Seth Rollins is a lot of things; he's a “Visionary,” he's a “Revolutionary,” and he's the first and current WWE World Heavyweight Champion, having won the strap at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia.
But is Rollins underrated? In the humble opinion of Mick Foley, the answer to that question is a responding yes, as, according to Cactus Jack on his namesake podcast, RAW's Champion is on-par with WWE Hall of Famer and “The Rated-R Superstar” Edge as one of the best workers in wrestling today.
“We'd really come to take him for granted – a phenomenal worker. Last year, I don't even know if Seth was in my top five, but this attention to character, which has been a slow build, because I remember there were people thinking it was the most embarrassing thing in wrestling, and I was like, ‘He's on to something, and he's trying. He's sinking his teeth into it.' It was so much fun to see him evolve and take to it where he reminds me of Edge at the peak of Edge's character prowess, where he just bit into everything, he did it with gusto,” Foley said via Fighrful.
“It didn't matter how silly it was. He was going to make the very most out of it. In the beginning, the new Seth Rollins seemed a little silly, and he kept going with it, believing it. I don't watch wrestling nearly as much as I used to, but I watch it enough to know that this guy is at a point where it's the perfect marriage of in-ring talent and character.”
On paper, it's not too hard to pick up what Mama Foley's Baby Boy is putting down; Rollins is very into character work, a savvy technician who is always ahead of his foe, and a certified five-tool player in the ring who is capable of working top-tier matches against pretty much any opponent on the WWE roster. Put him in the Tokyo Dome, and Rolllins – or should I say Tyler Black – would be challenging Will Ospreay for the most five-star matches in Dave Meltzer's system.
Fortunately, or not, depending on your opinion, Rollins will just have to settle for being one of the top stars in WWE and a future member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not bad work if you can find it.
Seth Rollins explains how his Wrestlemania cash-in came into being.
With Money in the Bank 2023 rapidly approaching, fans have begun the early tradition of looking back on MitB contract cash-ins and “The Heist of the Century,” where Rollins cashed in on his own fellow Shieldmate Roman Reigns to win his first WWE Championship.
Discussing what may still be the signature moment of his career on My Love Letter To Wrestling, Rollins explained that the cash-in booking didn't come down the pike until that very day, leaving his Wrestlemania plans very much up in the air heading into the contest.
“I had the idea to do the cash in couple months before WrestleMania. So probably January – December, I'm riding in the car with Cesaro – Claudio Castagnoli. We're booking the territory as we do. I've got these ideas and I'm running them by him and he's got his ideas. We're just trying to come up with some stuff and it seemed like a good idea but I had to find the right time to put the bug in somebody's ear. It really happened I think after Royal Rumble that year. I've had a very good match with Brock Lesnar and John Cena and was hoping to use that to catapult myself. Roman had won the Royal Rumble and had gotten a very tepid response I suppose. It’s the best way to put that,” Rollins said via SE Scoops.
“The writing just seemed like it was on the wall. Truth be told I thought it was a great opportunity to create a moment unlike any we’ve ever seen. I thought it was a great way to build myself but also to build Roman and give him somebody to chase. I just didn’t think the time was right. I didn't think the audience was ready for that victory. Fortunately for me, I think people saw that way as well.
“It was very secretive and I didn’t know about the ‘final final’ until like the day of. I had my match with Randy [Orton] early in the afternoon and I didn’t know what we’re going to do, no one told me anything about it untill after that match. I didn’t really know anything until midway through the show that night. It was kept quite under wraps. Maybe a handful of people probably were aware of what was gonna go down that night.”
Fortunately for Rollins, make a moment he did, as he turned in the definitive Money in the Bank cash-in attempt that all others are measured against, all the while deepening his storyline with Reigns. With this year's running coming on July 1st, it'll be interesting to see if anyone else can even come close to the “Visionary” decision by Seth “Freakin'” Rollins.
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