Wrestling / Seth Rollins

The Architect.
The Visionary.
The Revolutionary.
Seth Freakin' Rollins.

Describe Roll Sethings here.

Colby Daniels Lopez (born May 28, 1986), is an American professional wrestler currently working for WWE under the name Seth Rollins since 2010.

He debuted in 2003 for Scott County Wrestling as Gixx. He has previously worked in Ring of Honor (where he was a one-time World Heavyweight Champion and a two-time World Tag Team Champion with Jimmy Jacobs), Full Impact Pro (World Heavyweight Champion), Pro Wrestling Guerilla (World Tag Team Champion with Jimmy Jacobs), NWA Midwest (Tag Team Champion with Marek Brave), IWA Mid-South (Light Heavyweight Champion), Mr. Chainsaw Productions Wrestling (World Heavyweight Champion), Absolute Intense Wrestling (Intense Division Champion), All American Wrestling (Heavyweight Champion and Tag Team Champion with Brave and Jacobs, again) and various other independent promotions as Tyler Black.

He began work as Rollins on the developmental grounds at FCW, where he was an FCW World Heavyweight Champion, a Tag Team Champion (with Richie Steamboat), and the inaugural and longest reigning FCW 15 Champion. After FCW became NXT, he became the inaugural NXT Champion. He was promoted to the WWE main roster as one-third of The Shield in late 2012. In June 2014, he betrayed the Shield to align with The Authority. In the fall of 2016, he turned face after being betrayed by Triple H. He returned to form as a heel in late 2019, portraying himself as a savior and Messiah for WWE, and gradually became a crowd favorite again in late 2022.

In WWE, he is a two-time WWE Champion, a two-time Universal Champion, the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion, a six-time (Raw) Tag Team Champion (once with Roman Reigns, once with Jason Jordan, twice with Dean Ambrose, once with Braun Strowman, and once with Buddy Murphy), a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a two-time United States Champion, and a two-time Grand Slam Champion. He also won the Money in the Bank contract in 2014, Superstar of the Year Slammy Award in 2015, and the 2019 Men's Royal Rumble. He topped the Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 in 2015, 2019, and 2023, becoming only the second wrestler to ever do so three times, after John Cena.

In real life, he is married to Becky Lynch. The two confirmed a relationship in May 2019 after months of speculation, and their first child, a daughter named Roux, was born on December 4, 2020.

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"TROPE IT DOWN!"

General

• Does Not Like Spam: His Ride Along episode with Becky Lynch revealed that he hates mint chocolate (while Becky likes it.) After that, fans have begun trolling him at meet and greets by bringing him mint chocolates just to see his reaction.
• Fragile Speedster: He was this for much of his early career. Even though he's not small, he used high flying moves which put him in jeopardy of getting injured.
• Genius Bruiser: In droves. His nickname as "The Architect" and at least one promo/interview referencing his strategy in regards to the Shield implies that he, not Ambrose as originally thought, was actually the primary brains behind their Art of War tactics. When the dissension between Ambrose and Reigns threatened to break up the team, he's the one who pulled a Rage Quit on them during their second match with the Wyatt Family—which may have seemed like just another nail in the Shield's coffin at the time, but was in fact done as a ploy to bring them back together.^note The following SmackDown, Ambrose and Reigns were standing together and talking to each other like teammates with no hint of rivalry for the first time in months, united in the desire to confront Rollins for his actions. Having gotten them to agree on something as well as gained their attention at the same time, Seth proved his point about the two's issues, then got into a slapping and shoving contest with Dean (and a cameo from Roman) to get all the frustration out of their systems, then put it to them to either go their separate ways now or get it together. They chose the latter.
  • This goes as far back as the backstory behind his Ring of Honor debut with the Age of the Fall group. Not only was it acknowledged by both Black and Jacobs that their conversations about the state of society leading to the decision to form the group was mutual, but Black was credited as being the man behind the entire "Project 161" blog campaign promoting the stable. This plot point would in fact be revisited as part of the backstory for the Shield, revealed as a result of the three talking together during their days at NXT and becoming disillusioned by the popularity contest-driven nature of the WWE machine. Suddenly his claims to have created the Shield are starting to gain weight.
  • FCW briefly ran a storyline involving Paige as a mysterious stalker, also implied to be a hacker, with some interest in him which, if the promos Dusty Rhodes had Paige practicing for the gimmick are any indication, was planned to be romantic. She could be seen helping him out and standing up for him on several occasions. Just by how it sounds (and looks), this angle seems to have had potential for showing some of these chops for both characters—at least, had it not been dropped two to three weeks going in.
• Glass Cannon: He pretty much uses his body as an attacking ram, which puts him in jeopardy of getting injured.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Admits on Up, Up, Down, Down that he had a pretty bad temper as a teenager, breaking a number of Playstation controllers and at least two televisions.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Especially back in Ring of Honor when his beard was at Perma-Stubble length instead of Beard of Evil length, but he still qualifies. As noted in Mr. Fanservice, Seth is very good-looking — something that everyone has taken note of. His appearance on the third episode of the sixth season of WWE Tough Enough has one female contestant remarking how he's a "hottie", and Dean Ambrose has many nicknames for him mocking this — including calling him Justin Bieber.
• Looks Like Jesus: Thanks to being a Long-Haired Pretty Boy with a beard. Coincidentally, he christened himself as the "Monday Night Messiah" towards the end of 2019.
• Metalhead: Loudwire interviewed him and he said his favorite bands are Metallica, Pantera and Parkway Drive. He also attended a Parkway Drive concert. His music themes in the independent circuit had a metal sound, and in FCW and NXT commentators described him as one, which resulted in his themes both in those developmental systems and in his main roster solo run to also have a metal sound.
• Mr. Fanservice: He was one of the foremost ones back in Ring of Honor and probably the most conventional one of The Shield and he kept the title upon joining The Authority. One starts to wonder if part of WWE's motivation behind the heel turn was to change his ring gear to something that involved tight latex and didn't include a shirt. Fellow female wrestlers in WWE weren't indifferent to this: Sasha Banks and Bayley once posted videos on social media of them ostensibly competing for his affections (which WWE.com described as them competing to be his "best friend", but looked more like schoolgirls competing for a crush), and during his and Becky Lynch's feud with Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans, Evans seemed to take an interest in Rollins, even if it was more of an excuse to mess with Lynch.
• Power Stable:
  • (in Ring of Honor, Full Impact Pro, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, and All American Wrestling): The Age of the Fall (as Tyler Black).
  • (in WWE and NXT): The Shield, were made to serve as muscle for Triple H, Randy Orton and Stephanie McMahon, until they rebelled. After turning on the group in mid-2014, he rejoined The Authority. In late 2019 he allied with the Authors of Pain, Buddy Murphy and Austin Theory.
• Pyromaniac: About a week after facing The Fiend at Hell in a Cell 2019, he attacked Bray during his Firefly Fun House segment before taking a lighter and burning down the Fun House.
• The Rival:
  • Brodie Lee has been transitioning between partner and foe for awhile back in the indies and it was briefly rekindled their feud in WWE as part of The Shield vs The Wyatt Family.
  • Being his co-tag team title holder did not stop him from facing Marek Brave a few times in the NWA and AAW either.
  • The American Wolves and Chris Hero were recurring nuisances during his run as Ring of Honor World Champion.
  • Had a minor feud with Dolph Ziggler after the latter called him out being a traitor and a Sell-Out. They fought on pretty much every WWE main-roster show (Raw, SmackDown, and Main Event) for at least a week straight, with Seth winning each time.
  • In FCW and NXT, he and Dean Ambrose had a longstanding rivalry. This resumed in much more venomous fashion after The Shield fractured.
• Sell-Out:
  • He sold out Marek Brave to Jim Jesus in AAW.
  • He threatened to take the Ring Of Honor World Championship with him to WWE after fans called Tyler Black a sellout for signing with the larger company. Roderick Strong, whom he had promised a title shot to before and never given one on one due to Austin Aries's rematch clause, beat him for the title to stop this from happening.
  • As of June 2014, in WWE itself he gets chants of "You sold out!" since betraying The Shield to go back to The Authority. He claims that he bought in.
• Shout-Out:
  • Did Hulk Hogan's listening pose to taunt Jimmy Jacobs when Tyler Black was being cheered on challenging him for the MCPW Heavyweight championship.
  • His Finishing Move at one point was a Superkick that he called the Avada Kedavra. No, seriously. He also used a Shiranui^note A backflip inverted DDT, called the Skywalker. And to top it all off, his finisher on NXT (and, eventually, in WWE) was a running Curb Stomp called the Blackout, a mention to his days as Tyler Black. Additionally, the Blackout's main roster debut came at Survivor Series — at the expense of Daniel Bryan.^note Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black have been partners and opponents in Ring of Honor
  • He has done a huge amount of ones towards Game of Thrones:
    • The lion figure on the Authority shirt◊ he wore to the ring on June 20, 2014's SmackDown looked suspiciously like the coat-of-arms for House Lannister. Then again, it could also be a reference to Gryffindor House. Really, considering what a nerd the man is, it could conceivably be a Shout-Out to both. Google 'House Lannister sigil' and then look at the shirt again. Then, remember that the guy Rollins has aligned himself with wouldn't be terribly out of place in that series, character-wise; hell, with his winning his 'throne' in 'battle', marrying into the most powerful family, his continued love for brawling even as an authority figure, and his use of a hammer as a signature weapon, he nearly is a character from said series: Robert Baratheon, who of course, married a Lannister.
    • One can also assume his golden WrestleMania 33 attire that looked like golden scalemail◊ and the "Kingslayer" nickname he adopted aroud that time were both a nod to Jaime Lannister.
    • After abandoning the Pedigree as a finishing move after WrestleMania 33, he took up using a high knee which at first he called the Ripcord Knee, but after a while it was also called the King's Landing, just like the capital of the Seven Kingdoms.
    • He continued the shout outs with his "White Walker" entrance gear◊ for WrestleMania 34, along with creepy blue contacts.
    • His tweet in reaction of Brock Lesnar winning the Money in the Bank contract and potentially cashing it on him read, "Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death," the opening lines of the oath of the Night's Watch.
  • At SummerSlam 2018, he wore an outfit clearly modelled on Thanos's appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, which came out that same year.
• Smug Snake: So very much when he's a heel.
• Suicide Attack: Subverted. He goes for over-the-top-rope flips and dives - high risk moves generally referred to as "suicide dives" - with some regularity. However, he has this remarkable ability to land on his feet, far more often than not.
• Tag Team:
  • The Black and The Brave with Marek Brave in NWA Midwest, AAW, FIP and IWA Mid-South.
  • Besides Age Of The Fall, DIFH with Jimmy Jacobs in PWG and ROH.
  • As part of The Shield with Roman Reigns in WWE, then later teaming up Jason Jordan and Dean Ambrose
• Team Killer: Him turning on The Shield could be seen as an this as he was the one that formed the group (according to him) and was the one that inevitably brought it down. While him turning might have strengthened Roman and Dean's bond, the two decided to operate separately with their own tactics to take on the Authority and Seth.
• Theatrics of Pain: Almost to near-Ziggler-esque levels at times. It makes their matches together very... interesting. Look at Rollins's sell of Daniel Bryan's Busaiku Knee.
• Tournament Arc
  • Won a Survival Of The Fittest in ROH, a series of qualifying matches for a six way elimination match that was originally an extension of Maryland Championship Wrestling's Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup till the RF Video scandal. He outlasted previous winners Delirious, Chris Hero, and Roderick Strong, as well as Colt Cabana and Claudio Castagnoli
  • Won the The Jack Brisco Classic in FCW, and The Gold Rush Tournament in NXT.
• True Companions:
  • Subverted with Seth Rollins' relationship with Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns of the Shield in kayfabe; while the Shield was presented as a brotherhood and Ambrose and Reigns honestly considered Seth their brother, Seth himself only saw them only as business partners and was only too willing to "sever" their relationship when he believed it to be in his best interest. In Real Life, the trope is played straight with the friendship between Colby (Rollins), Jon (Ambrose), and Joe (Reigns). While Seth was pinning Roman to steal the world title at WrestleMania 31, Colby could be heard thanking Joe, which had to have meant a lot to the latter considering the circumstances which led to that decision.
  • Same goes for Jimmy Jacobs for Tyler Black. During the course of their tag team/friendship, which spanned across various promotions, it was clear that the two respected and valued one another, until it eventually dissolved over competitive jealousy and other assorted BS like almost every other team in the history of the business has at some point. In real life, Chris (Jimmy) has been one of Colby's closest friends and truest supporters over the course of his entire career.
• Villainous Friendship:
  • Seth appeared to have one with Dean and Roman during Shield's heel days that continued after the Shield turned face. The validity of their past friendship has been thrown into question by Seth's claims that they were just business-partners to him. That doesn't change all the times he's been seen risking his own neck to protect them and save them from opponents, working to keep the Shield intact and on-top, or celebrating victories with hugs and playful hair-tussles. Either that's just how Seth runs his business endeavors, he was a good actor deliberately playing the part of a friend to manipulate Dean and Roman, or he was lying when he said he never cared about them like they did him. As the years go on, it seemed he really was acting, but after Hunter betrayed him, it became clear he was just lying and that he genuinely did care for Dean and Roman.
  • Tyler had this with Jimmy Jacobs back on the independent scene, between the Doin' It For Her tag team at Wrestling Society X and the Age of the Fall stable in Ring of Honor, before Jacobs turned on him as the end result of various issues between the two.
• Vocal Dissonance: One of his greatest qualities as a heel is his nasally, obnoxious voice, as one critic described it, it always sounds like he's saying "Mooom".
• Weak, but Skilled: He has less physical power to back his moves up than, say, Roman Reigns, but compensates by being very dexterous in the ring, making use of combat-rolls and other assorted acrobatics to stay out of reach of his opponent as he whittles them down. The commentators have taken to using words like "technician" and "mechanic" when describing Rollins' role in the Shield.
  • Subverted somewhat in kayfabe and real life, both his SummerSlam match with John Cena and his crossfit records show that while not at monster levels he is in fact a very strong man in his own right. He's very cut (which was concealed and somewhat because of his strange ring gear) and is capable of hoisting guys the size of Roman Reigns up on his shoulders for several seconds when he performs his turnbuckle powerbomb.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • Black and Jimmy Jacobs, natch.
  • Also, Rollins and Dean Ambrose (and to a lesser degree, Roman Reigns).
• What Have I Become?: Whether face or heel, Tyler Black or Seth Rollins, at virtually any point in his career prior to June 2, 2014, he could best be described character-wise as a hard rebel with a purpose who usually knows very well what he's doing and how. His Authority run, on the other hand? Yeah — no. This is what he finally picked up on after getting injured again in 2017 prior to his WrestleMania match with Triple H; he liked who he used to be before he allowed Hunter to corrupt him and he wanted that person back.
• Wrestling Psychology: He's a well-known expert at selling finishers like they'd legitimately murdered him.

As Seth ("Freakin'") Rollins

• A God Am I: From his FCW debut where he said in his pretape that he would "change everything you think you know about sports entertainment" through his role as the architect of a trio that defined the purity of competition as "justice" to his run with the powers-that-be where he was declared the standard bearer of the company (including a brief moment where he declared himself the cure for John Cena) to the time he ended the corrupt regime by becoming a "kingslayer" to the run where he made himself known as the best wrestler on Monday nights to the victories by which he slayed the beast who often disappeared with world championships... yeah, the Monday Night Messiah thing kinda rings as no surprise when the argument can be made that Rollins has had a savior complex his entire career.
• Always Someone Better: Cody Rhodes has been this ever since Cody's return to WWE in 2022. Rollins subsequently lost to him in three straight PPV matches, the last one being a Hell in a Cell match where Cody was suffering a torn pectoral muscle.
• And Then What?: This was part of the Heel Realization Seth finally had about his previous behavior when he sided with The Authority after being injured by Triple H's proxy Samoa Joe.
  "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!?"
• Anti-Hero: Even as a face, Seth is stunningly arrogant, ruthlessly pragmatic, and willing to use screwy finishes to get what he wants, with an ever-present undertone of being just slightly unhinged.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Dean Ambrose, going back to their FCW days. They apparently mended their fences long enough to form The Shield and become "brothers," but their rivalry re-ignited, twice as bitter as before, with Seth's betrayal. They buried the hatchet in 2017 once more, but the following year Ambrose turned on Rollins after his return from injury, snapping thanks to the built-up emotion and stress that had been accumulating since Rollins' betrayal, triggered by Reigns' forced hiatus thanks to leukemia.
  • Triple H and his various proxies (which he used to be one of) became this after Hunter betrayed him and cost him the Universal title. Said proxies included Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, and Samoa Joe.
  • Brock Lesnar, after Rollins won the Men's Royal Rumble in 2019 and challenged Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 35. He wants the Universal Champion to go back to Raw every week and he hasn't respected Lesnar as a champion because he doesn't defend the title constantly. His dream of being Universal Champion came into fruition when he low blowed Lesnar three times (twice at Raw, and once at WrestleMania 35). Their feud was continued after Lesnar cashed his Money in the Bank contract at Extreme Rules 2019 on Rollins to win the Universal Championship for a third time, though Rollins took it back later at SummerSlam 2019.
  • Bray Wyatt. They started a feud in 2017 when Rollins was unveiled on the cover of WWE 2K18, Wyatt targeted him and defeated him at both Great Balls of Fire and the following WWE Raw, then moved on to feud with Finn Bálor. The feud was reignited in 2019 when Wyatt, in his new persona "The Fiend", attacked Rollins, who had just successfully retained the Universal Championship. The following night on Raw, Rollins announced that he would be defending the title against The Fiend at Hell in a Cell, and ended up dropping it to him in their rematch at Crown Jewel.
  • Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio after Dominik attack Rollins with a kendo stick.
  • Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro in early 2021 and WrestleMania.
  • Edge. Rollins earned Edge's enmity all the way back in 2014 when he used Edge to force John Cena to bring back The Authority. Their actual rivalry, however, didn't start until after Edge got an opportunity to wrestle Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship match at Money in the Bank 2021. He subsequently interfered with the match and cost Edge his chance at the Universal Championship. Rollins later lost his match against Edge at SummerSlam and had a rematch with him at Super SmackDown, which he won and temporarily took Edge out. Eventually, the rivalry became so personal that Edge challenged him to a Hell in a Cell match at Crown Jewel, much to Rollins's horror.
  • Roman Reigns. While they've never had a sustained feud and have seemingly buried the hatchet, there was always a tension between them. Subsequently, during their early 2022 feud, Reigns revealed that he has never been truly able to forgive Rollins for breaking up The Shield, something Rollins admitted he knew all along. This also borders on a vicious cycle of hatred between the two, culminating in WrestleMania XL where he gave Cody Rhodes enough breathing room by pushing Roman's buttons even further, causing the Tribal Chief to vent all his frustrations on Rollins while wrestling legends John Cena and The Undertaker hold off The Rock, allowing Cody to win the Undisputed WWE Championship.
    Reigns: Chair to my back? Breaking up the Shield... I've tried to forgive you. I really have. But I'll never forgive you for what you did to us. I hate you.
  • Cody Rhodes. After Cody returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38 and defeated Rollins in their subsequent match, Rollins developed a vendetta against him and accused him of stealing his spotlight. This feud would continue through Backlash and Hell in a Cell, and while Cody won both of those matches as well, Rollins would be the one to take him out for the rest of the year.
  • Matt Riddle. After Money in the Bank 2022, Rollins targeted Riddle over the next couple of weeks until a match was made at SummerSlam 2022, but the match was postponed after Riddle suffered an injury caused by Rollins. The feud continued from there, with both Rollins and Riddle going way below the belt in promos, leading to their first proper match at Clash at the Castle, where Rollins defeated Riddle, followed by their final battle in a Fight Pit Match at Extreme Rules 2022, where Riddle finally ended their rivalry with an absolutely horrifying twisting gogoplata choke.
  • CM Punk. After Punk returned to WWE at Survivor Series 2023, Rollins attempted to charge at Punk but was restrained by Michael Cole and various officials. He also said that he doesn't want Punk back in the WWE 10 months prior to his return.
• Audience Participation Song: "Visionary" would become this over the course of 2022, as WWE audiences began joining in with the ominous chanting already included in the song. During his match with Matt Riddle at Clash at the Castle, the crowd continued the chanting throughout the match. By 2023, it's reached the point where crowds singing along with his music even after it stops has been known to derail segments on occasion. On a house show in Paris, his scheduled match was cut short after the crowd kept the chant going for nearly ten minutes.
• Ax-Crazy: On Raw's last episode for 2014, Rollins threatened to Curbstomp Edge onto his Money in the Bank briefcase, the same Edge who retired due to neck injuries, unless John Cena reinstated the Authority. Cena agreed to Rollins' demands, only for Rollins to try and Curbstomp Edge anyway.
  • Shows flashes of this in his Monday Night Messiah gimmick, particularly in his feud with Rey Mysterio where he suddenly became obsessed with gouging enemies' eyes out.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Inverted. After his 2014 Face–Heel Turn, he would wear a suit for in-ring promos, often only to get beat up or run out of the ring by Dean Ambrose.
• Bash Brothers: With both his Shield stablemates. Even when Ambrose and Rollins were still on the rocks, the two of them fought like a well-oiled machine. When they finally buried the hatchet, it was clear the two of them hadn't lost a beat.
• Batman Gambit: He's nicknamed "The Architect" for good reason. He successfully pulled one of these off on his own stablemates. When the incessant bickering between Ambrose and Reigns threatened to tear The Shield apart, Rollins made a statement by leaving the ring during a six-man tag match, resulting in Reigns and Ambrose catching a serious beat-down from all three members of The Wyatt Family (although they didn't go down without a fight). Reigns and Ambrose called Rollins out on the following episode of SmackDown, and that was the payoff. Rollins made them realize that, to put it simply, they're The Shield, and it's obvious that Reigns and Ambrose can coexist when necessary (as they had each other's backs when Rollins abandoned them). He preached a surprisingly powerful sermon, basically telling Ambrose and Reigns to get their game together so The Shield can "Take this place back!"
  • At one point during the promo, Rollins even refused to retaliate when Dean Ambrose punched him square in the mouth out of frustration — the implication was that Rollins letting Ambrose get the anger out of his system was worth it, since a fight between the two would accomplish nothing.
  Rollins: [after being punched in the face by Ambrose] Are we done here? ... or are we done? [extends his fist, implicitly imploring Reigns and Ambrose to do the same◊]
  Reigns: [glares at Rollins, then places his fist alongside]
  Ambrose: [appears to be mouthing off defiantly to Reigns and Rollins, but, somewhat reluctantly, completes the pose]
  • In ''WrestleMania XL'' he promises to be Cody Rhodes Shield, and he meant that in the most literal way possible: for he comes dressed in the Shield attire to the Main Event of Night 2 and even uses the group's theme. This is also a huge Checkhovs Gun, because, Royal Rumble 2022, Roman completely lost it when he saw that attire. This makes so that Roman focuses on him in a crucial moment, by baiting him into taking revenge for the rupture of the group with a chair shot, which allows Cody to recover enough to counter Roman's Spear in a Cross Rhodes trinity, winning the match and the title.
• Battle Couple: With Becky Lynch in 2019, after WWE put their real life relationship onscreen. At the time the relationship started, they were the respective top male and female champions on RAW, and it was particularly played up at the Stomping Grounds PPV when Becky came out to beat up Lacey Evans (who she'd already defeated earlier in the night) after Baron Corbin enlisted her as a crooked surprise ref for his Universal Championship match against Seth (since unlike all the other heels Corbin had approached, Lacey was protected by Seth's refusal to hit a woman). As for Seth's refusal to hit a woman? Corbin has no such reservations. During Seth and Becky's winner-take-all tag match at Extreme Rules against Corbin and Lacey, Corbin attacked Becky with a devastating End of Days, then stopped to taunt Rollins and call him a piece of shit. Seth's response was to frantically beat the ever-loving shit out of Corbin with a kendo stick, a steel chair, and a series of Curb Stomps.
• Battle Strip:
  • In a dark house match against Ambrose in June 2014, he lost his vest to Ambrose, who used it to beat him. Rollins regained the upper-hand, then took the initiative of taking off his own shirt... for no apparent reason. Well, besides the obvious.
  • After transitioning to new ring gear, he routinely wore a special top or t-shirt down to the ring, which he would remove for matches.
• Beard of Evil: As a heel.
• Berserk Button:
  • After his second attempt to get the WWE Universal Championship fails courtesy of Kevin Owens, Rollins didn't take too kindly with Owens calling him a failure; and Owens gets a receiving end of a beating from Rollins, right in front of Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley!
  • After his relationship with Becky Lynch became public knowledge in WWE, Rollins didn't take too kindly of his opponents using her in any way to get at him. He got visibly incensed when Paul Heyman became the first WWE TV character to talk about their relationship when he asked him how it felt for him to see her in the main event of WrestleMania 35 he always dreamed of (as Rollins and Heyman's client Brock Lesnar wrestled in the show's opening bout), and when Baron Corbin attacked her with End of Days at Extreme Rules 2019, Rollins got mad, beating the holy hell out of him with a kendo stick and a chair before giving him three Stomps; for reference, this was the same amount Rollins gave Lesnar at the aforementioned 'Mania match, which was justified as Lesnar was at the moment WWE's biggest Wrestling Monster, whereas Corbin wasn't portrayed as such for a long time.
  • CM Punk. He exploded with rage upon finding out Punk had returned to WWE.
  • For an example where Seth is the Berserk Button, Seth invoking The Shield serves as much for Roman Reigns. When they faced each other at the 2022 Royal Rumble, Reigns was pushed to the point of getting himself disqualified for refusing to break a submission hold on Rollins, who had invoked the Shield by wrestling in his tactical gear and recreating the trio's entrance on his way to the ring.
• Bittersweet Ending: In Wrestlemania XL. He loses his title to Drew McIntyre during Night 2 after trying to help Cody win the grueling main event last night against Roman and The Rock but failing to succeed at that, leaving him battered for his own match. However, he still has the last laugh, for he manages to provoke Roman in going for him in a key spot of his match against Cody Rhodes, meaning the American Nightmare had enough time to recover and counter the Spear to win the match and the title. At the end of the day, he once more was the bane of Roman's life. Also, almost five minutes after winning the match, Drew subsequently loses his title because he taunted CM Punk, which led to Damian Priest cashing in and winning the title - in other words, Drew lost his title because he kept obsessing over something else.
• Bond Breaker: For The Shield. Rollins's decision to betray Ambrose and Reigns for The Authority left a scar on the team that never fully healed, even after his Heel–Face Turn. When it's all three of them together, things hold well enough, but losing just one member of the team immediately causes things to collapse. When Reigns had to go on break thanks to his leukemia's return, Ambrose snapped the same night and turned on Rollins, and it took Reigns's return a few months later to reunite the stable for its final run. Subsequently, after Ambrose left the company, Rollins and Reigns drifted apart and eventually both made a Face–Heel Turn. When they briefly feuded a few years later (still both heels), Reigns flat-out admitted he was never able to truly forgive Rollins for breaking the three of them up, something Rollins admitted he knew all along. It seems that even though the three of them may truly do still love each other, there's always going to be some kind of wedge or distance between them because of what Rollins did.
• Broken Pedestal: He was the member of the Shield commonly treated as The Heart of the team and the one directly responsible for keeping the group together when Reigns and Ambrose were at each other's throats, but also the first one to outright turn on the rest of the team.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Courtesy of Dean Ambrose after Seth's betrayal of The Shield. For a taste of Dean's antics — he stole Seth's Money in the Bank briefcase (again), insinuated that Seth had something embarrassing stashed in there after rifling through it, and rigged it to explode green slime in Seth's face when Seth finally reclaimed it; Seth's flailing to get his slimed suit jacket off looked worryingly like a Villainous Breakdown. Finally, his briefcase suddenly started vibrating afterward in front of the rest of the shocked Authority, with the implication that it was a vibrator (though Seth insisted that it was an electric razor). Dean later said that he was deliberately aiming to humiliate Seth because he knew it was one of the worst things he can do to an egomaniac like Seth, but he still had no qualms about laying a beatdown on Seth whenever he felt like it.
  • Becoming WWE World Heavyweight Champion did not help in the least.
    • He may have won the title, but his life arguably got worse in the process, then being on the shitlist of practically every main-eventer on the show, including Randy Orton.
    • Dean Ambrose stole the belt and hijacked it for at least a month (because he felt he had legitimately earned it).
    • He had to defend the title against Brock Lesnar, without any aid from J&J and Kane thanks to Lesnar taking them out (plus his own deliberate Kick the Dog betrayal by attacking Kane's injury and making it worse). He subsequently got his ass kicked, and only The Undertaker's interference saved his title.
    • When it seemed his fortunes are finally looking up and he became a dual champion by beating John Cena for the US title thanks to Jon Stewart (It Makes Sense in Context), Sting returned and set his eyes on the world title. Sting would go on to destroy a special statue the company made of Rollins and generally make his life hell.
    • Then came Night of Champions, a show where every championship would be defended, meaning he would wrestle two matches in one night. To top it off, Sheamus all but stated that he would cash in his Money in the Bank contract that night after those two matches, meaning he potentially would have to wrestle three matches in one night. He ultimately lost the US title back to Cena, only beat Sting thanks to a lucky roll-up, and was saved from Sheamus when Kane returned with fire, brimstone, and mask to tombstone him.
    • Kane being back was (of course) no reprieve, as he would terrorize Seth for weeks and nearly drag him to hell. Rollins would finally get past Kane, injuring himself and vacating the world championship in the process.
• By the Hair:
  • After the Shield refused to help him like good little Co-Dragons, an angry Kane reached over the top rope as they were leaving, grabbed Seth by his hair, and yanked him into the ring with the intention of delivering a serious beatdown. Lucky for Seth, Roman intervened via spear.
  • Ambrose threatened to rip Seth's "dirty, stinkin' hair out by the roots!" for his betrayal. That hair seems to be his enemies' go-to attack point.
• Cain and Abel: Him and Dean Ambrose were this for nearly the entire time they worked in the same company. Though they weren't really considered brothers until The Shield came onto the scene. They always ended up at odds with each other eventually switching between each brother role depending on which time they were feuding. After the initial shield split Seth was the Cain then after Ambrose snapped after Roman's announcement and attacked him he was the Abel.
• Catchphrase:
  • "Burn it down." Overlaps with Audience Participation (when the crowd chants it during his match) and Audience Participation Song (when the crowd screams it during his entrance).
  • "Sing my song." as of his 2023 Heel–Face Turn.
  • "I am a Visionary! I am a Revolutionary! I am SETH FREAKING ROLLINS!" (Though he would later come to pause after saying his first name and let the audience shout the rest.)
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
  • Betrays The Shield for The Authority. Wins Money in the Bank. Promptly starts making overtures to Randy Orton about how he wouldn't hesitate to cash in if Orton ever won again. Then, to top it all off, he tries to engineer a situation where Orton removes the "Lesnar problem" for Rollins and wears himself out doing so, giving Rollins the perfect opportunity to yank the championship. Hell, he almost explicitly said that he's much more interested in looking out for himself than for the Authority's interests, whatever those may be — during two separate villainous breakdowns, he claimed not to care about The Authority's opinion and also declared that he doesn't need The Authority (he apologized for both upon realizing what he had just said).
  • As soon as Triple H and Stephanie started putting him over as the company "standard-bearer" and the Authority's top priority, he wasted no time in curb-stomping Orton as soon as possible for his troubles. Rinse and repeat after Randy rebelled to attack him over it. Needless to say, when Orton returned, things went rather poorly for Seth. Proving he'd learned absolutely nothing from that, Rollins promptly betrayed Kane once he ceased being useful. Once Kane returned, that didn't go very well for Seth either. He had to get injured, return, fail to win the Universal title, be cast aside by Triple H and placed in the role of his previous victims, and then get injured again in order to finally learn his lesson and get over being this trope personified.
• Combat Pragmatist: Rollins will do whatever it takes to win because he's "The Architect", even if it means resorting to Groin Attacks on big men like Lesnar whenever he had the chance, even as a face. To be fair, Lesnar has been built up as so overwhelmingly powerful that you can see why Seth would take any advantage he can get, plus Lesnar has been shown as capable of cheap-shotting opponents, despite his might, if he finds it amusing enough.
• Complexity Addiction: Rollins' attempt to play mind games with Randy Orton ultimately was this. First he challenged Orton to a match, then he proceeded to have everybody in The Authority pretend to abandon him, only to have them show up to help him for the match and brag about how smart his plan was. The thing is: 1) He used The Reveal just to brag, rather than for tactical advantage, 2) the end result was no different than just showing up, meaning that everything he did was for his own sake, and 3) Orton told Rollins to his face that he knew it was a trap and was ready for this exact scenario. So Rollins ran an overly complicated scheme that accomplished nothing purely for himself.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • A literal instance of this trope if Rollins dominates a match.
  • While he's hardly a weakling, his role as an arrogant Dirty Coward leads to him taking a few one-sided beatings at times. His match against Ambrose in Hell In the Cell was essentially a cathartic mauling until Wyatt intervened.
  • He was on the receiving end during his match against Brock Lesnar at Battleground in 2015, and the only reason he kept the championship was because of The Undertaker's interference.
• Cynicism Catalyst: The dissolution of The Shield proved to be this for Rollins in the long run. Rollins used the end of the stable to jumpstart his singles career in WWE by joining The Authority, and while he benefited for that for a while, it inevitably collapsed and he found himself stuck in the middle of a hostile locker room who hated him for his time in either one stable or the other, having throughly alienated the only two people who would've still had his back no matter what he done. This forced him to embark on a redemption run, which included reconciling with Ambrose and Reigns, which ultimately proved to be unsuccessful as well — Rollins was only able to truly reconcile with Ambrose, who left the company, and all his fan support fled him in the wake of the disastrous Hell in a Cell match he had against the Fiend in 2019. Having effectively lost everything, with one brother gone for good and the other secretly hating his guts, Rollins snapped and became a delusional Psychopathic Manchild with a messiah complex that is openly despised by just about every other member of the locker room.
• Cycle of Revenge: The main instigator of one. Rollins' betrayal and dissolution of The Shield began with a steel chair to the back of Roman Reigns. Roman hasn't moved on from the betrayal, so much that he gives Seth A Taste Of His Own Medicine in the 2022 Royal Rumble by hitting him with a steel chair multiple times. This even comes to a head in WrestleMania XL as Seth in his Shield uniform buying Cody Rhodes time to distract Roman, causing the Tribal Chief to give into his vengeance against his former Shield brother, while WWE legends John Cena and The Undertaker hold off The Rock, allowing Cody to clinch the Undisputed WWE Championship.
• Dark Messiah: Starts calling himself the "Monday Night Messiah" after his third Heel turn in late 2019. The fact that Seth Looks Like Jesus certainly helps.
• Darker and Edgier: His "Authority" heel run cast him as an opportunistic sycophant constantly slithering out of danger with help from his allies. And while certain moments betrayed a bit of a brutal streak in him, he never slid outright into sadism. By contrast, his Monday Night Messiah gimmick seems to take particular pleasure in physically and mentally torturing his opponents. Highlights(?) include: his sudden obsession with gouging out opponents' eyeballs, the absolute beating he and Murphy gave to Dominik Mysterio with kendo sticks, taunting Rey through the camera as he did it (this was after he successfully raked one of Rey's eyes out, sending him home temporarily), and even leaving Murphy to get the crap beaten out of him by the entire Mysterio family for failing him.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: While he did beat Brock Lesnar thrice (twice in singles matches), his first two wins are actually a case of Worf Had the Flu:
  • In WrestleMania 31, he cashed in his MITB contract during Lesnar's first match against Reigns and took out both of them in their weakened state, pinning Reigns.
  • Then in WrestleMania 35, Lesnar's attempted F5 ends with him being low-blowed by Rollins, costing him the Universal Title as a result.
  • Played straight in SummerSlam 2019, where Rollins used his "architect" skills to maintain his offense against Lesnar and weakened him with suicide dives and superkicks for the clean pin.
• Determinator: WrestleMania XL shows how he dedicated himself to be the shield for Cody Rhodes, making sure to be by his side when they teamed up against The Rock and Roman Reigns on Day 1, having to fight off Drew McIntyre for the championship (which he lost) and then struggling to make it to the ring to distract Reigns with a steel chair and his old Shield outfit.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Good news, Rollins, you finally got that pesky Dean Ambrose off of your back after Curb Stomping him through cinder blocks. The bad news? Now you've got the full attention of his friend and other former Shield mate, the more durable and destructive Roman Reigns. Have fun with that.
  • By "generously" offering an open challenge at Night of Champions, he gave Dean Ambrose carte blanche to return and beat the crap out of Rollins. Then, later in the night, Rollins ends up costing John Cena his one and only rematch for the WWE World Title against Brock Lesnar for an (aborted) attempt at a cash-in, incurring not only Ambrose's wrath once again, but Cena's as well. Randy Orton even lampshaded this the following night on Raw, saying he, Kane and The Authority had to put out the proverbial fires Rollins ends up starting himself.
  • On the August 3, 2015 episode of RAW, Rollins offered an open challenge for his WWE World Heavyweight Championship... to anyone shorter than 6 feet tall and under 200 pounds. He intended to challenge El Torito, a midget mascot of Los Matadores, but instead Neville came out since he fits the criteria of Rollins' challenge. Rollins was forced to go through with the match, although he came out victorious in a rare clean victory.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
  • At the 2016 Money in the Bank pay per view, Seth Rollins handed Roman Reigns his first clean pinfall loss in a one-on-one match on the main roster. No outside interference, no sneak attacks, no MITB cash-ins, Rollins defeated Reigns all on his own. Yeah, he got a delayed kickout via ref bump at one point, but it still spent some time as the cleanest loss Roman Reigns has taken since 2012 in FCW when he was wrestling under the name Leakee.
  • He defeated Brock Lesnar not once, but twice in one year. The first time at WrestleMania 35, where he beat him in him in less than 5 minutes, and the second time at SummerSlam, where he handed Lesnar one of his few clean losses since 2014.
• Dirty Coward: During his alliance with the Authority, Rollins often had help from Kane and J&J security to either help him in a match or to beat up someone. In fact, if it not because of the Authority, Rollins' first World Championship reign would be short. However, the moment the person they jumped at begins to fight back, Rollins will be the first person to leave the ring, leaving his cohorts getting their assess kick.
• Distaff Counterpart: Becky Lynch appears to be his, considering she's stolen (with Seth's joking acceptance) several of his nicknames — most notoriously "The Man", but also for a while "The Queenslayer" and "Crossfit She-sus".
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Fitting with him being a Manchild, Rollins's run with The Authority is akin to a spoiled brat being given anything by his rich parents and having tough bodyguards to fight for him. His feud with Randy Orton, the Authority's first golden boy, is like an older and younger sibling conflict, after the younger child becomes their parents' new favourite. The storyline after Hunter betrayed him is also similar to said brat throwing a tantrum after his parents stop giving him what he wants, until one day he realizes he needs to grow up and become his own man in order to be truly fulfilled in life. The Authority storyline dying for good and Triple H occasionally allying with Rollins again after that can be considered the parents, especially the father, acknowledging that the brat has finally grown into a respectable adult.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Appeared along with Reigns (then called Leakee) in a promo about John Cena at Elimination Chamber 2012.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • Zigzagged with his former Shield stablemates. While Roman Reigns was willing to give Rollins a second chance when the latter turned face, Dean Ambrose still had not forgotten Rollins' earlier betrayal and continued to distrust him despite them both being faces. It wasn't until they teamed up to challenge Sheamus and Cesaro for the RAW Tag team titles in the build-up to Summerslam 2017 that they finally managed to reconcile, and even then it nearly imploded had Sheamus and Cesaro not stupidly decided to go out and attack them both.
  • Later became subverted in 2022 with The Reveal that despite Reigns's honest and best efforts, he has never been able to forgive Rollins for what he did, and never will.
• Evil Costume Switch: It took awhile for this to kick in, as Seth continued wearing his Shield uniform (sometimes complete with the Shield patch!) even weeks after defecting. Eventually he switched to black tights that look like they could fit on an X-Men villain.
• Evil Genius: All three of his heel incarnations are that of a Manipulative Bastard who falls back on a pair of muscle to do a lot of the heavy lifting, be that Reigns and Ambrose in the Shield, J&J Security during his time with the Authority, or the Authors of Pain (AOP) as the Monday Night Messiah. He tried to use this to his advantage at the 2020 Royal Rumble by bringing AOP and Buddy Murphy with him to the ring, but while they did thin the field a little, he still ended up getting eliminated because just because the men he had eliminated were out of the match didn't mean they were unaccounted for, and they dragged his entourage off with them to the locker room.
• Evil Laugh: Loves to do them in his evil promos. Good luck finding any in his heel singles run without one.
• Evil Power Vacuum: His November 2015 injury could not have come at a worse time. With Sting, Randy Orton, and Daniel Bryan injured, and John Cena and Brock Lesnar on leave, his status as WWE World Heavyweight Champion meant he was the only bonafide main eventer they had for the rest of the year. With him gone and out until after WrestleMania season, the main event scene was all but destroyed as the company lacked both a top face and a top heel. As it turned out, his injury was the prelude to an epidemic that hit the company on every level — at one point, Dean Ambrose was literally the only active full-time main event-caliber talent in the entire main roster.
• Expy:
  • He was often compared by fans (and even Jim Ross) to CM Punk^note a fellow former Ring of Honor champion during his NXT run. There's even a bit of facial resemblance there. It's quite apt that when CM Punk guest-starred on the show, he would confront and eventually congratulate Rollins. More commonalities have shown up as his career has advanced, including: Going through an unhinged Dark Messiah phase, complete with Jesus hair and beard, preachy persona, and a number of 'disciples', and having a Real Life relationship with his own Distaff Counterpart in the company.
  • He' also drew a number of comparisons to Jeff Hardy for his looks and willingness to take huge bumps.
  • His original post-Shield attire uncannily resembled Masahiro Chono's classic ring gear.
  • As a character, was very quickly moving into the territory of "The Game" Triple H and "The Ultimate Opportunist" Edge expy, in the sense that they're all long-haired men with talent and passion about what they do in the ring, but their biggest strength is their ruthless genius in manipulating others and stepping on anyone they need to to get to the top. Also, he's built leaner/smaller than Edge and relies less on grappling and straightforward fighting and more on speed, agility, and crash-and-dodge tactics in the ring—just as Edge did in comparison to Triple H.
    • This may add a new element to the Wham Segment that was Rollins forcing the return of the Authority. By threatening to kill Edge in order to bring Triple H back to power, Seth proved that with the right situation and a single stroke of genius he can even hold his predecessors' futures at the soles of his feet—thus displaying his potential to eclipse both men's evil. Especially since, moments before his attack on Edge and Christian, he responded to Edge essentially calling him another wannabe, saying, "I don't need to be you, because I am better than you."
    • The Edge comparisons seem especially fitting post-WrestleMania 31 where Seth totally pulled an Edge move with his Money in the Bank briefcase during the main event. Also, a careful listen to his entrance music after he betrayed the Shield reveals that it sounds somewhat similar to the theme Edge started using when he hit main event status. One's almost got to wonder if it was intentional.
    • The Triple H comparisons seem even more fitting than they already are post-Curb Stomp ban with Seth eventually using the Pedigree as his finisher. Even after Triple H turned on him he continued to use the Pedigree which he stated in a Q&A was a Take That! towards Triple H, who himself is no stranger to holding grudges, and this lasted all the way up to their match at WrestleMania 33.
    • Shawn Michaels (particularly the younger early 90s version) is a name that comes up lately when talking about Rollins. And while the comparison is probably overused and irritates some people, there are a few undeniable parallels: Similar build and in-ring style, workhorse reputation, as well as the out-of-ring tendency to get into a sticky situation or two, yet not suffer from Role-Ending Misdemeanor because WWE simply values him too much. This also may be the comparison that makes the most sense in storyline: of course Triple H as a mentor would seek to groom the guy from the new crop of stars that reminds him most of his best friend...
  • In terms of outside-wrestling comparisons, numerous fans pointed out that, on top of adopting a very similar appearance, Seth bore more than a passing similarity to Joseph Seed during the Messiah phase of his most recent gimmick, as a dead-eyed, philosophizing, lunatic cult leader who viewed himself as some sort of prophet.
• Face–Heel Turn:
  • Rollins served as a good guy on NXT prior to appearing with The Shield, but promptly turned heel on the show when his affiliation with the group became prominent.
    • Heel–Face Revolving Door: Because NXT tapes 4 episodes in one sitting, this happened after Rollins debuted on the main roster as a heel but had several weeks of NXT shows where he was still a face.
  • The June 2, 2014 broadcast of Raw, after the Shield defeated Evolution again at Payback '14, Rollins proceeded to attack Ambrose and Reigns from behind.
  • After several weeks of setbacks with Bray Wyatt, Brock Lesnar, and eroding fan support, Rollins opened the Raw after Survivor Series 2019 with a town hall meeting where he blamed their poor showing (their only win over the other brands was during the pre-show) on pretty much everyone but himself, with one after another walking off in disgust. This turn was only made official when he joined the AOP in an ambush on Kevin Owens and later starting a new chapter by aligning himself with them.
• False Friend: Rollins tried really hard to invoke this regarding his feelings on his former Shield brethren during his heel run. They had declared themselves brothers and were often seen goofing off and treating each other with surprising affection, but Seth apparently never considered them anything more than his business-partners. Given that he and Ambrose did not exactly get off to the best start in FCW, even becoming professional Arch Enemies, it could've made sense. Seth may have wanted Dean on his team as a brawler he understood and could control, but if he never got over his old grudge, he would never be able to bring himself to honestly like Dean. If he was anticipating the Shield's eventual break-up (maybe even at his own hands) early enough, he might have avoided letting himself care about Roman, either. Ambrose and Reigns for their part were not pleased when they found out. Ambrose in particular made it his personal mission to beat the living hell out of Rollins. As evidenced following Triple H's betrayal of Seth, however, the truth holds that he was just bullshitting himself in order to feel semi-decent about his actions so he could ride on as The Man.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: As the Monday Night Messiah, he wears a single black glove on his right hand. It was originally to hold a splint in place for a broken finger, but Rollins kept it because fans kept asking why he was wearing it beyond that.
• Fashion-Victim Villain: Part of Seth's 'Visionary' gimmick has seen him, whenever not wrestling, appear in suits of varying degrees of offensive garishness.
• Fatal Flaw: Pride. Every bad decision Seth Rollins ever made, every evil act he undertook, was in service of his ego. Even in backstage interviews, he has admitted that his pride as a performer has held him back.
• Finishing Move:
  • His running/jumping Curb Stomp (previously known as the Blackout and Peace of Mind), not to be confused with the stationary version performed by others like Paul Burchill or Cheerleader Melissa. Tyler Black was known for a power bomb into the turn buckle (which is still a signature move of his as Seth Rollins) immediately followed by a super kick, a corkscrew 450º splash and a fisherman's buster into a small package he called "God's Last Gift" as well.
  • After the Curb Stomp was banned from usage in the WWE post-WrestleMania 31, Seth began using various other moves for finishers, first a single-underhook DDT, then stealing Randy Orton's RKO at Extreme Rules, before eventually settling on Triple H's Pedigree as a tribute.
  • At the April 24, 2017 episode of Raw, he replaced the Pedigree with a new ripcord kneestrike similar to the one Kenny Omega used against Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 11. This move, variously known as the King's Landing and the Revolution Knee, would end up downgraded to a signature once Rollins officially brought the Curb Stomp back.
  • In the build-up of his Fight Pit Match against Matt Riddle at Extreme Rules 2022, he added a Peruvian Necktie to his finisher list, by choking out Rey Mysterio with it. He only used it twice, however (First is the beforementioned technical submission win against Rey, and the second is an attempt against Riddle at the Fight Pit Match itself, though the latter was able to reverse it).
• Foil: Often cast as this to Roman Reigns. The two will often be on opposite shows, opposite alignments, and play characters with opposing approaches. For example, Reigns spent much of 2023 as the heel Universal champion on Smackdown, keeping his title safe via the Bloodline stable and a very limited schedule that he's oft been criticized for both on- and off-screen. Conversely, Seth played a babyface on RAW, taking on all comers and working physical matches through a known injury - sometimes against better judgment.
  • This reverses an earlier dynamic that saw Seth as the crafty heel with stable backup during his first world championship reign, while Reigns was the lone babyface that attempted to power his way through all of his problems.
• For the Evulz: His decision to Curbstomp Edge after John Cena had already given into his demands was pretty clearly motivated by this trope.
• From a Certain Point of View: His match with AJ Styles at Money in the Bank 2019 was pitched as the first time the two had ever met in the ring. While it's true that it was the first match Seth Rollins had ever had with AJ, Tyler Black wrestled him a handful of times back in the indies.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Injured his knee at a house show in November of 2015, which forced him to vacate the WWE World Heavyweight championship, and put him on the shelf for the next 7 months.
  • In 2023, WWE turned a real-life back injury he'd sustained (but had been able to work through) into this in storyline, with Shinsuke Nakamura turning heel and trying to capitalize on the injury to take Rollins's World Heavyweight Championship.
• Genre Blindness: He seemed to lack an understanding about the fact that, especially in his particular line of work, double-crossing someone will lead to said person coming back to kick your ass. It didn't occur to him with Dean Ambrose, who spent the next several months making Rollins's life hell and repeatedly came back to feud with him over the next few years. Then he betrayed Randy Orton - which, given his resume and reputation for holding grudges, was an even worse idea. And just when you thought he'd learned his lesson, he betrayed Kane - because angering a seven foot psychopath who calls himself The Devil's Favourite Demon was sure to end well... Given his reaction to Triple H betraying him and costing him the Universal Championship, it also doesn't seem to have occurred to Seth that he could be the one getting double-crossed. Lampshaded by Orton in the midst of an absolutely brutal beatdown of Rollins once the Viper returned:
  Randy Orton: YOU THOUGHT I WAS JUST GONNA LET IT GO?!!!
  [cue RKO to Rollins through the announce table]
• Gone Horribly Right: Seth Rollins was stoked when he won the United States title from John Cena at SummerSlam in 2015, becoming a dual champion in the process. However, as Cena pointed out, the following pay-per-view event required all championships to be defended, which meant Rollins had to wrestle twice in one night.
• Groin Attack: Was on the receiving end of these rather often, once via hot dog tongs. Even Jon Stewart of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart got in on the action. On the other hand, he's also not above doing it to Lesnar, with the third time serving as the key to his Universal Title win at WrestleMania 35.
• Guilt Complex: Even after Ambrose and Reigns seemingly forgave him, Rollins was never able to completely forgive himself for betraying them. This became evident in late 2018, the week after Ambrose made his Face–Heel Turn and turned on him. Rollins didn't hold it against Ambrose for betraying him, even admitting that some part of him even believed he deserved it. What he did hold against Ambrose was that he did it on the same night Reigns revealed to the world, including them, that he had leukemia and that it had returned.
• Hated by All: Between dismantling the entire roster for years as part of The Shield (whom he later betrayed) and antagonizing absolutely everyone as the Monday Night Messiah and later the Visionary, Rollins doesn't have a friend in the world.
• The Heart: Operated as this in The Shield. When the relationship between Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns became strained over the course of their late 2013 feud with their former unwitting client CM Punk, one could argue that he was the one keeping The Shield together. Eventually it reached a breaking point…for Seth, causing him to Rage Quit during a match against the Wyatt Family, which he amazingly used to bring the two back on the same page and ultimately mend the cracks in the Shield. Deconstructed when Rollins revealed that one of the reasons he turned on the Shield was being tired of being the one that made them get along.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Subverted; though the Shield turned face, Rollins told Randy Orton that he never actually left "the dark side," implying that he never got the desire to mete out actual justice like Ambrose and Reigns and had only played along for the sake of staying in the Shield.
  • Seems to have gone this way officially after Triple H turned on him to give Kevin Owens the WWE Universal Championship, to the extent of semi-reforming his old partnership with Roman Reigns to battle Owens and Chris Jericho. Exaggerated at Survivor Series 2016, where he instigated a temporary Shield reunion with Reigns and former Arch-Enemy Dean Ambrose to destroy common foe AJ Styles.
• The Hero: Since WrestleMania 35, Seth has - with the exception of the lower points of his Universal Championship run in 2019 - been WWE's most popular and highest-profile standard-bearer and spokesperson, always positioned at a high level in the company even while out of title contention and rarely ever absent on the card of any major pay-per-view, in addition to being the de facto face of RAW, which he calls Monday Night Rollins.
• Heroic BSoD: After Ambrose revealed his reasons for turning on him (ripping on Rollins for taking him for granted, coming to see The Shield as a Broken Pedestal), culminating in Ambrose taking his Shield vest, dousing it with gas, and tossing it into a barrel fire. When it was done, Rollins looked like he was about to cry — he didn't even bother trying to rebuff anything Ambrose said, and simply left the ring and returned to the locker rooms with red-rimmed eyes.
• Heroic Sacrifice: How he fulfils his promise to be Cody's "shield" at WrestleMania XL. Seth shows up to the match in full Shield gear, mirroring his own match against Roman at the Royal Rumble two years prior. Once again, this puts Roman into a blood rage to where he opts to blast Seth with a steel chair instead of focusing on Cody, allowing Cody to take advantage of the distraction to win the day.
• Hero Killer: As the Authority's golden boy, Rollins had defeated multiple big named superstars including Rob Van Dam, John Cena, Dean Ambrose, and even handed Roman Reigns his first clean loss. He also attempted to kill Edge by stomping his injured neck on a pile of cinder blocks. On a harsher side, his buckle-bomb also gave Sting his career-ending injury and ended Finn Bálor's reign as the inaugural Universal Champion in one day (and subsequently Bálor's push in subsequent years).
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • During his Lumberjack Match against Dean Ambrose on SummerSlam 2014, Ambrose used Rollins' own Curb Stomp Finishing Move against him.
  • A week after Curb Stomping Ambrose through a pile of cinder blocks, Rollins attempted the same on Reigns, only for it to backfire, barely dodging a cinder block chucked by Reigns at Seth's head.
  • Ambrose himself was about to return the cinder block favor at Hell in a Cell, and would have followed through had Bray Wyatt not interfered.
  • Weeks later, Ambrose came within a hair's width of returning the cinder block favor unless the Authority agreed to grant him a WWE World title match at Elimination Chamber. Bonus points because this is the same method Rollins used to force John Cena to bring back the Authority. And even after Triple H and Stephanie agreed to his demands, Ambrose still tried to drive Rollins' head through the cinder blocks, just like how Seth tried to kill Edge anyway.
• Homage:
  • After the Shield split and his singles run began, he started using Eddie Guerrero's "Three Amigos" triple vertical suplex sequence, until he was either told to stop or realized on his own that it might be a bad idea to use a signature move of a beloved performer who has been pretty much canonized while playing the role of "loathsome chickenshit heel".
  • After his return from injury in mid-2016, he also started using the frog splash, with JBL acknowledging it on a few occasions as an Eddie move.
• Homoerotic Subtext: With Dean Ambrose. It eventually got so bad during mid-2017 that even male wrestling fans, who usually ignore the homoerotic component in wrestling, were starting to see their relationship as less platonic and more romantic in nature. The fans can't be blamed for seeing something that isn't there when WWE seems to be fanning the flames, constructing an interview segment and later a promo video based around the question, "Are Seth and Dean getting back together?"
• Hostile Show Takeover: A minor example; Seth took over, well, NXT TakeOver: San Antonio to call out Triple H.
  Rollins: [suddenly appearing in the ring despite not being scheduled to appear] Show's called TakeOver, right?!
• Hypocrite: The night after Money in the Bank 2016, he called out Dean Ambrose for cashing in his Money in the Bank contract and "stealing" his championship moment, when he himself did the exact same thing last year at WrestleMania 31. Promptly lampshaded by Roman Reigns.
  Reigns: Doesn't feel good, now does it?
• Idiot Ball: Resulting in a hellacious beatdown, courtesy of Randy Orton. Seth Rollins - the Architect of the Shield, said to be second only to Triple H in shrewdness and intelligence - fell for the most transparent False Friend ploy imaginable. Everybody but Rollins saw it coming. It was strange to see the guy who's supposed to be one step ahead of everyone look like such a fool... or perhaps he wasn't a fool, as this may have been all part of his plan. To prevent Orton from attacking him during WrestleMania when he would cash in, it's possible that he purposefully let the Apex Predator exact his revenge on him when he returned so he can be satiated of his vengeful lust. Which also would explain that he let him win at WrestleMania, just so Orton didn't feel the need to interrupt Rollins' cash-in. It's very likely that he was all along, one step ahead.
• Invincible Villain:
  • After betraying the Shield and aligning himself with the Authority, Rollins went on a long winning streak. Before, he would rarely win a single match and, along with Dean Ambrose, was normally the one who was pinned during tag team matches. And if he loses, chances are there will be a rematch where Rollins has the last laugh. This include forcing John Cena to bring back the Authority, about a month after the stable was disbanded after losing to Team Cena at Survivor Series.
  • He normally received help from the Authority during his matches as a heel, making one-on-one matches more of a handicap match, even the triple treat match against Brock Lesnar and John Cena on Royal Rumble 2015. Even without the Authority's help, Rollins will still find ways to win his matches.
  • This continued throughout his first world championship reign. Dean Ambrose pinned him at Elimination Chamber 2015, but the first referee of the match reversed the decision to a DQ, so Seth retained his title. He even walked out off Battleground 2015 still the champion against Brock Lesnar (an even more Invincible Villain) after The Undertaker interfered, and would go on to defeat John Cena at SummerSlam (with John Stewart's help), Sting at Night of Champions and finally Kane at Hell in a Cell. His reign only came to an end when he injured his leg. In May 2016, he returned as the company's top heel and defeated Roman Reigns in the next PPV to reclaim his championship. Unfortunately, his celebration was cut short by Dean Ambrose.
  • As Finn Bálor pointed out, Rollins was still favored by Stephanie even after the Authority was officially disbanded as he was automatically chosen for their match on SummerSlam to determine the inaugural WWE Universal Champion, while Balor himself had to win two matches on the same night to qualify for the match.
• Irony:
  • As he was the member of the Shield commonly treated as The Heart of the team and the one directly responsible for keeping the group together when Reigns and Ambrose were at each other's throats, he was in fact the first one to outright turn on the rest of the team.
  • The tragic variety occurred on October 22, 2018. Four and a half years before that date, Rollins lost his Shield teammates/brothers Ambrose and Reigns by betraying them. The dissolution of the Shield was by his hands and entirely his fault, and at the time, he thought it was what he wanted. Four and a half years later, the Shield dissolves yet again — and this time, there was nothing Rollins could've done to stop it. Reigns was forced to go on hiatus thanks to his leukemia, and that proved to be the final straw for Ambrose, who snapped from years of pent-up emotions and turned on him. The absolute worst part of this, however, is that Rollins now knows that this is the last thing he wanted.
  • Despite being each other's most vicious rival throughout their WWE careers, Ambrose was the only one of Rollins' two teammates/brothers to genuinely forgive him for his betrayal in the end. Meanwhile, Reigns acted otherwise for years, but in reality could never forgive Rollins for what he did and, after their 2022 feud, now openly and explicitly hates him for it.
• It Meant Something to Me:
  • Seth's feelings on his ex-teammates were implied to be a little more complicated than he asserted during one Raw. During a confrontation between Seth and Roman after Seth Curb Stomped Dean through cinder blocks and put him out of action, as Seth was retreating, Roman reportedly yelled, "You're no brother of mine!" Seth stopped dead in his tracks, looking shocked and even hurt. Guess he can dish it but he can't take it.
  • It kicked in again at Payback 2015 when the three ex-Shield members and Randy Orton faced each other were in a four-way match for Seth's WWE title. When one thing led to another on the outside and the three had Orton surrounded, Seth was the one who called for them to put him through the table just like old times, and following the Triple Powerbomb he celebrated the moment as much as anyone, ended up putting his arms around Reigns and Ambrose and even called for their old fist pose before being reminded physically that (A) they were all still in a match and (B) that he'd long screwed this up.
  • This came into play again in the lead-up to Battleground 2016 during a segment of the Ambrose Asylum. Seth went on to reminisce with Ambrose and Reigns about all the good times they had, coming off as very sincere, and even calling Roman "Uce." Of course, being the only heel in the ring, he tried to turn it around at the end by saying that his absolute favorite memory was betraying Roman and Dean.
  • Following his Heel–Face Turn after Triple H betrayed him, he very slowly transitioned from still being the same arrogant Manchild (but just against The Authority) to regaining the renegade sense of honor that defined his career prior to betraying the Shield, occasionally teaming with Reigns and even collaborating with Ambrose along the way. It culminated in his match against Triple H at WrestleMania 33, during which he wore a golden version of his outfit with various "singed-in" designs — including a shield with his logo inside it at the heart of the outfit, a deliberate homage that said yes, the Shield did matter to Seth Rollins.
• It's All About Me: God, this guy is not a team player. He established this after betraying the Shield, but he's also shown himself to be more than willing to sell out his own Authority teammates if it'll advance his own career. Hell, he pretty much said at one point that if Randy Orton won the championship back, Seth wouldn't hesitate to cash in on him.
• Jerkass Has a Point: His assertion that the two remaining members of the Shield couldn't function together without him because of their differences in personality actually turned out to be completely true. Although Ambrose and Reigns are still allies and friends after a certain fashion, they quickly stopped teaming together directly after Seth turned on them. Reigns wasn't happy about the betrayal, but he decided the best way to go about foiling the Authority's plans was to swipe the WWE World Heavyweight Championship out from under their noses. Ambrose, on the other hand, took Seth's betrayal really personally.
• Kick the Dog: While threatening to Curbstomp Edge in order paralyze or even kill him due to his pre-existing neck injuries (and taunting all the while that he wouldn't be able to hold his young daughter again), was definitely evil, it was evil with a purpose in it, since Rollins was doing it to force John Cena to bring back The Authority. Trying to break Edge's neck after Cena agrees, though, just goes to show what a cold-blooded monster Rollins is.
• The Kingslayer: Not quite a literal example, but he gained this In-Series Nickname after beating "The King of Kings" Triple H at WrestleMania 33 in an unsanctioned match.
• Knight Templar: The Shield in general were this but his late 2019 Face–Heel Turn made him a solo version. Calling himself the Monday Night Messiah, Seth vowed to drag RAW to prominence and glory within WWE, even at the expense of all the wrestlers on it, whether they or the audience liked it or not.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • His November 2015 injury and relinquishment of the title could be seen as this, considering all the heinous things he's done since his Face–Heel Turn (including the manner in which he won the title in the first place)
  • A more notable example was at Money in the Bank 2016. Rollins had won his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship by cashing in his contract at WrestleMania on a weakened Roman Reigns. Dean Ambrose does the exact same thing to win his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship after Rollins had just won it back after his return from injury. Not only is it karma for the aforementioned event, it's also karma for everything Rollins has done to his former brothers since the betrayal, particularly during his blood feud with Dean. Michael Cole fittingly called it "The Ultimate Payback".
  • After two years being an Invincible Villain and an overall jerkass to everyone around him, karma finally caught up to Seth Rollins, especially after the 2016 Brand Extension. He went from failing to win the Universal Championship time after time, to being betrayed by the very man he betrayed the Shield for and was also banned from the 2017 Royal Rumble. Furthermore, until WrestleMania 33, Seth Rollins did not have the same winning edge he had during his initial singles run.
  • He cashed in his Money in the Bank during Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar's WWE World Championship match and stole it from them in 2015. In 2019, Brock Lesnar would do the exact same to Seth Rollins, cashing in his Money in the Bank at Extreme Rules 2019 for the Universal Title.
• The Leader: When he turned heel in 2014, he claimed that he was the leader and mastermind behind the Shield and that without him they are nothing. He also claims that he was the only one capable of making Dean and Roman get along and work together. Between his crafted successes, Money in the Bank status, and Randy Orton's recent championship failures, Seth has even gradually moved into this position among the Authority's wrestlers.
• Light Is Not Good: Wore white pants and boots at SummerSlam 2015, possibly as a Shout-Out to Triple H wearing lily-white trunks and boots at WrestleMania XX.
  • His 2020 "Monday Night Messiah" entrance, complete with ethereal choir intro, features a sunlit background and golden spotlights quickly intensifying to a blinding mass of all white on every light and panel
• Lightning Bruiser: Although he used to be more of a Fragile Speedster or Glass Cannon, since 2017 he exhibited great endurance and resilience with no less speed and power.
• Loophole Abuse: Apparently there's no rule saying you can't cash in Money in the Bank on a championship match already in progress. Rollins was either the first one to figure this out or the first with the smarts and sheer Brass Balls to try it.
• Mad Eye: The one thing that was missing from his comparisons to Edge… until he saw Baron Corbin hit his girlfriend with an End of Days. At that point he completely lost it, and after beating on Corbin with weapons, it was Curb Stomp time. Repeatedly. And each time he seized up Corbin in the corner, his face looked like Edge readying a Spear.
• Made of Iron: Lasting 65 minutes in a gauntlet match while beating both Roman Reigns and John Cena is this. Later took a record six F-5's from Brock Lesnar and came back for more.
• Manchild: His Dirty Coward championship run and alliance with the Authority combines into something approximating a tantrum-throwing little kid who talks a big game because he knows his proverbial mom and dad (in this case, Triple H and Stephanie) will bail him out when he gets himself in trouble. His later heel gimmicks however are worse.
• Manipulative Bastard: Is very good at twisting people's emotions to his advantage, whether it's worming his way into their hearts and making them trust and care about him, or deliberately playing on their anger with him to provoke and distract them long enough for them to lose a match. He is certainly not above manipulating his own team-mates to get them to play their parts in his plans, as seen when he manipulated Ambrose and Reigns—who had been on the verge of fighting and possibly destroying the Shield—by forcing them onto the same page by providing them with a common enemy: himself. He then persuaded them to let go of their issues with him and with each other in order to keep the Shield whole.
• Mean Boss: Post-Survivor Series 2019, Seth berated the Monday Night RAW locker-room intensely, saying it was all their faults that RAW had lost every match except the Tag Team Triple Threat, with specific Kick the Dog moments aimed at Randy Orton, Charlotte Flair and Rey Mysterio especially. They responded by walking out on him one by one before Kevin Owens hit him with a Stunner.
• Morality Chain: Dean Ambrose. Both of Rollins' major heel runs coincided with Ambrose and him being on the outs — the first one because Rollins ended The Shield by betraying Ambrose and Roman Reigns for The Authority, and the second one because Ambrose left the company. When you combine that with the fact that Reigns never forgave Rollins despite acting otherwise for years, and the fact that Rollins had known that all along, it becomes even more obvious, as losing Ambrose meant Rollins lost the only real friend he had left in WWE.
• My Greatest Failure: Though he never quite says it out loud, it's obvious that Rollins considers breaking up the Shield and allying with the Authority to be the biggest mistake of his life. Rollins was so desperate to make up for it that he was willing to let Ambrose hit him on the back with a steel chair at one point if it meant Ambrose would finally forgive him. Even years after the betrayal it still haunts him; when Ambrose turned on him in late 2018, it was obvious some part of Rollins felt like he deserved it.
• Official Couple: With Becky Lynch, confirmed as of May 13, 2019, after months of speculation.
• Oh, Crap!: Seth has some of the best facial expressions in wrestling, so this happens from time to time.
  • He was terrified of Dean Ambrose (for good reason) when they were feuding. His face upon seeing Ambrose (who hadn't been seen since Rollins curbstomped his head through cinder blocks well over a month prior) jumping out of a cab and making a beeline straight for the ring was a textbook "Oh, dear God, anybody but him" expression.
  • Also flashed a very quick one during an encounter with Roman Reigns that ending with Reigns chucking a cinder block at Rollins' head.
  • Ditto when he kicked Brock Lesnar in the back of the head, only for it to do absolutely nothing except further piss off an already enraged Lesnar.
  • The face he made when he found out Brock Lesnar was his next opponent at Battleground had this written all over it.
  • A more light-hearted example came a few weeks after SummerSlam 2017, where, during a segment involving every major tag team on RAW, he realized the Club was about to call his tag team partner Dean Ambrose a nerd.
  • He went from positively gleeful to absolutely horrified when Edge challenged him to a Hell in a Cell match at Crown Jewel 2021.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten:
  • Played straight and defied. After the Shield reunited in 2018, in commentary, Corey Graves and Michael Cole believe that it's been far too long since Seth destroyed the Shield to continue holding it over Rollins' head. Dean Ambrose, however, refuse to trust Seth again after what he did. Roman Reigns was also resistant to Rollins' efforts, but since he (seemingly) never managed to find it in himself to hate Seth (at least, not like Dean did), they made up eventually. For that matter, Seth was unable to forgive himself for what he did until Roman and Dean did.
  Rollins: [on an upcoming 2-on-3 handicap match; Rollins and Ambrose vs The Miztourage] It's not just The Miz out there. He's got Axel. He's got Dallas. That's three dudes we gotta worry about.
  Ambrose: You have to worry about three guys. I have to worry about four.
  • It's played straight again during his 2022 feud with Reigns, where it was revealed that despite acting otherwise for years, Reigns was never able to forgive him for The Shield's break-up. It seems destroying the Shield will forever be the one thing that Seth will never be able to shake off.
• Practically Joker: Seth's gimmicks, face and heel all the same, since the end of 2019 are considerably darker than his old Architect gimmick. While still acting like a Manchild, his new gimmicks are far more unhinged, flamboyantly dressed in brightly colored outfits, laughing like a maniac at times and savors in the chaos that he caused in his wake. During this period, he doesn't seem to care about winning titles and is more interested in getting under his enemies' skin. Case in point, his 2020 feud with the Mysterio Family has Seth trying to gouge Rey's eye out, beating Dominik to a pulp, and tormenting the women. Hilariously, Seth dresses as the Arthur Fleck version of the Joker during a promo for WrestleMania 39, and if his foes need easy verbal ammunition towards him, they'll generally call him a clown or even "a joker."
• Precision F-Strike:
  • A downplayed version (natural, given WWE's content rating, which has only ever gone as far as PG-13), as he felt the need to tell everyone that he is "Seth Freakin' Rollins" during one of his many tirades. However, this was seemingly mild enough that "Seth Freakin' Rollins" actually became one of his nicknames for a while, complete with t-shirt, before ultimately becoming his full ring name.
  • Becomes an Atomic F-Bomb when Rollins directly yelled at Jason Jordan "son of a bitch".
  • He got really emotional and hyped during the Shield's match at Fastlane 2019, promoted as the Shield's final match,^note As Ambrose was announced to be leaving WWE. yelling at the climax of the match that they were going to do this "ONE LAST MOTHER-[BLEEP]ING TIME". The WWE censors managed to cut off half of it, but everyone knew what Rollins said.
  • Ironically, he posted a message on his Instagram account in February 2019 which was properly related to Becky Lynch saying "Bullshit" on her Twitter account the previous day when describing the storyline she was in at the time.
    Rollins: Should I start swearing in my posts to seem super edgy? Nahhhh, not that desperate for likes just yet.
• Rage Quit: On the March 3, 2014 episode of Raw, he grew frustrated with Reigns and Ambrose's constant bickering and miscommunication, and walked out on them during a match with The Wyatt Family, leaving Reigns and Ambrose to get hammered.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: On the RAW before WrestleMania 35, Rollins does exactly this to Lesnar by pointing out his attitude while mocking his ego and success as "history's most decorated combat athlete" as a means to catch him off guard for two Groin Attacks and a Curb Stomp.
  Rollins: This is the biggest match of my career at WrestleMania. But Brock, what you don't understand is it is also the biggest match of your career. Because after WrestleMania, everything changes for you: You can't just waltz in here, push people around, make demands like the big bully you are. No. You don't understand, man. Nobody wants you here. I don't want you here, the locker room doesn't want you here, these people are sick and tired of Brock Lesnar! [crowd cheers for Rollins] Yeah, laugh it up, big boy. I know you don't give a damn. You don't give a damn what anybody wants but you. You know what, you made a lot of money, you made a hella career outta being Brock Lesnar because you're so big, you're so strong, you're so smart, you are the most decorated athlete in combat sports history. And me beating you at WrestleMania, it may be improbable, but it is NOT impossible. This Sunday, I'm going to beat you, I'm gonna take your title, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.
• Red Baron:
  • "The Architect" towards the end of the Shield's initial run.
  • "The Future of WWE" during his time as Mr. Money in the Bank.
  • "The Man" during his initial WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign.
  • "Seth Freakin' Rollins" during his initial WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign. WWE would finally upgrade this to his full ring name in 2022.
  • "The Kingslayer" towards the end of his feud with Triple H.
  • "Monday Night Rollins" in early 2018, as he angled to become the top player on Raw.
  • "The Beast Slayer" after defeating Lesnar at WrestleMania 35 with his "architect" skills.
  • "The Monday Night Messiah" during his third Heel run in late 2019.
  • "The Black Hand of Raw" in early 2020, an alternate nickname provided by commentator Tom Phillips.
  • "The Visionary" (also "The Revolutionary") following his return in February 2021.
• Reformed, but Rejected: While Roman has somewhat forgiven Rollins after his Face turn in late 2016, Ambrose surely hadn't. The two began an uneasy alliance on mid-2017 in which Rollins tried to convince Ambrose that he had changed, but Dean remained suspicious. It took weeks of on-and-off teaming and bickering before the two finally buried the hatchet and reunited as a team.
• Regretful Traitor: Despite his many despicable acts, more than once throughout his heel run Seth was shown to regret breaking up The Shield, only to immediately try and cover up his real feelings. After Triple H betrayed him, Seth was forced to confront those feelings, and while he never quite says it out loud, it's obvious that in reality, breaking the Shield is the biggest regret of his career.
• Replacement Goldfish: His team of the Authors of Pain and Buddy Murphy after his heel turn as the 'Monday Night Messiah' seem to be this for The Shield. With Rollins coping with the loss of Dean Ambrose (who left WWE after not renewing his contract) and Roman Reigns (who was drafted to Smackdown) leaving Rollins alone on RAW.
• The Rival: While Roman Reigns was definitely not on good terms with Rollins following the betrayal, their animosity and opposition to one another was far more competitive than personal in comparison to that between Ambrose and Rollins. Reigns had a far easier time teaming with Rollins again after he turned back face, even though the relationship remained somewhat uneasy.
• Sanity Slippage:
  • Kane's return and development of a split personality did not have the best effect on Seth's mind.
  • After fighting the Fiend at Hell in a Cell and Crown Jewel in 2019, Seth began Slowly Slipping Into Evil. After Survivor Series he became a heel for real.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: When Roman Reigns revealed he still hated Rollins for betraying Ambrose and him during their January 2022 feud, it was shocking to everyone... except Rollins himself, who admitted he knew all along Reigns never forgave him. It's not clear if Ambrose knew as well (since he left the company), but it does put a rather heartbreaking twist on the perception of all the Shield reunions after the stable's initial dissolution.
• Shame If Something Happened: While trying to draw Triple H out of hiding, he confronted the man's wife and asked her what would happen if he showed up at their family home, and one of their kids answered the door.
• Signature Move: A reverse STO that smashes an opponent's head into one of the turnbuckles, which Rollins usually uses as a counter. Also a turnbuckle Powerbomb, the Slingblade, the Blockbuster, and his superkick (usually as a set-up to the Curbstomp).
• Slipknot Ponytail: For a while after he debuted, he'd wear his hair tied back. He has started doing it again when he appears in a suit.
• Small Name, Big Ego: His first WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign was built on this. Despite never pinning Brock Lesnar to take Lesnar's title, barely escaping with his title many times, and losing cleanly to John Cena and Dean Ambrose in non-title matches, Rollins claimed to be the greatest world champion in WWE history.
• Straight Man: To Dean Ambrose. Even when their relationship was still on the rocks he functioned as this, as indicated by this video.
• The Strategist: Eventually revealed as the brains behind the Shield's tactics.
• Supporting Protagonist: Despite Reigns' role as The Hero, Rollins got promoted into this during and after his feud with Triple H. He would later get the biggest pops at RAW after winning the Intercontinental Title from The Miz at WrestleMania 34.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: At WrestleMania 35, Rollins, knowing he was up against a monstrous beast in Brock Lesnar, hit him with three Curb Stomps in a row before finally pinning him to win the Universal Championship.
• Third Time's The Charm: Not only Rollins got a third win over Lesnar in their SummerSlam 2019 rematch, but also won it without using dirty tricks (though he had to use ringpost and table-breaking attacks to do so).
• Took a Level in Badass: Back when he was the Authority's golden boy, Rollins, while a powerful fighter in his own rights, often resorted into cheating and interferences to win his matches to the point the reason he kept his WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Battleground 2015 against Brock Lesnar was because of The Undertaker's interference. Come 2019, he came a long way and actually defeated both Brock Lesnar and Braun Strownman, two WrestlingMonsters, with a undefeatable streak and notably, became one of three wrestlers to defeat Brock Lesnar more than once.
• Trash Talk: Seth Rollins was perhaps the most irritating member of The Shield because of it.
• Troll:
  • Seth was in full-on troll mode when he cashed in Money in the Bank at WrestleMania for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, from the sprint to the ring to the curb-stomping frenzy to the way he grabbed the title and sprinted back out and up the ramp before celebrating on the stage, doing the old "Seth Metal" swing of the belt and getting the fireworks display that was obviously meant for either Roman or Brock, all while posting the biggest shit-eating grin he's ever had in his life.
  • During a match with John Cena on the July 27, 2015 episode of Raw', Seth accidentally broke Cena's nose with a knee to the face. The following Monday, Seth debuted a new t-shirt reading "Never Shuts Up" and "U Can't C Knee" parodying Cena's recycled "Never Give Up" t-shirts.
  • He began employing a lot of psychological warfare against Roman Reigns in the lead-up to their match at the 2022 Royal Rumble, which in and of itself is a rarity considering both men were heels at the time. Rollins realized that the Shield was still a point of weakness for Reigns, and he called on it in various promos, even going on to namedrop Jon Moxley (not Dean Ambrose) as someone who had to be the emotional bedrock of the Shield during their time together. He even added insult to injury by bringing back his old Shield persona during the match itself: dressing up in tactical gear, walking through the crowds and using their old theme music all to get into Roman's head. It worked to a degree; Seth did win the match... albeit by disqualification after Roman snapped, trapped him in a Guillotine Choke and refused to let go even after Rollins grabbed the ropes, preventing the title from changing hands.
• Tsundere: To Dean Ambrose during their reconciliation storyline in 2017. Admittedly, he only started acting like that after having to endure weeks of Ambrose's own tsundere behavior.
• Turn Coat: From the Shield.
• Ur-Example:
  • In WWE's developmental, where he was the first FCW 15 Champion, the first FCW Grand Slam Champion,^note Achieved by winning every men's title in FCW and the first NXT Champion.
    • He also went on to be the first NXT Champion to win a WWE main roster championship (WWE Tag Team Championship).
  • Hell in a Cell, where both him and Dean Ambrose were the first to have both opponents fall off the cell. Sure, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, Rikishi, Triple H and Kevin Owens have taken Cell falls, but this was the first time in history where both opponents fell at the same time.
  • WrestleMania 31, where he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns while the match was still going on and winning the championship. This bodyslammed the trope so many ways, being the first to:
    • …cash in Money in the Bank at WrestleMania.
    • …make a cash-in during the match and turn it into a Triple Threat.
    • …make the champion (Lesnar) lose the belt indirectly by pinning the challenger (Reigns) instead.
    • …transform the traditional main event into a different match outside what was advertised.
    • …be the "3rd man" (i.e. not being a champion nor a Royal Rumble winner) to win it, while keeping traditional fashion (the yearly Money in the Bank). Daniel Bryan may have been the first to win it as the "3rd man", but Bryan won it in an unusual way by making demands to Triple H in a match and reinstate himself to the main event if he won due to massive popularity and major dissatisfaction from the Royal Rumble, especially when he was not part of it.
    • …win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and/or the main event of WrestleMania as an NXT alumnus and former NXT champion.
    • …win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and/or the main event of WrestleMania while being younger than WrestleMania itself.
  • At SummerSlam he completely defied his usual Badass Decay fare for a night and defeated John Cena in a winner-take-all match to become the first ever WWE World Heavyweight and United States double champion.
  • At Night of Champions (2023), he became the first ever World Heavyweight Champion.^note This being the new World Heavyweight Championship introduced in 2023, sharing no lineage with any previous World Heavyweight Championships.
• Villain Protagonist: Cemented himself as this after stealing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Lesnar via a successful cash-in at WrestleMania 31 and would later remain that way until mid-2016.
• Was It All a Lie?: Claimed that the brotherhood between him and the rest of the Shield was never real. However, his behavior kept indicating, there was a very good chance he was lying and just didn't want to admit it. His feud with Triple H later confirmed that all of it was real and that Seth was just lying about it to try and absolve himself of any lingering guilt.
• Was It Really Worth It?: Initially, he thought it was — Seth got everything he wanted when he became The Authority's golden boy. Became Mr. Money in the Bank thanks to Kane, cashed in to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania despite Dean Ambrose's best efforts, beat John Cena at SummerSlam with minimal help to be the United States Champion at the same time, received constant praise from Triple H and Stephanie McMahon as the new cornerstone of WWE…but then he got injured, and was subsequently betrayed by Triple H and replaced with Kevin Owens not long after he came back, with absolutely no back up because he alienated most of the locker room, including his two closest friends/"brothers". While reflecting back at this, Seth realized that he got all his success by completely losing sight of the person he used to be, the person he really was, and alienating two of the most important people in his life. He soon came to the conclusion that no, it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth it at all.
• Went Crazy When They Left: Rollins' Sanity Slippage and Face–Heel Turn towards the end of 2019 was at least partially driven by the departure of his best friend Ambrose, who was apparently his Morality Chain. Later feuds indicated that this is also because Ambrose was his only friend (besides Rollins' wife, at least), since Reigns secretly hated Rollins over the demise of the Shield.
• Wham Line: Coincidentally also the last line on the last RAW of 2014 (12/29/14):
  Rollins: Thank you, John! Thank you! But damn, you gotta know me better than that. I'm gonna kill him anyway.
• Whole Costume Reference: Following his return from injury in 2016, Seth would periodically use his ring gear to make pop culture references.
  • At SummerSlam 2016, he wore TRON: Legacy inspired gear.
  • At WrestleMania 33, he wore gear inspired by Game of Thrones character Jamie Lannister, tying into Triple H’s "King of Kings" moniker and Lannister’s nickname of "Kingslayer".
  • At SummerSlam 2017, he wore gear inspired by Deadpool’s costume.
  • At WrestleMania 34, he wore gear inspired by Game of Thrones once again, this time based on the Night King.
  • At SummerSlam 2018, he wore gear inspired by Thanos’ costume in Avengers: Infinity War.
  • At Royal Rumble 2019, he wore gear inspired by the Chicago Bears uniforms.
  • At Super ShowDown 2019, he wore gear inspired by The Avengers’ Quantum suits from Avengers: Endgame.
  • At Extreme Rules 2019, he wore gear inspired by Wolverine’s costumes in the X-Men films.
  • At Survivor Series 2019, he wore gear inspired by the Chicago Bulls uniforms, complete with the number "23" adorning his vest.
  • At SummerSlam 2020, he wore gear inspired by Rey Mysterio’s attire for his match with Eddie Guerrero at WCW Halloween Havoc 1997, which was in turn inspired by The Phantom (1996).
  • At Elimination Chamber 2022, he wore gear inspired by Michael Jackson’s costume from the "HIStory" tour.
  • At Hell in a Cell 2022, he wore gear inspired by Dusty Rhodes’ polka dot adorned singlets from his 1980s run in the company.
  • At Clash At The Castle 2022, he wore gear inspired by the devil costume worn by Taron Egerton's portrayal of Elton John in Rocket Man 2019.
  • At Extreme Rules 2022, he wore gear inspired by Rob Van Dam's usual ring attire.
• Why Won't You Die?: Has asked Dean Ambrose this on an episode of WWE SmackDown after helping Cesaro beat him down.
• Will They or Won't They?: Bromantic version with Dean Ambrose in 2017, in which the two constantly teased whether or not they would get back together as a team. That being said, you'd be forgiven for think it was the traditional version, considering the sheer amount of Homoerotic Subtext throughout that storyline.
• The Worf Barrage: Not to say that the (Curb) Stomp was much more protected than other finishers to begin with, but hoo boy, Seth caught this big time when he went up against The Fiend. A move that's won Seth several championship titles was tanked by The Fiend no less than half a dozen times on two separate occasions. The first time, it took Seth squashing The Fiend's head with a sledgehammer to get a ref stoppage^note The Fiend still didn't stay down, by the way. The second time, eight Stomps^note plus at least one Pedigree and superkicking him into a pile of equipment that promptly exploded failed to get the job done, and Seth lost the match and his title.
• Worthy Opponent: Considers himself and Dean Ambrose to be "wrestling soulmates", as stated in The Destruction of The Shield DVD. This is especially apparent during their feud over the FCW 15 title, which is defended in fifteen minute iron man matches. They went the first two matches without falls, and the second match had five-minute overtime. Even their third match, which was thirty minutes, ended in a draw with two falls a piece, forcing them to go into sudden death overtime, which isn't really much of a victory for either man. That series of matches is considered to be among the best in the history of FCW prior to its repackaging as NXT, and really highlights their inability to have a bad match against each other.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: In the build-up to his match with Baron Corbin at Stomping Grounds 2019, in which Corbin was given the choice of a special guest referee, Rollins took to beat up with a chair any wrestler ever remotely considered for the position. Any male wrestler, that is, as Corbin seemed to realize this and eventually chose Lacey Evans (who was in a feud with Rollins's girlfriend Becky Lynch), and indeed, Rollins wasn't willing to hit Evans, or even try to stop her when she openly began to attack him.

As Tyler Black

• Arch-Enemy: Being one of the most prolific indy wrestlers of the 2000s, Tyler Black has been around the block. However, his fiercest rival would probably have to be his former Age of the Fall stablemate Jimmy Jacobs, who eventually came to hate him so much that he willingly teamed up with Austin Aries, the guy who stole his girlfriend Lacey, just to get rid of him.
• Blood Is the New Black: Pun aside, Tyler smeared himself with Marek Brave's blood after betraying him in AAW.
• Book Ends: Age of the Fall both started and finished with him as part of a loaded post-match run-in segment culminating in someone being hung from their ankles above the ring. (Fittingly, the latter hanging was missing the gratuitous symbolic bloodshed which was the hallmark of the former.)
• Borrowed Catch Phrase: Tyler Black taunted the RoHbots with "You Can't See Me" at ROH Tag Wars 2010 in reference to the fact he'd be leaving for WWE soon.
• The Dragon: He was responsible for spreading Age Of The Fall, not just to the general public through their blog and such but also into other promotions, Full Impact Pro only being the most obvious.
• Emo Teen: In Wrestling Society X, he and Jimmy Jacobs formed an emo tag team called D.I.F.H. (Doin' It For Her).
• Even Evil Has Standards: Back during the Age of the Fall days, Tyler Black and Joey Matthews were down for filming Jimmy Jacobs' stalking of his ex-girlfriend Lacey after she left Jimmy and the stable for Austin Aries... until Jimmy decided it was good idea to attack her with his favorite railroad spike. Black and Matthews immediately stopped the video, expressing they didn't sign up for this. Ultimately this would be the beginning of the end for Black and Jacobs' partnership.
• Family-Unfriendly Violence: His Ring of Honor debut as Tyler Black in the Age of the Fall group consisted of them hanging a badly injured Jay Briscoe upside down over the ring so that his blood would rain down onto Jimmy Jacobs while Jacobs pontificated to the audience on his philosophy before naming the stable. Talk about an Establishing Character Moment, huh?
• Irony: Who would have thought the Briscoes would be some of his first supporters as ROH World Champion? See Book Ends above for Age of the Fall if you missed the significance.
• Jobber: On TNA Impact. After he won the ROH World Championship, TNA was trying to get him to come back so presumably they had other long term plans but Matt Sydal convinced Black to sign with WWE instead.
• No-Sell: When wrestling Jimmy Jacobs in MCPW, he popped right back up after a body slam and gave one to Jacobs that did keep him down for a while. Then Tyler Black no sold a drop kick and turned it into giant swing. Black did sell being hit and choked with a chain though; in fact, he passed out!
• Not That There's Anything Wrong with That: The AIW fans would chant "You Are Gay!" at Tyler Black. Johnny Gargano agreed, but didn't hold it against Black.
• Paint It Black: After winning the Scott County Wrestling Heavyweight Championship he spray painted it black as the symbol of "his era's" beginning.
• Shout-Out: His name was a combination of Tyler Durden and Sirius Black.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: As part of the Age of the Fall with Jimmy Jacobs.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: When Amazing Kong was on her campaign to get an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match, Tyler Black was the only man brave enough to get in the ring with her after Silas Young no showed an NWA Midwest event. Black just wanted to stick to mat wrestling though, Kong wanted to prove a point and demanded he fight.

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