Former WWE Writer Says He Didn't See A 'Big Star' In Seth Rollins

Long before the era of "The Visionary," it was The Age Of The Fall for Seth Rollins. Then performing under the name Tyler Black, Rollins climbed the ranks of the independent wrestling scene, before emerging as a focal figure in Ring of Honor. There, he joined forces with Jimmy Jacobs, later claiming the ROH World Tag Team Championships on two occasions. The duo eventually split, and Rollins captured the ROH World Championship in 2010.

After building his professional resume, Rollins earned a contract with WWE and has since racked up a myriad of accolades. However, Rollins' former tag team partner initially had some doubts about him signing with WWE. "I didn't see him being as big of a star as he became. Gabe [Sapolsky] did," Jacobs admitted on "The Insiders" podcast.

Jacobs also confirmed it was his idea to bring the future WWE star into ROH after knowing "he was going to be good" for the promotion. However, "it wasn't how obvious a star that anybody was going to be at that time, because that gap of independents and WWE was still strong in 2007." Jacobs regarded that iteration of Rollins as "young and athletic," with a clear passion and talent for in-ring wrestling, but didn't believe Rollins had strong enough promo skills to potentially carry a segment on "WWE Raw."

Eventually, Jacobs joined WWE as a writer, starting just days after Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania 31 to become the WWE Champion. "It was very beautiful to have Seth win that title right before I was coming in," he said. "Then just coming in with the writers, and I was in that room for like a half hour, an hour, before I just go, 'Oh, look, everybody here is really smart.'"