Mr. MITB,
Seth Rollins was once a part of one of the most dominant and popular factions
in WWE history – The Shield. Debuting at Survivor Series 2012, they were viewed
as major players from the get go, carrying a nearly 7 month undefeated streak
along with all 3 members going on to win gold at the Extreme Rules PPV in 2013.
Continually depicting brotherhood and domination, they were viewed as a strong,
indestructible unit - until the so called “Architect” turned on his former
Shield brothers, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns back in early June, that is (breaking
a lot of hearts while he was at it). Siding with The Authority, he is now under
the wing of the big man himself, Triple H and is also working alongside Randy
Orton and Corporate Kane.
So, how has
his heel run been so far? Has he succeeded in this major turn, in going from
being 1/3 of one of the most loved groups to one of the most hated men in the
company? Or has not stepped up or lived up to the hype and simply been an underwhelming
sellout? Let’s take a look…
Seth Rollins
is undeniably a natural babyface, from his high-flying move-set, to his mic-work
to the way he presents himself; they are all traits of a major face and someone
that fans can get behind and genuinely root for. Now due to this, I know he has
been compared to Jeff Hardy and CM Punk in the past, but I see beyond that. To
me, he is different; I wouldn’t exactly call him an established “high-flyer”,
he does hold typical traits of a high-flyer, but he is more technical than that
and ever since his heel turn where he has had to calm down on all the visual
showcases of his moves, Rollins has really shown what exactly he is capable of,
even with his feet firmly on the mat. Just look at his matches over the past
few months against Dean Ambrose, to Big E, to RVD, to Chris Jericho, to
understand this. Whenever he is in the ring, despite whom his opponent may be, I
pay attention; he draws me in simply from his ring-work and he has been able to
hold that whilst being both a face and a heel. Another factor is his mic-work,
which has really surprised me; I have never understood the criticism and hate
towards Seth Rollins’ promo-cutting abilities, and there have been a lot of it.
I’ve read a lot of people stating he does not come across as genuine, they don’t
like his voice (come on…really?…) and he overall is unable to cut a good promo.
Which is just ridiculous… everyone has the right to an opinion but complaining about
a guy’s voice?! It’s just petty and unnecessary hate. Imo, his best promos and
where he comes across as genuinely comfortable and in his element, have come
post-Shield. His most recent promo at Night of Champions after Roman Reigns was
announced to be out for a while due to hernia surgery, to put it simply, was a
great arrogant, heel promo. “Emergency
surgery is no excuse for not showing up tonight…I know you’re disappointed I understand
you all wanted to see me compete here tonight, I get it, I’m disappointed too, I’m
disappointed in Roman Reigns” – yet, it is less about what he says rather, more
about how he says it; his smug facial expressions, arrogant
laughter, his body language of seeming above everyone else and simply, his
delivery of his discourse are all so annoying, which is what makes it all so
great.
Overall, I am genuinely shocked at how well he
plays the role of a heel.
Being a
major fan of his, I knew he wouldn’t play the role in any way underwhelming but
Mr. MITB leaning more towards the arrogant, self-obsessed, conceited heel has
been perfect for him imo and he has done it well. Especially considering the
situation in which he turned; he had to portray himself as the greater, more dominant guy of the 3 former Shield members.
Prior to Seth’s
heel turn, The Shield were one of the biggest, if not THE biggest faces in WWE
at the time (bar Cena and Bryan) so whoever was the one to turn, it was sure as
hell going to make an impact. Rollins turning on Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose
(the fan favourites, who fans have now come to love and root for) shot him
right to the top of the heel list and putting it quite simply, the most hated
guy in WWE. I mean, you did see the response from fans to his turn, right? “It’s
still real to me damn it!” would be the most appropriate term to use. Yet, it upmost
reflected how invested fans were. As he was the least likely to turn, I was
very interested, eager and anxious to see the type of heel he would be and if the
correct choice to pick him out of the 3 was made, considering Ambrose was the
obvious choice.
Nearly 4
months in, from what I have seen so far, I can confidently say that the right
choice was indeed made.
Ultimately,
the turn was unexpected, no one saw Rollins being the one to turn and not only
this, but he has fully stepped up to the role and embraced the dark-side. He
gets a reaction from fans and by playing the remorseless heel by attacking both
his former partners, he garners a strong response from fans, for example, the
use of cinder blocks on Raw a few weeks ago that Rollins used to curbstomp
Ambrose’s head into, resulted in not only face sympathy for Ambrose but strong heel
heat for Rollins.
Now, due to
all of this, when one day in the future he turns face again, it will be BIG and
undeniably, impactful.
Also, consider the fact that HHH could have picked
ANYONE on the roster to be under his wing, to side with him and be apart of The
Authority, and who did he choose? He went with Rollins to be that
guy. That says a lot about how highly he thinks of him and what he believes the
future holds. Also, Triple H runs NXT and well, guess who the first NXT Champion
was? Oh yeah that’s right, the man himself, Seth Rollins. It seems like he has
had his guy all along.
He could potentially be holding the WWE World
Heavyweight Championship within under a year. Just let that sink in… I myself
can’t predict how or when that will go down, with Lesnar being the champ and
Reigns being groomed as the no.1 guy in time for WM31 (if he is back by the
Rumble), it certainly makes for a very interesting, unpredictable situation.
We also cant’ forget that Rollins could potentially
fail to cash in… which would be disastrous for him imo. But if it happens in
the right situation, NOT a Damien Sandow type of situation, then it potentially
could not be as bad as it seems upon first look… e.g. Ambrose having some sort
of part and furthering their feud into literal resentment for one another…but how
long could that go on for? Also, there then needs to be the pay off for that; for
Rollins failing his cash in and in turn having a BIG Ambrose match but also
having a steadily, successful future.
Some may disagree, but I do see the future being very,
very bright for Seth Rollins. He deserves all the success he is
getting and will receive. His heel turn has definitely been impactful and his
babyface run down the road will be even better.
- Zara
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