Write It In The Ring

The Evolution of Seth Rollins

Throughout his years in the WWE, Seth Rollins has been one of the company’s most dynamic personalities. From his debut as part of the Shield all the way to his current run as the Visionary, each and every character change behind Seth Rollins has led to a drastic shift in his dynamics with those around. However, with every single character change, there has been one omnipresent trait that remains a core aspect of the Seth Rollins persona. Rollins’ pursuit of the Greater Good was an element brought to the forefront as the self-anointed Monday Night Messiah, but a dive through his background reveals that this crusade had been a long-running connective thread of his entire run in the WWE.

The Shield: A Battle Against Injustice

The debut of Seth Rollins came at Survivor Series 2012 when he alongside his brothers-in-arms Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns jumped the barricade during the triple threat main-event for the WWE Championship. In what has become one of WWE’s most prolific and important debuts, the trio laid out Ryback and John Cena, effectively handing then-champion CM Punk the win and another successful defense in what was becoming a legendary title reign. In the weeks that followed, the audience would be introduced to the Shield, acting as the “Hounds of Justice” and attacking when other competitors would least expect it.

The Shield began as the attack dogs for CM Punk, protecting his championship reign as management began to take issue with CM Punk skirting along the lines drawn by the systems in place. In the eyes of the Shield, CM Punk was suffering from the injustice of a corrupt system, and the Hounds of Justice were an attempt at setting the scales back into balance. While not explicitly stating they were allied with Punk directly, the Shield’s actions made their point known, opting to protect Punk’s championship at all costs, even taking out the Rock in an attempt to save CM Punk’s title. Once CM Punk’s reign had fallen to the Rock, the Shield found themselves embroiled with feuds across the roster, and while the focus changed, the mission remained the same.

The Shield’s primary goal had now changed, no longer in the services of CM Punk but now, they had begun to operate under their own directive, seeking to dispose of anyone who would oppose them on their way to the top, threatening a changing of the guard as the “Future of the WWE” as their sense of justice shifted, even becoming the hired guns for the Authority and protecting what was “best for business”. It would be true justice for the youngest, hungriest members of the WWE roster to now stand atop of the pile backed by the machine, and after CM Punk’s departure from the WWE in 2014, the Shield found themselves confronting the very thing they swore to protect as Rollins began to build his own future.

The Architect: Fighting For What’s Best For Business

As the Shield picked up momentum, their run under the guided hand of the Authority began to waver as the Authority’s mistrust of the Shield’s growth and a series of miscommunications would lead the Hounds of Justice to rage against the machine, rebelling on the Authority and now, defending the WWE from the tyrannical overreach of Triple H’s control. In a set of matches, the Shield went 3-0 against a reunited Evolution, proving the Shield as the most powerful trio in the WWE. Having done all they possibly could as a unit, however, Seth Rollins sought the next step to his career, and what better way than to destroy what he helped create?

On the June 2nd, 2014 edition of Monday Night Raw following the Payback Pay-Per-View event, Seth Rollins would be revealed as Triple H’s “Plan B”, taking a chair to the back of Reigns and Ambrose like a knife aimed for the kill. In the weeks to follow, Rollins would explain that he “bought in to the Evolution of Seth Rollins” with Triple H explaining that Rollins would be the “coal that would become a diamond” under pressure. In the eyes of the Authority, backing Seth Rollins would be what was “best for business”.

As time went on, the Authority put all of their eggs in the Rollins basket, focusing on the growth and maturation of their newest prospect. This reached it peak with the Authority assisting his Money in the Bank ladder match victory that would set-up what was called “The Heist of the Century” with Seth Rollins cashing-in the briefcase and winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 31 to close the show. The Authority continued to hedge their bets on Rollins, with the Architect building the path to the future of the WWE, but after an injury sidelined him during his reign, the Authority and Triple H made it clear that they had other plans, with Rollins’ eyes opening to the tyranny of the Authority.

From Kingslayer to Beastslayer: Burning Down The Status Quo

His return from injury saw added pressure placed upon him by the Authority, a pressure that once made a coal into a diamond until the diamond cracked. Like a broken diamond, Rollins would be discarded by Triple H and the Authority in favor of Kevin Owens, resulting in Rollins fighting against the very force that made him what he was. However, now on the receiving end of the Authority’s abusive regime, Rollins’ perspective had changed. He was now fighting for the good of the WWE, working to fight against the Authority and to “burn it down”.

Rollins took the fight to Kevin Owens and Triple H over the course of the following months, even invading an NXT Takeover show to bring Triple H out of hiding, before finally beating The Game at Wrestlemania 33. The year after would see Rollins down a winding road of making amends with his Shield brethren and pursuing the tag-team titles before he locked his focus on the Intercontinental Championship. The timing of his newfound focus coincided with the conspicuous absence of Raw’s WWE Universal Championship that rested over the shoulder of “The Beast” Brock Lesnar.

During his ascent to claim the Intercontinental Championship from The Miz, Seth Rollins sought to prove a point. He made clear that, in his view, the WWE Universal Championship wouldn’t mean anything as long as it was on the shoulder of a “part-timer” like Brock Lesnar, with Rollins proclaiming the Intercontinental Championship the most important championship on Monday Night Raw in Lesnar’s repeated absences with the Universal Championship. This point would be further emphasized by Rollins’ in-ring performances and his main-event pedigree bringing the Intercontinental Championship to the main-event of Monday Night Raw and the WWE Extreme Rules PPV in 2018.

Losing the Intercontinental Championship to his former partner Dean Ambrose eventually turned Rollins’ sights to the Universal Championship that had continued to be a rarely-seen commodity on Monday Night Raw. After winning the 2019 Royal Rumble, Seth Rollins’ remarks regarding Lesnar’s reign had become more pointed regarding the damage Lesnar had done to the industry and the company, and at Wrestlemania 35, Rollins would slay the Beast one-on-one before doing it again at that year’s SummerSlam to solidify his place at the top. Rollins’ war against both Triple H and Brock Lesnar was a battle fought for the future of the industry, taking a stand against the despotic stranglehold of power at the very top as well as breaking the vice grip the part-timers would have on the company. It was a battle fought not just for Seth Rollins’ own achievements, but for the greater good…

The Fall of Seth Rollins and the Rise of a Messiah: A Vision For The Greater Good

Almost three months would pass with Seth Rollins at the helm of Monday Night Raw as the WWE Universal Champion before losing the title to “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt. In the ensuing conflict, Rollins’ demeanor would start to waver, seemingly overcompensating for what could be his own doubt with Wyatt breaking down the facade. This culminated after the 2019 Survivor Series where in a Battle for Brand Supremacy, Raw walked away with only one point to SmackDown’s two and NXT’s four. The following episode of Raw saw Rollins slip into perhaps his most egomaniacal persona, blaming everyone else for their failures, particularly Rey Mysterio for failing to take the WWE Championship off of Brock Lesnar, and refusing to take any of the blame himself as a full descent into madness began.

Seth Rollins would fashion himself as the “true leader of Monday Night Raw”, forming a faction with the Authors of Pain as well as recruiting a despondent Buddy Murphy fresh off a loss to Aleister Black as his “disciples”. Rollins christened himself the “Monday Night Messiah” with claims that all he was doing was “for the greater good” of the brand coming off of the embarrassing trouncing at Survivor Series. Rollins quickly adopted a “With Us Or Against Us” mindset, with anyone opposing the unit being targeted as a “sacrifice for the Greater Good” in the eyes of Rollins and his disciples. Rollins’ crusade for the Greater Good saw him come into conflict with men such as Kevin Owens, Rey Mysterio, and even then-WWE Champion Drew McIntyre all in pursuit of what he thought was the benefit of the Raw brand.

The Messiah would eventually find himself drafted to the SmackDown as his unit crumbled around him, eventually resulting in Murphy’s betrayal and departure from under Rollins’ wing. In keeping with his mantra, Rollins would become the Team Captain for SmackDown at the 2020 Survivor Series and, in an inverse of his previous run as Captain, Rollins sacrificed himself “for the greater good” as the first man eliminated on his team, resulting in his team getting swept in the loss. Rollins would come back two months later at the Royal Rumble before finally speaking to the SmackDown locker room as he painted a grand vision for SmackDown.

A Visionary and a Revolutionary: The Completion of Seth Freakin’ Rollins

On his return, Seth Rollins spoke to the SmackDown locker room, proclaiming himself as the leader the locker room truly needed and asking the locker room to “embrace the vision”. Just like the Raw roster before them, the SmackDown locker room left Seth Rollins by himself as Rollins began to assert himself by directly attacking Cesaro, claiming that he “wasn’t ready” and that he would only reach his potential by “embracing his vision”. Rollins’ intent had become clear, and it was to mold the SmackDown locker room in his image.

Now “The Visionary”, Seth Rollins proclaimed himself as the leader of the SmackDown locker room, often propping up his previous accolades as justification to his current ego running out of control. In this position, Seth Rollins would target people like Cesaro that he felt were beneath him, claiming they weren’t ready for his spot. However, in an action perhaps more telling about his motivations, Rollins would target a recently-returned Edge, calling him out for “jumping the line” in his pursuit of Roman Reigns’ WWE Universal Championship. Rollins felt that people like Edge and a returning John Cena were doing nothing but taking from the company, something that Rollins would be sick of, and this intolerance would only grow the following year.

Seth Rollins eventually found himself back on the brand that made him on Monday Night Raw, but not without one more bit of business on SmackDown, being chosen as Roman Reigns’ opponent at the Royal Rumble as Rollins’ grievances with his Shield brother coming to the forefront regarding his hold of the Universal Title through the use of his family in the Bloodline. Rollins took it upon himself to attempt to dismantle Roman Reigns and his regime, coming the closest to putting a dent in the armor of the Bloodline with Reigns taking a DQ loss in order to keep his championship. The loss to Reigns set Rollins on a tumultuous Road to Wrestlemania, bringing him face-to-face with the Prodigal Son of the WWE.

The Vision For The Future: Seth Rollins’ War Rages On

On the Road to Wrestlemania in 2022, Seth Rollins found himself without an opponent until being notified he’d be facing a mystery foe at Wrestlemania 38. It would be revealed that his opponent was a returning Cody Rhodes, who had left the WWE in 2016 before founding the rival wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling in 2019. On his way through the independents and into AEW, Rhodes had made his rage against the WWE machine a key part of who he was, culminating in an infamous moment of Cody Rhodes taking a sledgehammer to a throne modeled after a similar style to Triple H’s own. While their first match was a surprise, Rollins’ anger was not, and it was quickly made apparent.

Seth Rollins maintained an intense sense of frustration with the return of Cody Rhodes and, later, CM Punk, citing their respective time away from the WWE as “yet another person jumping the line” and even mentioning Rhodes’ act of defiance in destroying the throne. Rollins stated that he refused to let Rhodes destroy their throne only to come and claim his, standing against Cody Rhodes as, in his mind, WWE’s defense against an outsider or, otherwise, an individual that threatened the integrity of the WWE, and it is this driving force that has painted Seth Rollins’ motivations even now.

In the Road to Wrestlemania 40, in an attempt to overrule Cody Rhodes’ choice as the winner of the Royal Rumble, the Rock had returned to take the main-event spot against Roman Reigns from Cody Rhodes. In an explosive press conference, Rhodes reclaimed his shot against Roman Reigns, resulting in the Rock slapping Rhodes across the face and Rollins standing beside his former rival against the newest threat to the WWE, eventually setting up a tag-team match on Night 1 of Wrestlemania 40 with dire implications for Night 2’s main-event despite Rollins also having to defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Drew McIntyre. Rollins would go on to highlight this to McIntyre, citing the Bloodline as “bigger than them” and refusing to let Reigns and the Rock do as they please much to McIntyre’s disapproval.

Seth Rollins’ Consistent Purpose

Ever since his days in the Shield, the pursuit of some version of “the Greater Good” has always fueled Seth Rollins. The Shield sought to deliver justice to a corrupt system, the Authority sought to do what they believed was “best for business”, and once Rollins left the Authority’s grip, this focus became instilled in Rollins on a granular level. Rollins had become embittered toward the part-timers, legends, and returning superstars that Rollins felt were “cutting the line” or taking spots away from the talent that was there the whole time carrying the banner for the WWE. This anger finds itself at the forefront of Seth Rollins’ current path to Wrestlemania, with Rollins noting that he refuses to let the Rock take their time in the spotlight as he already had his own.

Through the years, despite the different appearances, outfits, or even targets in his path of righteous fury, Seth Rollins has always acted on what he felt was to the benefit of his vision of “The Greater Good”. From protecting CM Punk’s record-setting reign to evolving under Triple H to slaying Brock Lesnar up to this Road to Wrestlemania 40, standing alongside Cody Rhodes to defend the WWE from the Rock and Roman Reigns’ vice grip on the company, Seth Rollins has been one of the most consistent personalities in the WWE, his goal and drive clear. His march for the Greater Good puts his World Heavyweight Championship reign in danger as he stands alongside his rival for a cause bigger than himself…and perhaps that’s a sacrifice only a Visionary is willing to make.

~Fin