life. It was fascinating to watch his transformation from Husky Harris into Wyatt, and what he created as Wyatt will live on for generations among wrestling fans.

Beware of spoilers if you are still planning on watching.

We also see a glimpse of Wyatt’s family life, where he was an extremely proud dad. His father (Mike Rotunda, who many wrestling fans knew as IRS), mother, and sister are all integral parts of the documentary, and that is also especially true of his brother Taylor, who we got to know in NXT and WWE as Bo Dallas.

Unlike the Wyatt character, Bo Dallas never resonated with WWE audiences. There was some revisionist history about the level of success Dallas experienced as tag team champion with Curtis Axel. But if the plan is for Taylor Rotunda to return and continue the legacy of his brother, which the documentary foreshadowed as early as the opening scene, then that will be the challenge of a lifetime.

From what we saw in the doc, the love between the two brothers was incredibly genuine. From childhood to manhood, they were best friends. One of the more heartfelt moments in the film occurred when Taylor was sharing a story about his high school wrestling career, when he failed to reach the same heights as Windham. Home from college, Windham embraced his dejected brother outside their family home, telling him, ‘None of that sh--matters.”

Family was real to Windham, and, clearly, for Taylor. Attempting to carry on Windham’s legacy will be complicated. There will be constant comparisons between the brothers, which sets an impossible standard. Very few wrestlers in the history of the industry were as captivating as Windham. Yet, something about Taylor carrying on the legacy feels right.

Windham joined the industry after Taylor started wrestling. He left behind his football career and college studies, and embarked upon what is effectively the family business. But he didn’t start because of his father, his grandfather (Blackjack Mulligan), or his uncles (Barry and Kendall Windham). Windham became a pro wrestler only after his best friend–his brother– embraced it. Years later, after Windham’s heartbreaking death, Taylor now has the chance to carry on his brother’s spirit.

Success in pro wrestling is nearly impossible to predict, but Taylor will have many people–myself included–pulling for him.

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Justin Barrasso
JUSTIN BARRASSO

Justin Barrasso has been writing for Sports Illustrated since 2014. While his primary focus is pro wrestling and MMA, he has also covered MLB, NBA, and the NFL. He can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.

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