Seth Rollins Talks Lashing Out At WWE Critics On Twitter, How Much Input He Has Over His Character
WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins has not only been in the WWE spotlight lately, but also the center of social media. After Rollins doubled down on Twitter saying WWE has the best pro wrestling in the planet, he spoke with the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast to further defend his statements.
"You can only sit back and read people bashing what you love for so long and sit there and take it and try and take the high road so to speak," Rollins said. "I'm real proud of what I do every single week. Not just Mondays but every single Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays. I'm real proud of what I do and what our crew does and the effort we put forward. And I'm not just talking about just the wrestlers, the guys and girls you see out in the ring, I'm talking about everybody from creative all the way up to Vince McMahon. We put a ton of effort into making a product that I think is pretty darn good considering the amount of content we put out there. The fact that people want to sit on there on their soap boxes on their stupid social media machines and talk down about it really speaks volumes about the generation and where they're at. I figured if someone is going to fight back, might as well be me since I am the Champion and consider myself the top guy in our company."
Rollins said that he feels like he can be the voice of the WWE locker room to those who criticize the WWE product. Rollins added that WWE performs at a higher level than any other company considering its lengthy travel schedule, numerous matches, and heavy training routines.
"I hope that I speak for the other talent," Rollins said. "I've got a lot of friends in the locker room who we've had conversations like this before. I hope that I'm speaking up. I've had people come up and talk to me about it. I had Roman Reigns hit me with a hard retweet and exclamation point the other night. It's time to stop taking it in the gut. To hell with it. If people want to talk, let them talk but it's time to fire back. I'm just sick of it. I hope it's a rallying cry and I hope it is something that the rest of our talent feels they can speak out about it. If they feel the same way, they don't have to take this 'high road' all the time. Or if they want to let me be their voice, I'm fine with that too. I've sat back and I've seen it all and I've listened to it all. I'm a thinker man. I think about stuff. I put this stuff in my brain. I run through it, I wonder, 'Maybe I'm out of touch? Maybe I'm wrong? Maybe I'm right?' I don't know.
"At the end of the day, it's not frustrations that's boiling over, these are the conclusions I've come to. After watching what I've seen from other companies and other people and what they say and what they do, there's just no one else on the planet in entertainment who do what we do. They just don't do it. So you can talk about these other guys and other promotions who think they're the best in the world or offer a superior product or whatever but they do not run 500 live events a year. Five hundred plus live events a year. That's top talent working over 150 matches a year on top of all the travel, on top of all the media, on top of all the training trying to stay in the best shape so we look like wrestlers, not some jabronis in gym shorts who get into a ring and do high spots. What we do, no one else does. The level that we work at constantly no one else works at. I dare anyone, anywhere, any other company in the planet to challenge me on that."
Rollins also confirmed to feeling satisfied with his storylines in WWE. After multiple statements by former WWE wrestlers about superstars having little input in their work, Rollins said it takes equity in the company to be given a certain amount of leeway in your character.
"Absolutely I'm satisfied with it because I make a point to be satisfied with it," Rollins said. "I make a point to contribute my ideas and my thoughts and if I feel strongly about something the way it should be or the way it should be portrayed then I will make my voice be heard. Look, not everyone gets that leeway and also not everyone should get that leeway. That's just not how it works. You have to build equity with your fans, your boss, your coworkers. You have to build equity over time and then you can get the leeway to have that kind of say in your story if that's your complaint. Or you can just stand up for yourself and do it instead of going on somewhere else and b—hing about it.
"I'm very satisfied with the amount of input I have. Do I do things that I don't always want to do? Yes, but you know what? Sometimes that stuff works. Because I can't see things perfectly every single time. I don't have the perspective that other people around me have. Vince McMahon has been doing this twenty years longer than I've been alive. So he's got some ideas and he knows things that I just don't know that I have to learn from. Sometimes, being your best is about taking advice from other people. What we do is work together in a group and in a community and we take advice from everywhere from each and every person that we respect in our circle and we try to make things better. Yes, I feel extremely comfortable with the amount of input I have in my matches, in my promos, in my stories and in my schedule.
Seth Rollins is scheduled to team up with of-screen and on-screen girlfriend WWE Raw Woman's Champion Becky Lynch to take on Baron Corbin and Lacy Evans at Extreme Rules in a mixed tag team match. Both the Universal Championship and RAW Woman's Championship will be on the line.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Sports Illustrated Media Podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.