Awesome / Seth Rollins

Michael Cole: "ROLLINS WITH THE HEIST OF THE CENTURY!"

• He Curb Stomped Brock Lesnar at the 2014 edition of Night of Champions.
• After forcing John Cena to do what he swore he never would and bring back The Authority, Seth's Wham Line right before his attempted Curb Stomping of Edge on the last episode of RAW for 2014 was chilling...but also awesome in that WWE let him go so far and be so evil, especially since his character had been deteriorating into impotency.
  Seth: But damn you gotta know me better than that, I'm gonna kill him anyways.
• He took out both Cena and Lesnar via Curb Stomp at the end of the 1/12/2015 edition of Raw.
• Even though he lost, he still managed to pull off a spectacular match against Lesnar and Cena at the 2015 Royal Rumble. The fact that he can put on a good match against both of those men shows that he deserves to be on the same level as them. Special mention goes to when he busted out a sick Phoenix splash, shortly after breaking one of Lesnar's ribs with a flying elbow from the turnbuckle to the Spanish announce table.
• Every time he is in the ring with Dean Ambrose, from their FCW feud to their WWE main roster feud.
• Seth Rollins finally cashes in his Money in the Bank at the main event of WrestleMania 31 to turn the championship match into a Triple Threat, then proceeds to Curbstomp Brock Lesnar, then do another stomp to Roman Reigns as he attempts to spear Brock out of the ring, then pins Reigns to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
  • Twofold awesomeness: He becomes the first MITB winner to cash in at WrestleMania AND the first to cash in during a championship match.
    • Call it threefold, cause he stole an honor from Roman Reigns that Roman actually talked about wanting to achieve: becoming the first graduate of NXT^note and the first person younger than Wrestle Mania itself, but that wasn't mentioned to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion!
    • Oh, and his match with Randy Orton wasn't bad either.
    • Becoming the first heel to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship AND walk out with the title at WrestleMania.
    • He also joins some elite company as one of a handful of performers since the Attitude Era began to win his first WWE Championship before his 30th birthday: The other names on this list are Big Show, John Cena, Randy Orton, The Rock, and Brock Lesnar. Also, he's the last twenty-something to win his first WWE Championship in an actual match since John Cena did it in 2005.
    • His surprise entrance into the match was also a kind of Author's Saving Throw for the match. Brock was a part-timer who rarely showed up to defend his title and people were tired of it. Conversely, fans also were not happy with Roman’s quick ascension to the top of the card and felt he wasn’t ready for his push. When Seth came out, the audience erupted in cheers, and, despite effectively stealing the title, the face pop he received when he won the match was deafening.
• At Money in the Bank 2015, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose waged war in a brutal 35-minute ladder match for the title. Rollins managed to grab the belt as both men fell down, holding the title. After weeks of being derided for being dependent on outside help, Rollins won without any interference whatsoever.
• His small Twitter rant, in which he basically mocks those WWE fans about how last year they just wanted the title away from Lesnar due to the fact that he basically never showed up to defend it, yet now they want him to win it back.
  A year ago every single one of you couldn't stand Lesnar as champion. Now you've got all you've ever wanted in a champion right in front of your faces, yet you're clamoring for him to win it back. What a joke. The future is the present and it's still never enough for you. A hapless generation of incorrigible keyboard warriors...I can't wait to visit "Suplex City" on Sunday. One more chance to put every one of you in your place.
• At SummerSlam 2015, Rollins once again had a star-making night in his winner-take-all match against John Cena. Clad in a white version of his standard attire as the self-styled "cure" to the Cena "disease", Seth pulled out all the stops for this one and utterly stole the show. And by "all the stops", we don't mean the constant mounds of interference typical of the Flanderized, Badass Decayed Seth Rollins we'd seen since he left The Shield for The Authority and especially since his feud with Cena at the tail end of 2014. We mean he continued the recent tradition of Cena's opponents tapping into reserves of their in-ring repertoire previously unseen to the WWE Universe and physically argued the case that even with that decayed booking, and even in the midst of the rise of the NXT Takeover generation^note he was one of the first NXT alumni, but most of his developmental stint had been in the prior FCW and he got called up before the advent of the Takeover specials, he is still the most talented wrestler in all of WWE. The only interference Rollins would make use of in this match was an assist from Jon Stewart which was neither part of his plan ^{nor entirely necessary}as after the ref bump and the knee to the nose, Stewart's chair shot to Cena's sternum could've easily been replaced by Seth kicking Cena low himself and it would've had much the same result, but which he still took advantage of by hitting a Pedigree on Cena and pinning him to become the first-ever dual WWE United States and World Heavyweight Champion. And he did it all to a standing ovation.
• Winning the 2015 Slammy for "Superstar Of The Year". What makes it better is that when he went and received the award, he was greeted by cheers, and his speech on returning in 2016 and taking back the championship he never lost got a pop from the crowd.
  "I want everybody to listen to me. In 2016 I will redesign Seth Rollins, I will rebuild myself, and I will come back and reclaim the title I never lost. So if it's Roman Reigns or anybody else, you keep that title warm, because I will return and reclaim what's mine!"
  • And he kept that promise. At the very end of Extreme Rules 2016, he made a surprise appearance to attack Roman Reigns after the champion retained his title. The following day on RAW, he was granted his title shot on the next PPV by Shane McMahon.
• Money in the Bank 2016. After toiling for months to redesign and rebuild himself, Seth Rollins walked in the challenger to Roman Reigns, matched the Samoan juggernaut blow for blow, and beat him in an exactly 26-minute main event bout after countering a Spear into a second Pedigree to reclaim the WWE World Heavyweight Championship title which he never lost. And he did it all BY HIMSELF, without relying on The Authority's help or any other cheap tactics beyond getting more time to kick out at one point because of a ref bump. Granted, he wound up losing it two minutes later, but that's for somebody else's page.
• His performance at Hell in a Cell 2016, particularly when he deadlifted Kevin Owens and powerbombed him out of the ring and through two tables.
• How about him being the first overall pick in the WWE Draft? While the first picks haven't always been good, there's no denying how big of a deal it is for Seth to be the first guy.
• Rollins has undergone a face turn, but the way he cements it? Jumping off the top of a steel cage onto Kevin Owens and Rusev!
  • For added context, the two men were beating a third man up at the time inside the cage. Who? Roman Reigns, of all people.
• January 9, 2017. Rollins entered Stephanie McMahon's office while she was talking to Mick Foley to declare, to her face, that he was going to enter the Royal Rumble main event — but before he could finish talking, Braun Strowman barged into the office to demand that Foley give him a match against either Roman Reigns or Goldberg (as last week's episode of Raw had ended with the two men spearing him simultaneously). However, Rollins went up to Strowman, demanded that he never interrupt him, and when Strowman blew him off, he reacted by PUNCHING HIM IN THE FACE. This led to the two men having a match against each other, and though the match officially ended in a double count-out, it ended with Rollins successfully driving off the Monster Among Men.
• After months of being unable to find Triple H, Seth takes matters further into his own hands and hijacks NXT Takeover: San Antonio, calling The Game out from the middle of the ring of his own brand. Even better yet, he gets Triple H to appear! Though nothing would come further from it, Seth did get to make a good showing by knocking away some security personnel before eventually getting swamped by too many to keep going, and the crowd was red hot for the whole segment.
• March 13, 2017. Five weeks after Rollins went down with a torn MCL suffered in a Coquina Clutch courtesy of Samoa Joe. During the final segment, Mick Foley was confronting both Stephanie McMahon and Triple H in the ring, and it was going badly for him. Triple H had threatened Foley with his children's jobs, and he'd suffered a low blow from Stephanie after he lost it and put Hunter in the Mandible Claw. Then, to the shock of everyone, Rollins's music hits, and he hobbles out on his crutch. He makes his way down to ringside, then lifts the crutch at arm's length...and lets it drop to the floor. Then he unzips his jacket, revealing a brand-new, awesome-looking "Kingslayer" T-shirt, then slides into the ring and brawls with Triple H. He even gets the better of him at first, after a side kick (kicking with the injured leg) followed by a dropkick that sent Triple H flying out of the ring! Like Foley's moment, he ultimately didn't come out on top, but he showed everyone that he was able to go after just five weeks of recovery and rehab. John Cena has a rival when it comes to healing quickly, it would seem.
• March 27, 2017. The go-home RAW for WrestleMania 33. Rollins shows up for a contract signing for a non-sanctioned match against Triple H. After listening to Triple H talk about success and how important it is in a promo that would have been right at home coming from Vince McMahon himself, Seth fired back with a fantastic "No More Holding Back" Speech.
  "That is the same line of bullcrap that I bought into three years ago. Well, this is not three years ago. And you say you don't understand me, so let me explain something to you. When you're out rehabbing — and you should know this better than anybody — when you're out rehabbing, you have a lot of time to think, to gain perspective. And you know what I learned about me? …I liked myself before I met you. I was proud of myself before I met you. And you know what? I-I didn't really mind wrestling for a hot dog and a handshake in the Philadelphia National Guard Armory. Didn't bother me. Because I love this business! And that made me happy! And sure, when you and I got together, side by side, man, we accomplished a lot. But at what cost? What did I give up for that? This isn't about fame, or fortune, or money, or power, and hell, dude, it's…it's not even about one match at WrestleMania. This is about redemption! You understand that? Not revenge; redemption! Because I gave up everything to stand next to you. Every friendship I ever had, everything that made me who I was — I gave that up to stand next to you, and for what? For what!? At WrestleMania, you'd better be prepared to tear my leg off my body and beat me with it! You'd better have a stretcher standing by to guide me out of there! Because there will be NOTHING stopping me from tearing you apart and getting back what matters most to me in my life, and that's who I was before I met you! That's getting back SETH. FREAKIN'. ROLLINS!"
• April 2, 2017, Wrestlemania 33: Rollins finally gets his hands on Triple H and gives the Cerebral Assassin everything he has, bum knee and all. After managing to kick out of Triple H's Pedigree, Hunter tries to perform the same move again but is countered by Rollins and accidentally bumps Stephanie McMahon, who had been running interference for her husband throughout the match, off the apron and onto a nearby table. This shocks and then angers Hunter into temporarily lowering his guard, allowing Rollins to execute his own Pedigree for the victory, finally bringing his story with Triple H full circle and achieving his redemption.
• On the May 1, 2017 edition of Monday Night Raw, after a lackluster outing against Samoa Joe on the Payback PPV^note with the entire audience deflating around the time that match happened in reaction to the aptly named pre-taped "House of Horrors" gimmick "match" between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt, Seth showcased how much of a main-event player he truly was with his triple threat match against The Miz and his Universal Title rival Finn Bálor for a shot at the Intercontinental Title of Dean Ambrose.
  • Seth's Superplex plus Falcon Arrow combo on The Miz that almost ended the match then and there deserves a special mention.
  • After how his two previous matches against Samoa Joe and Triple H slowed down to a halt to play up his knee problems, he finally found his groove on this match and led an exciting babyface comeback fans were clamoring for all this time that showcased his full offensive arsenal against an athletic equal and one of the few remaining pure heels on Raw while still selling his knee vulnerabilities.
  • Even though he lost the match due to interference from Samoa Joe, it still raised Seth's stock and helped out his previously bland Heel–Face Turn, especially after wrestling legend "Stone Cold" Steve Austin made comments about him not being "all the way over" on his podcast.
• January 15, Monday Night Raw saw Rollins take on Finn Bálor. Pretty awesome in its own right, but the best came at the end of the match after Rollins's partner Jason Jordan took advantage of the brawl between The Club and The Bar to trip Bálor. With Balor struggling to get up Rollins would bring back the Curb Stomp for the first time in nearly three years. The reaction was one of the loudest of the night, on a show that saw Braun Strowman tip a truck.
• During a gauntlet match on February 19, Rollins pinned Roman Reigns and John Cena in back-to-back one-on-one matches! He would last for SIXTY-FIVE MINUTES before being eliminated from the gauntlet - the longest any wrestler has ever competed on a single episode of Raw.
• WrestleMania XXXIV, Seth defeated The Miz and Finn Bálor to win the Intercontinental Championship to become both a Triple Crown Champion and Grand Slam Champion, being the last Shield member to do so.
• Summerslam 2018 saw Rollins take on Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship Ziggler (and Drew McIntyre) stole from him. The 20-minute match may have been the show opener, but it was cited as the match of the night, and Seth's inverted superplex-into-modified-brainbuster was definitely a "Holy Shit" moment.
• Royal Rumble 2019 saw Seth enter the 30-man free-for-all fray in Chicago Bears-inspired gear ^note  Rollins's favorite NFL team at number 10, a third of the way through the match. Despite getting put through one of the announce tables by a bitter Bobby Lashley for eliminating the All-Mighty, Rollins would get back in the ring and last for a total of 43 minutes before coming face to face with The Monster Among Men. With both men on the apron, Rollins took out Braun's knee, allowing him to curb-stomp the winner of the Greatest Royal Rumble, eliminate him, and punch his ticket to Wrestlemania.
• Seth Rollins now has another title to add to his resumé: The Beast Slayer. Rollins manages to win the WWE Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar during Wrestlemania 35. The way he wins it is impressive too: before Rollins could fully enter the ring and the bell to start the match could sound out, Lesnar spent the better part of about 10 minutes brutalizing Rollins. By the time the bell rings, Rollins could barely stand as Lesnar continues to give him consecutive German suplexes. However, Rollins manages to counter Lesnar's attempt at an F-5 and push Lesnar towards the referee, pushing the ref outside of the ring. This gives Rollins the opportunity to pay Lesnar back for the cheap beatdown by giving the champion a Groin Attack before following up with a superkick. Rollins then wills himself to give Lesnar not one, not two, but three Curb Stomps before pinning Lesnar for the three-count. Rollins's celebration at the end of the match is also worth mentioning, as he holds the belt up high at the entrance ramp while Lesnar is left seething in the middle of the ring.
  • The celebration is worth noting because it was a bit of a Call-Back to the end of Wrestlemania 31, with Rollins standing tall as champion.
• SummerSlam 2019, Rollins defeated Lesnar to become the Universal Champion for the second time. This was the third time he got a win over Lesnar and, apart from the ring post and table-breaking attacks, was also Brock's first clean loss since Survivor Series 2016, which coincidentally also took place in Toronto.
  • This is even more impressive when you consider that the build to the match had been booked so badly (combined with some poorly-judged social media behavior by Seth that had soured people on him) that at the start of the match the majority of the crowd were against Seth, the underdog babyface. But by the end of the match, Seth's sheer in-ring talent and storytelling ability had completely won over the formerly hostile crowd until the same people who had started out booing him were cheering his epic victory!
• Defeating Bobby Lashley for the United States championship on the October 10th, 2022 edition of RAW and becoming the second 2-time Grand Slam Champion in WWE history in the process.
• At the 2022 Royal Rumble, Seth became one of the only people in the company to truly get under the skin of the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns. Seth entered through the crowd in full SHIELD gear, with the entrance music and everything, and Roman looked like he'd seen a ghost. The evil gaslighting Head of the Table got played at his own game by the man he'd never forgiven for betraying him, and Seth came within inches of wresting the Universal Championship from Roman.
  • Roman actually loses this match, with Seth getting so deeply under his skin that Roman gets himself DQ'd by going to town on Seth with a chair (which, of course, meant Roman retained his title). He might have physically battered Seth, but Seth clearly won the mental war.
• His 2022 series with Cody Rhodes were all great, particularly the Hell In A Cell 2022 finale, working with an essentially one-armed Rhodes, who had legit torn his pectoral muscle completely off the bone not a week before the contest. That the match was allowed to go on at all is not just a testament to Cody's insane toughness, but to the trust Cody and the company had in Seth to get Cody through such a match without injuring him further or putting Cody in so much pain that he wouldn't be able to finish. Not only did Seth do just that over 24 minutes, but he did so while putting on a match as physically convincing, if not more so, than most modern era HIAC matches, incorporating the shoot injury into spots for extra heat. Cody rightly receives a lot of plaudits for just showing up that day, but this match might not have even gone forward, let alone received the WWE main roster's first five-star rating from Dave Meltzer in over a decade, had Cody been paired with a lesser opponent.
• Becoming the inaugural WWE World Heavyweight Champion, after the championship was reinstated after nearly a decade to remove Roman Reigns' monopoly of both Raw and SmackDown's top prizes, by defeating AJ Styles at Crown Jewel.
• Seth teaming up with old rival Cody Rhodes, a returning Randy Orton, Jey Uso & Sami Zayn to take on their common enemies Drew McIntyre & The Judgement Day in an absolutely epic War Games Match at Survivor Series 2023.
• March 8, 2024, SmackDown. Seth stands alongside Cody Rhodes in defiance of The Rock and Roman Reigns, and despite being, at best, the third most credible of the four, he absolutely lays into arguably the most gifted talker that WWE has ever seen, while he absorbed every single verbal blow without retaliation.
  The Rock: Do you accept—
  Seth Rollins: Will you shut the hell up?! For once in your life, will you shut the hell up?! We know the stakes! The future of the industry's on the line! We get that! Now you listen to me, and you listen to me good, Mr. Mid-Life Crisis. [crowd erupts] You had your time; you damn sure can't have ours. So you want your answer?! Biggest WrestleMania of all time, biggest tag match of all time! WE! ACCEPT!
• WrestleMania 40, Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns was utter chaos with run ins to help their respective friends and allies. What does Seth do? He lived up to his promise of being Cody's Shield by literally coming out to the Shield theme, dressed up as well and caused the vital distraction to Reigns to cost him the match and his legendary reign. Seth took a hit for Cody, like he said he would, and once again, proves to be the thorn in Roman's career.