Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Seth Rollins On CM Punk, Heist Of The Century, WrestleMania 40, Becky Lynch, Roman Reigns

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to discuss his main event match at WrestleMania 40 and if there was any concern he wouldn't make it to the match, CM Punk's WWE return and his viral reaction, cashing in his Money in the Bank contract in the main event of WrestleMania, the stomp into the RKO from Randy Orton, wrestling an injured Cody Rhodes inside Hell in a Cell, what goals he still has left to achieve in WWE and more! Quote I'm thinking about: "All we get is time and choices. Be wise with both." Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insight33 to get 33% off your order of Mitopure while supplies last ORGAIN: For 30% off your order, head to https://Orgain.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT SQUARESPACE: Head to https://www.squarespace.com/INSIGHT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code INSIGHT VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.com RHONE: Rhone’s premium performance clothing is made to move you. Use code CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at https://manscaped.com PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet. How are you, my friends? Welcome back to another one here on Insight. It's me, the three numbers in the back of your credit card, CVV, Chris Van Fleet, hope you're doing great. I know there's a lot of wrestling podcasts out there. So thank you for being here with us on this one. And thank you for making Insight.

The number one wrestling podcast on planet Earth. lay your phone down on the ground right now and hit a stomp on that follow button. One, because it really helps the show grow. And like 73% of people who are listening right now, just listen and don't follow the show. So, man, that would be so helpful. But secondly, it makes sure that you don't miss out on any of the big episodes that we have coming up. We are starting the year off strong. We had Seamus on Tuesday.

and today it's Seth freaking Rawlins. How good was that match with CM Punk on the first raw on Netflix? Oh, man. So the last time I talked to Seth was 2014. It was when I was still in Cleveland. I was working for the CBS affiliate there. Channel 19, W.O.I.O.O. He came in with that gold money in the bank briefcase.

You have the same one that he cashed in during the he he he he cashed in during the Heist of the Century at WrestleMania 31. A lot has happened since then. And he has gone on to become one of the most consistent wrestlers on the planet. Put him in there with anyone. And you know it's going to be a great match. And this was a great conversation. We covered so many different things.

And I'm so glad we finally had a chance after a decade to catch up here. Snap a screenshot. Let us know that you're listening. Let us know what stood out for you the most. from this and tag us. He's at WWE Rawlins on Instagram and Twitter. I'm at Chris Van Bleet, and let's do it. Please welcome Seth Freakin Rollins. Good to see you. Good to see you. It's been a while. It's been a long time. When was the last time we sat down and talked? Ten years ago. Okay. That's a while. Yeah. Half my career ago. That's right. The photo popped up

recently. Look at those guys. There we are. Wow. Man. My goodness. That's a lot of years, a lot of miles, a couple of kids, you know? Yeah. Right? Yeah, between the two of us. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, three kids between the two of us. Three kids between it, yeah.

Look at us. Just two dads hanging out here. We are two dads now. That's fun. That's fun. It's fun. It's fun. It's fun.

Being a dad's cool. What do you think's been the biggest difference for you being a dad? Then not being a dad? Yeah. Well, you just, you have another thing that you care about more than yourself. Yeah. You know, you have another thing that needs you, that you have to put, in front of you. You know what I'm saying? And once you reprioritize your own needs behind somebody

else's, it changes your perspective on everything you do. So like it just takes the, it takes the volume kind of out of everything else a little bit. Yeah, like everything else is like you first. And then you have a kid and you're like, well, I don't really matter anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's a good thing. I find. I find it's a great thing. Yeah. I mean, when I see people like my age kind of struggling, I'm like, I just have a kid. You'll be great. Like if you're ready to go, have a kid. What are you waiting for? You know, it's, but I mean, it's the one thing.

I never thought about being a dad. Like, I was never one of those dudes. It's like, oh, I dream of being a dad. I can't wait to be a dad. I was kind of like, to a point where I was like, oh, if I don't have kids, that's fine. Or maybe I'll have, like, kids when I'm really old, like done wrestling because my job is too,

it's too me, me, me. It's too go, go, go. I won't be able to give to this kid what I should. So when we had our daughter, it was just a day. I mean, everything changed. My whole mindset changed. And it wasn't even like a conscious thing. It just happened. You know what I mean? It was just this innate response to being a parent. And it's been definitely the best thing, best thing for me, I think, in my entire life. And the funny thing is you don't understand it until you get in that position. No, never. Like you could never explain this to

someone who hasn't had a kid yet. No. And I wouldn't even bother trying. And that's not a knock on people who don't have it, you know what I mean? It's, it's your choice, you know, sometimes it's not a choice and it's a difficult part of life. If that's something you want, you can't have. So it's certainly not a knock on that. But yeah, it's just not an experience that you can put into words that anyone who hasn't gone through will really understand.

Has this always been how you've been where it's just career first and like very goal-centric? Oh, you know me. You know me. Yeah, that's all I've ever. This is all, WWE wrestling. It's all I've ever wanted to do. And so I've always kind of put that goal as the first priority, whether it was relationships

or family or friends or anything like that, especially in my 20s and early 30s. It was just that wrestling and success in this business was my number one priority and nothing was going to get in the way of that. What do you think has been the cost of being Seth Rollins to this point? I mean, you certainly miss things with your family and friends. It's like a, you know, I wouldn't call it a strain on those relationships because like nobody, nobody misunderstands what's going on. I don't think nobody being like my friends and family.

There's probably some disappointment, but I guess they've just gotten used to it over the years. But there's certainly like a closeness with my family. Like sometimes when I visit my dad's side of the family, for example, and there's nothing but love there. I do feel a bit like an outsider, you know, like I don't, I'm not in on the the group threads. Like, I'm not in on the inside jokes, the family, you know, there's no, there's nothing over the last like 15 years especially that I can, that I can, like these bonding experiences that they've all had that they've grown together. So you miss out on, on those things,

those memories and those moments and that, that like kind of tight knit family unit relationship that you'd like to have. I think that's the biggest thing. And then friends, too, like, any friends that you kept before you started traveling nonstop in pursuit of this kind of crazy goal, again, they all understand it. They all get it. They love to support, but, like, you just don't have those relationships. Like, my best friends are the people that I've met through the business now.

You know what I mean? For 20 years, I've been doing this. So anybody that I've met, you know, Sammy Zane, Kevin Owens, Claudio Castignoli, you know, obviously the Shield brothers and mocks and Roman and stuff. Like, these are people that I'd consider good friends, Cody, guys that I'm with all the time. It's just harder to maintain those relationships outside of wrestling. If this has been a pursuit for all these years, now you've done everything.

So what are you in pursuit of now? That's a great question. I've asked myself this many times, especially over the last couple years. and I don't know. I'm in like this weird space where I feel, especially after WrestleMania this past year in Philadelphia, I had this like sense of accomplishment, but in a way that I'd never experienced before where I felt kind, I felt like, oh, I'm good. Like if I stopped tomorrow, I'm good.

Everything that I wanted to do, I'm good. Like, I really felt like, you know, WrestleMania was kind of this. I don't know. It was this moment where we really took the business into a different area, you know. It was the first WrestleMania that Triple H was really in control over. I felt a big part of it. And I just felt like we ushered in like kind of a new era of WWE.

Business was amazing. WrestleMania in Vegas is going to be even bigger. It just feels like everything is fresh. everything is new within WWE, whereas the previous 10 years felt like a real fight to get it to that point. And I don't know, after Philadelphia, after night two, I just felt so, I felt this release, like this kind of weight lifted off my shoulders, like, oh, I don't have to do everything on my own, or I don't have to be the guy that pushes this thing forward. Like, I think we're going to be okay. So with that said, I'm trying to be healthy, trying to be happy, trying to find

more of a balance between my home and work so that I'm not just prioritizing, whatever next goal is on the horizon. Obviously, you work every year to main event, WrestleMania, and to be the biggest act in our industry. I think when I kind of don't care about that, it might be time to hang it up, you know? But right now, I think that's it, but it's not the obsession that it used to be. There's a moment at the end of night, too, when you look at Cody Rhodes and you say, you effing deserve this take me to that moment who did i say that i said it to i said it's drew i said it to drew after night one uh when he won the title oh that was it yeah yeah bit a bit a mistake there i don't remember saying that on to cody though you know i had a different

experience watching cody win the title uh you know i felt joy um probably a little bit of jealousy. But like, I don't know. I've never really been the guy that's been handed the ball that way. You know, for the last 10 years, it's been Roman for the most part. And then Cody comes back and, you know, he kind of gets that treatment as well. And I've always felt like I wanted to be that person and I could be that guy. But I was never really, it just wasn't for me in the eyes of the people.

people who were making those decisions. And so there was like this, this, like I said, this joy and this happiness that we'd kind of cross a proverbial finish line, certainly a little bit of professional jealousy as well. But I mean, look, Roman doesn't get to where he's at, like, without me. I don't think. I think he would tell you that as well. And certainly, Cody, coming back, you know, there's a reason when he came back that I was the first person they put him with. And so, I don't think he's where he's at if it's not for me. And I don't mean that in a way that's like arrogant or anything. But I've always been the person who wanted to put the industry in the company before my own personal desires.

And I wasn't, I wasn't, I was okay with it. Like if we all did better, if the company did better and the business as a whole was healthier, I felt like I was doing my part, even if it was kind of unsung in many ways. So I told Drew, you. eff and deserve it. And he does, did, squandered it pretty quickly. Because, you know, I get it. That moment, there's a lot of, there's a lot of emotions going on in that moment. And, you know, there's some things that don't go your way all the time when you're kind of wrapped up in yourself. But Drew had a really good year after that. So I kind of stick with what I said. He does deserve the spotlight.

He works really hard. He's a guy who, you know, got fired and came back. He didn't leave like on his own. He had let go because he didn't know what he was doing. And he went and put it in the work and then came back, a totally different version of himself and has continued to improve. And say what you will about him being a super troll online. But I mean, when you get him out there in the ring, whether it's with a microphone or, you know, in a match, he's one of the best there is. It also felt like he deserved a wrestling mini moment in front of a crowd. Yeah, of course. Yeah. I mean, he got 36. Yeah, he got kind of robbed of that as a lot of people did. during COVID of any types of moments that they could share with other human beings.

He was having the run of a lifetime leading up to WrestleMania and kind of got that taken away from him. So it was nice to be able to be there for him and to be a part of that moment for him so that he could sort of experience that. Did you think you weren't going to make it to WrestleMania 40? No, there was really no, I just didn't know what shape I was going to be in by the time we got to WrestleMania. How much pain were you in? At that point, the pain wasn't so bad, but I had like, so the match with Jenner Mahal would have been in January, I want to say. I had basically torn, like really sprained my MCL pretty bad and tore my meniscus. The meniscus tear was like an older tear that I think got displaced.

And for you, so I'd basically even wrestling on a torn miniscus for as long as I can remember. But I had a kind of a mechanism to sort it out. And whenever I kind of dislodged it, it put the meniscus into a different position in my knee. And like I don't need to get into the anatomy of all of it. But basically, it was really painful when I would do specific things. So I just had to be smart. So I took obviously rumble off, chamber off. But then I came back in a brace and I did some live events.

I had wrestled Solisoco on Monday as well, on one of the Mondays leading up to WrestleMania as well. mostly because I just wanted to get a feel for it. I wanted to know what I could and couldn't do. And I didn't want to wrestle with a brace or WrestleMania because I hate wrestling with a brace. And so I wasn't in a ton of pain only because I had gone through the pain the weeks leading up to it, kind of like trial runs. Like I was like, oh, let me test this out at these live events and let me test it out on TV. Let me see what's going to hurt me. Basically like, you know, stab, stab, stab, stab.

okay, now I know what not to do. You know, now I know how to work around it. Like a masochist. A little bit, yeah. And then I just had booked the surgery for right after. I was like, listen, you know, I knew what the end game was in mania. I'm like, let's just get through that. I want to help, you know, I think I can be an integral part of this.

So let's do that. And then I'll go get it fixed and take a little bit of time off. But there's a shot at WrestleMania 40 where you kick and you land and it looks like your leg just bends the complete other way. And if you don't remember this, that's right. No, nothing at WrestleMania bothered me. I was in really good shape. The knee was in really good shape at WrestleMania. Like I said, those trial runs leading up to it allowed me to know what I could and couldn't do.

So when I got in the ring of WrestleMania, I, you know, obviously I thought I gave it everything I had. And I hope that was good enough performance-wise. But it was also smart that I knew I wasn't going to re-injure the meniscus or do anything. And, you know, consulting with my surgeons and doctors. And they were like, yeah, I mean, the thing's torn. You're not going to tear it anymore. We'll go in and clip it out. later and you'll be good.

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See website for full details and important safety information. If CM Punk didn't get injured at the Rumble, what was your match at WrestleMania going to look like? Yeah, well, you know what? That's a great question. It would have been Seth Rollins and CM Punk, I believe. But then you've got the Rock and his introduction into that story. right after the Royal Rumble or right before Rural Rund. The timeline's all wacky to me, but, you know, he comes in and kind of didn't really understand the scope of what he was messing up, I don't think.

And so I don't know. I don't know what would have happened. It had Punk won the Rumble or just not got injured. Or not got injured. Yeah, I don't really know, you know, you, like, I don't know where Cody would have. landed in all of that. I don't know where Roman, I don't know where any, there were just a lot of players and somebody would have been on the outs. You know, I don't know who that would have been. I have no idea. So, I mean, all the stars were pointing towards CM Punk and Seth Rollins at

WrestleMania. But, you know, it's tough business and things get in the way. But then we wouldn't have what we have now. We would not have what we have now. Seth Rollins, CM Punk, first raw on Netflix. And man, these promos have been something else. else. Yeah, they've been, they've been interesting. They've been interesting. I mean, it's just, these are promos. These are things that I've thought about saying publicly for a long time. And things I've wanted to say to his face for a long time and haven't been able to or have said privately, you know, occasionally I would get asked about him over the years and you would see some of it slip out. But most of the time, I just never wanted to acknowledge his existence because he was such a,

I mean, he really was just a cancer to my career for many years while he was gone. He, an intentional one, you know what I mean? He was a parasite. He really just wanted to, it seemed like every time he could take a pot shot at me or the company, he was trying to. And so I never wanted to give that credence because I just kind of looked at him as like a troll. I'm like, I didn't, I don't want to acknowledge. these things because then it looks like they matter and they don't.

But it did bother me internally, A, because, you know, we were trying to, that roster from like, I mean, he leaves in 2014, right, I think. Like, we were hustling, dude. We were trying our damnedest. And we were given garbage a lot of the time. And we were making the best of it. And, like, you know, he was in a position where he'd made a bunch of money and could just dip and go.

and there wasn't an alternative. AW didn't exist at the time. There was nowhere else to go. Like, what are we going to do? Just pack up and leave because CM Punk's feelings were hurt. Because that's what he wanted from guys. He didn't want people who were his friends to stay and work for the company because he felt like it was like some sort of betrayal to him.

And I'm like, dude, A, this is my dream job. B, this is how I earn a living. And like, I'm trying to set up. I'm trying to get to your level. I don't have, I don't have the luxury to just quit. I can't go anywhere else and get paid this kind of money. Like my career, I don't get to work till him 60 either, you know? So there were, it was one of the most selfish things I'd ever seen out of a human, like,

leaving the way he did and then kind of like expecting other people to follow him and then like taking shots of the place from a distance when he wouldn't even explain to his friends, like why he was so resistant to continuing that friendship. Like I never got an answer on it. Were you friends up to that point? Yes. Like, we were friends until he left, you know, and we had a mentor, mentee kind of relationship, you know, at that point, because I was a lot younger. So, like, I didn't push. I sent him some texts and called him, like, after he left, but I wasn't, like, comfortable enough with him to, like,

because we weren't, we were peers, but, you know, he was here and I was here. So I didn't want to, like, push that envelope. So after a while, I just let it go. And then even over the years, I reached out to him a couple of times to try to, like, engage and just see where he was at. And if he was interested in coming back and nothing, no response, except whenever he would get a chance, he would just talk as much crap as he could. And so, yeah, I had all of this stuff bottled up for 10 years

to finally be able to get out there on a microphone and say it. And it's probably not even articulated the best it can. But there's just so much real, I mean, hatred's a strong word. but it's as close to hatred as you can get. Animosity. Resentment, animosity, like, just anger, you know? I mean, it's really palpable. I think, you know, the reason people attach to the promos is because they can see that there is, you know,

real emotion behind them for me. And so I'll be, it's a very cathartic experience for me. I'll be happy to kind of just, like, get that physicality out on the sixth. and hopefully be done with it. Did you ever think CM Punk would come back to WWE? You know, when he joined the broadcast team on Fox, when they were doing that backstage show, I think it was. I thought to myself, okay, maybe there's an opportunity here.

And then when he joined AEW, I kind of thought, you know, maybe he'll have like a Twilight run here. but there were then a lot of times where I just thought, you know, because it wasn't like, you know, I know he makes it out like he didn't really like the other guy that was in charge. But the truth is he didn't really get along with the current guy that's in charge either. You know, that wasn't like they were pals as well. So I think that even when Triple H took over, I didn't know that I didn't think there'd be

an olive branch to be happy. You know, so kind of 50-50, but I would waver more towards no, I never thought it was going to happen. And you weren't told he was going to come back at Survivor Series? No. No, that was a bit of a surprise. You look very happy. You know what I wasn't happy about was, you know, Randy had just come back from a long hiatus. That was his moment.

It was a great moment. I mean, the reaction for him when he came through the curtain was unreal. And, you know, we went out there. There was 10 of us out there. And we went out there and had a hell of a contest. And, like, just didn't really need him, you know. Didn't really need him. But, you know, it's Chicago.

It's his city. Like, I don't know. It's just, it's the most classic make it, make everything about me see a punk moment I've ever seen. And so I was just, I'm like, like, you know, when you're in that moment, your adrenaline just going through the roof. you're just on the top of a cage celebrating with your pals and like, you know, sold out all state arena going bananas. And then like that happens.

And it's no longer about the performance. It's no longer about Randy. It's no longer about, you know, what, what you had done to get to that point. It's just, hi, guys. It's about me. Remember I'm the guy that you, that you miss? Remember, remember me guys? So, yeah, you know, just another kind of, you throw that on the pile of disgusting seampunk moments.

Don't worry. He's not selfish. He's in it for, you know, helping, helping everybody else. It's interesting that you point to 2014 because that's kind of a, that era of your career is kind of when you start to come into your own. Figuring it out. Yeah. Figuring it out. I've been wrestling for about nine, ten years at that point. It's also, that's when you win money in the bank. Yep. And then fast forward to WrestleMania 31. Yep. That was 10 years ago. 10 years, sir. We're about to be at the 10-year anniversary. Wow. So yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that was their early stages of the career,

but certainly trying to figure out who I was. You know, that was kind of my first, I guess I dipped my toe in the water of like finding a character at that point for the first time. The shield was a character unto itself. And we had, you know, individual identities within the shield. But prior to that, you know, in my days on the independence, I didn't really understand it. It was, you know, developing a character wasn't.

really anything that was needed at the time in the 2000s, you know, kind of rising up in the Indies. And I didn't really get it, I think, down in developmental in Florida Championship wrestling. I think, you know, I understood the need to be able to cut a good promo, but I didn't really understand, like, developing a whole personality and a character. And so when I got with the authority when we did the breakup of the shield, which arguably one of the bigger moments in the history of our industry. That was the first time when I realized kind of like who I was in that space surrounded by Hunter and Steph and Kane and Randy and Big Show and the authority and like who I was meant to be in that space. And so I kind of just I just dove in, you know, like a dip

the toe, liked it, dove head in, went head first and then everything's just been kind of this cool ride since then. What was the original pitch that gave you for the shield? None. Like, we were, I think, like the initial pitch, ironically enough, going back to punk, punk, I think was like, we're supposed to be like this, this bodyguard service for him. He's in the story with Ryback, I believe, at the time. And the idea was, you know, obviously punk liked myself and Moxley.

And I think Chris Hero actually was his pick at the time to be. the third guy because he and Chris had a long history. But they really liked Roman, they being the office of WWE. And so they, you know, they weren't sold on Chris yet. Chris hadn't been in developmental as long.

I don't think is Moxley and myself. He'd kind of just gotten there a little bit, a little bit older, but I think they wanted to kind of test him out a little bit. And, you know, Roman had gotten there right before I did. So it just made sense,

you know, kind of a compromise. Okay, you know, give you these two, but we're going to take Roman, put him in a group. They'll be,

you know, see him, Bunk's body yards, essentially, bump guys for Ryback is what I think it was supposed to be at first. But after the debut and the first week, I think they realize, oh, wow, these guys actually have traction. Like, coming from development, we're coming from the independency and what there's traction there. Like, we can use this, you know. Like, WWU is starting to dip heavy into Twitter and social media and that kind of feedback. And that's where, you know, we were kind of, you know, I don't know what they call it.

It's some semi fame there, myself, a mocks. And so you got the feedback immediately. Like it wasn't just you're bringing up guys from developmental. Nobody knew. I think the office got the feedback. Oh, people know who these guys are. They at least know their history, but they can just get online and find it. So once we kind of people realize, oh, there's something here, then it became like, you know,

You're like a mercenary group kind of on your own who maybe, you know, Seampunk might have just used for one night. And now, you know, we're going to, it was, there was a concerted effort to separate us from punk so we could be a standalone act and not just kind of lackeys to him. And then, and then that was it. Then we were just left to our own devices. They're like, figure it out from there, you know? Is there part of you, though, is like, I want to be a singles guy.

I want to be a singles competitor. Now you're putting me in a trio and we're wrestling tag team matches. Yes, yes. I had never, I'd been in a tag team with Jimmy Jacobs in Ring of Honor, but that was a little different because Jimmy was the captain of the ship. And so I was just kind of along for the ride here in the Shield. I, you know, myself in Mox had sort of built up a lot of experience at this point, relative, compared to everybody else. And we were very confident in our ability.

So we were like, we were kind of the leaders of the group in the sense that Roman didn't have the experience yet. So we were kind of tasked behind the scenes with figuring out the mechanicians of how matches would work, promos would work, stories would work and stuff like that. So we were both singles guys. Like, I don't like mocks him. He did a little bit with Sammy Callahan as a tag team, but like certainly our wheelhouse being singles, dude. So we weren't expecting. And the group thing was thrust upon us when we had very little lead time to like figure out what we were doing, which is why we showed. up in turtlenecks the first night because that's just what they gave us. Then you give us,

you fast forward one week, we look infinitely cooler when we've been given the opportunity to go to a thrift store and figure something out. So from a thrift store. You know, like, you, Army surplus. Okay. Yeah. Because we're like, okay, we're in tactical gear. We're not wearing turtlenecks. Who wrestles in turtlenex? It's going to be uncomfortable, hot and stupid looking, you know, the trifecta of doom. So like, that's, that's get rid of that. And then it was just like, all, you know, we all lived in different places. Everybody's just going to go to these stores and find whatever fits, you know, and shockingly, we all came back with like three different looks, you know, just three different, whatever fit our personality looks. And, uh, and then,

and then we just kind of continued on and try to figure it out. But, but really the one thing that that sort of solidified us was the mindset of like, we're just going to run through every wall. We didn't, we, we were never going to take no for an answer. We were never going to, like, be meek. we were just, we were going to push everybody out of the way. We're going to, we in our minds and our level of confidence thought we were so much better than everybody else. We were going to have to raise people up. That's how we looked at the locker room at the time.

And that was probably insulting to a lot of veterans, but like we just didn't care. But we also had some strength in numbers, the three of us to kind of, you know, stick together. And, you know, the rest is history, as they say. And there's no weak link there. Like, there's three guys who all are champions. And that's the amazing thing about that faction. Yeah. I mean, in the beginning, you could have, you could have picked Roman as a weak link just based on his experience.

But he's an extremely quick learner, extremely quick. Obviously, you know, the business is in his blood. His family's been in it for generations. But, like, he's super observant and, like, understands everything immediately. So he picked up stuff like a sponge. and understood what his role was within the group and took it to the next level. And you kind of watch that throughout his career as he develops. You see the people he works with.

He learns from them. He watches them in the ring, you know, outside the ring. How do I model myself after that? If that's a success that I want, what can I take from that? He does that very, very well. And so once we got cooking, there was no weak lengths. And then as you look at, you know, where we're all at now, no weaklings.

When the shield is entering through the crowd, do you ever get fans that are maybe getting a little too handsy or maybe getting a little too much in your personal space? I think we had some grabbers. I think we had some grabbers, but everybody was pretty cool, you know? I think most people just kind of want to get a hand on you, you know, like just touch you a little bit.

A very hard pat on the back. A lot of pat on the back. Yeah, a lot of strong paths in the back. You know, an occasional grab of an arm like a, you know, hair, not like a grab of the hair, but like, let me touch the hair. You know, everybody liked the wet hair for a while. We, you know, we had a series of jumpers, and that was always scary. But shockingly through the crowd, no, I mean, we'd have, like, weirdos who'd, like, jump out

in front of us just for a minute to get, like, themselves on camera because they knew the camera shot. But, like, we always had security with us. Like, WWU security would always be John Mark. or Scotty Aycock. Shout out to those guys. Jimmy Kelly. They were always with us, like, just making sure, like, bodies were not in the way, you know. They were clear in a path. So we were pretty fortunate, you know, all the injuries we did, we never really had, like, any huge hiccups. Take me backstage 10 years ago. WrestleMania 31. Your music's about to hit.

Yeah. You're about to cash in. What's going through your mind? Ashes there. There might be, like, a camera footage of this somewhere, but I'm just sitting in a chair right outside of the curtain and gorilla. It was a smaller gorilla at the time. We hadn't expanded it to this big one yet. And I remember Michael Hayes is in the producer's seat and Hunter and Vince are like on the far side. And I want to say there was panic about the time because we were still like on pay-per-view. And so there was like we have to be off. We have to be off at this time, you know? And so it wasn't like an. option to overrun like on peacock you know it's streaming it this kind of they want a certain

time period yeah yeah it's just streaming they're they're awesome because of that you can just you know you get a little window it's not you're not strict um the advertising model is a little different so it's like uh um but at the time we had to be off done and so i remember sitting there and like thinking oh shoot they're not going to make it like we're going to have to do this tomorrow. Like, that's what I was thinking. I was just doing, if it doesn't work, we'll just do it tomorrow. You know, just hoping that my idea doesn't go up and smoke.

And so, um, fortunately, uh, you know, they, they are professionals and they hit their cue when they needed to. And again, the rest is history. So this was your idea? The idea to cash in the contract at WrestleMania is my idea, yes. I had, um, I had, I don't know, I had put it into the ether, probably, uh, two months prior or so. Because you remember, I win this thing in like July or June.

And immediately, when you win it, you look at the landscape and you go, okay, when can I cash this in? At the time, if I'm not mistaken, there was only one world championship, right? And the champion was Brock Lesnar. And you looked at, okay, Brock wrestles like twice a year. When are you going to cash this thing in on a? Brock Lesnar, is Brock Lesnar going to allow you to cash it in on him? What circumstances would be the best for this? And then you start to go down the months.

Okay. And then again, you take off all the shows that Brock's not going to be on. So you look at SummerSlam, probably not going to happen. You look at Survivor Series if he's there. And then it's like maybe Rumble, mania. And then you've got like that little window after mania where maybe, you know, So you start to like plot it out in your head. And the major point for me as I was kind of going along with that was the Royal Rumble earlier that year.

I did a triple threat match with Brock Lesner and Roman, or sorry, John Sina. And I kind of had to like, I don't want to say weasel my way into that, but that was initially meant to be John Brock three or four. maybe, like they were in a series of matches. Yeah. And the audience was kind of getting a little tired of it. You know, not to say that those guys aren't incredible, they are, but you do the same thing. And Brock wasn't around to sell the story that much. You just kind of show up.

And, you know, when he did, he was a huge attraction, especially at that time. But I think the audience was getting a little bit bored of it. And I was like, well, what does it hurt? I don't need to be in the Rumble because I've got this briefcase. So, you know, why would I? why would I win two title mat? That doesn't make any sense. I don't want to be off to show.

I'm like, just throw me into the, throw me into that triple thread. You know, like, I can mix in there good. It'll change the whole dynamic of the thing up and like, let's just see what happens, you know? We ended up having a really great triple thread and a really good dynamic. That was the first time I think I worked with Brock, really. So he got to see how my mind works a little bit. So got to kind of create some, you know, little touches of respect there.

Um, and then later that night, Roman wins the Royal Rumble to a chorus of booze. Um, even the rock comes out afterwards or during to try to endorse him and it just did not matter. And I was like, oh, oh, this isn't good. This isn't good. You don't want to like, you don't want to give him this title at WrestleMania. Like, if he gets booed out of the building there when he wins the title the first time, then, you know what I mean? Like, that's not good. So I'm like, I'm a hated, hated, hated villain at this time.

Like, if I win the title, then we can give the audience time to understand the story who the good guy is supposed to be against me. You know, I'm not cool at all at this point. I'm like, let me be the guy. Let me be the deal that can get what we want out of this change. And so I pitched the idea. I let it sit in the ether for a while. And then still, even the day of,

obviously I was doing the story with Randy Orton leading up to WrestleMania. Even still, after my match with Randy was the first confirmation I had gotten that we were going to go in that direction. I don't know whose idea the triple threat part of it was. I think my idea was just like a cash in after the match. but somebody came up with the triple threat idea in the interim. My one once it was floating in the ether there, and it was a brilliant,

a brilliant kind of way to do it that I'd never even considered. And you get two WrestleMania moments that night. Did, yeah. Crazy. I'm sure people still ask you all the time about that RKO. I mean, here you are asking me about it right now. Here we are. How did you guys, because I've heard the story of, like,

in practice, you couldn't nail it. Couldn't do it. What made you think, you could do it live in front of all those people? Well, Randy's not a practice guy. Randy's not a guy that wants to fall down when he's not getting paid in front of, you know, people. So he, I, the reason, Joey Mercury is the reason that I felt like we could do it.

Joey was like, obviously part of Jay and Jay Security with me. Joey was a mentor to me for a long time in Florida Championship Wrestling. And when he was on the main roster, having Joey by my side was really nice, but he was also like a perfect little mechanic. Like he could figure out how to make anything work. And Joey's much smaller than Randy. Randy could eat a snack the size of Joey, you know, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. But that made it easier for me to step on Joey's head when we were practicing it.

And so I could do it with Joey. And, you know, Randy's much stronger. But he didn't want to take, he didn't want to fall down and do the RKO. Like even if you slid a crash mat under. Like, it just, it wasn't working. And, and we had a backup plan in case it didn't work. But, like, Randy was like, screw it, man. I always, I always take the easy way just so I can bat a thousand.

But let's just, let's just do it, man. Let's just give it a shot. If it screws up, whatever. I've had plenty of mania moments. I don't care. But I was like, oh, I mean, at that time, I was, was 10 years ago. So, like, 28 or 27 or something, I, there's nothing I couldn't do physically at that point. Like, if I had my mindset on and we'd figure it out.

And so I was like, ah, the adrenaline will carry through. I will say I did have some reservations about it in the match. Because when we got out there, it was very hot in the middle of the day, very hot and dry in NorCal. And so I was like, like, yeah, I was more winded than I expected to be. And when we got to it, my legs were a little bit heavier. You know what I mean? Like all of the ways you don't want to feel when you're about to do the grand finale. So when I started running towards them,

I was like, oh, here we go. Let's hope for the best. When Randy hit it, he looked pumped. He did. He forgot to cover me. Yeah, he forgot to cover. What's he yelling at you in that moment? Probably a lot of curse words, you know?

He's just firing up. I don't even remember, you know, I remember most of these things in third person. Like, I can't have, like, these, I don't have these, like, first person visuals of all these moments. Most of my memories of these moments are, like, video replays that, like, I have substituted for memories. Like, I know I lived it because I have. That's me, but I don't remember like the, I don't remember many of the moments through my own eyes. Do you watch a lot of stuff back? No, not really.

Not anymore when I was used to. But that's those moments I've seen a million times on replay. It's just because. Yeah, yeah, you don't, you know, you're not trying to watch them back. You just see him and how many times have I been asked about it and talked about it and there it is. And so I kind of have a photographic memory of that. But yeah, man, he was just hyped. Our referee spider, Rod Zapatah, I think it was like, cover.

him. Oh, yeah, yeah. And we go now, it's done and over on to the next one. What's this version of Seth Rollins now? Who's the, who's the visionary? You know, the visionary is interesting. He's like a hybrid, kind of a little bit of everything, right? I'm like, I'm like, the nice thing about Triple H's WWE is like you're allowed to be

all the things at once. You don't have to be a specific, um, kind of curated character, right, like a cartoon or a one-dimensional being, you get to take your entire history and allow it to, um, allow it to take you to the next place in your career. And I've always like to do that. Like I've always, whenever I've thought about what my transformations might be, I've always tried to take logical steps for why I would get to that point mentally in my head, whether it's, you know, storyline development or my relationship with the crowd,

or just through time past. And this version of me, the visionary is kind of like all of these things together, like this just amalgamation of the characters and what they've become. And fortunately, with the audience, I've reached this point where my equity is so deep that it's hard for me to,

it's hard for me to be like a full-fledged character because they are so connected to me as a person in real life, you know? And a lot of our fans who, who've been with us for so long, they, they know everything about who I am and what I've done and all the differences in my characters and in my personal life. And they've, they've been along for this ride. So, you know, I remember when I came back and Corpus Christi, you know, earlier this year, you know, had a conversation with creative about like, okay, well, who am I? And I think it's just, I am who I am. You're going to get kind of flourishes of the visionary, of the architect, of Mr. Money in the Bank, of, you know, Monday Night Messiah even. You're going to get all these little pieces. And

because of the equity, I've been fortunate enough to cultivate with our audience, they get all of it and they respond accordingly. So some of the things, you know, they don't like that. I try to put Ray Mysterio's eyeball out of his head. He grew up back, though. Yeah, they don't, yeah, they don't like that I, that I struck Roman Raines in the back with a chair, you know, they don't like these things, but they do like the catchphrases and the wrestling and, you know, singing a long direction.

And they like these things. So we kind of just let them decide whatever it is they want to do and kind of ride that wave and see what this last little bit looks like, you know? Who decided that you have a middle name now? You know what? I give that credit to the old man. The middle name was his idea back in the day. I don't remember why.

I don't remember how it came about. I think he was bored, just bored with Seth Rollins. And he was like, yeah, he'll be Seth freaking Rollins again. Okay, cool. Sold a lot of T-shirts when we did it, so whatever. You still have it now. Yeah. The thing that killed me was when we first did it, when we first brought the freaking back in,

because it was just like, you know, the money nam Messiah, Seth Rollins or whatever for a while. And then, like, you know, there was the drip God, which was never my idea. I didn't like that nickname at all. And, like, I tried to push the visionary on him, and he didn't get that character at all. And then added freaking in there at some point. And, but then everybody had to say, freak. every single time they mentioned my name on commentary anywhere. And I was like, the first thing I did when I had the opportunity was, I was like, let's just pull back on that, you know?

Like, how about I just say it? And like, if someone's introducing me in a grandiose manner, they can say it. But like, if they're just talking about me, like, they could just say Seth Rollins. It's okay, you know, like, you don't have to say the tribal chief Roman Reigns all the time. You know, no one said the hit man, Brett Hart, all the. the time. But you would never say Jake Roberts. It would always be Jake the Snake. That's true. That's true. That's true. That's true. Jake the snake kind of works. I think maybe if there was a rhyme scheme to it, like you can't just say Seth freaking with the elbow drop. That's, that's weird.

It's not a good way to shorten it, you know? No. So I think I'm got, what we're at now is good, you know, people throw the freaking in there for emphasis. And it's great on the introductions. It makes for a nice callback with the audience. But like, if you're just talking to me, Seth Rallens works just fine. This year actually achieve your New Year's resolutions. This is your year to feel your best, regain your energy, and conquer your goals. No matter what your goals are for 2025, this supplement can help because it supports your health at the foundation by encouraging cellular renewal.

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It is another room. Who has a bigger closet? You are Becky. Seth Rollins has a bigger closet than both of us. My closet is very small. So we share a closet, obviously, in the master room. And her side of it is 96% of the closet. My side is 4%.

It's T-shirts and shorts. That's pretty much all I wear. Seth Rollins, however, has a closet on the other side of the house. one of the guest rooms, and that closet is nuts. That closet is in constant rotation. It's one of a few closets Seth Rollins has in Iowa, in Los Angeles, on the bus. I have sent most of my stuff back to WWB archives, actually. Because I only wear a lot of it once, some stuff like this that I can kind of wear everywhere.

but if I wear it on TV, like I'll put it away and then I'll just send it to archives and I'll let them do with it. So sometimes you'll find, I think we just signed a new deal with Tops and like Tops is going to have cards with little Seth Rollins.

They'll cut the shirts up or the suits up and slap them in there. You know, we've done cool things at our major events where they'll have these, I don't know, like kind of just suits like on mannequins or whatever and like show where I wore it and what happened.

That's always a cool thing for fans. Oh, see, I remember that. I remember that. So I didn't want to get rid of everything or donate everything. I've donated a fair share of things, too. So there's probably like some kids walking around somewhere with just wacky Seth Rollins' backwards shoes on or something like that. But, yeah, I mean, they're all over the place, man.

It's really, it's way too many clothes. I long for the day when I can just go back to, you know, wearing my own t-shirts and pants or something like that. Are there parameters? Like when you see an outfit, is something too much? Oh. My stylist, Troy, he always says, I'm thinking about something crazy. I'm going to go for it. Because now it's just part of the appeal, you know.

What is he going to come out with this week, you know? It used to be people made fun of it in the beginning. And now, now everybody's on my side. Well, now it's like, what's you going to wear? Yeah, yeah. And your music hits, it's like, well. It's a part of the act. Yeah, you're like, oh my God, those shoes or all that hat or those vest.

Red boots. Yeah. Or like weird stuff happens where like I had this blue outfit with the blue vest on and I like took the vest off and ripped it off. But it just looked like I had the same. Like it looked like two jackets, you know. But it was and it was a vest and a shirt. But it just looked like two jackets because you couldn't see the shadows from the vest.

So I ripped that off on the way to fight Bronseride. And people are like, he just took off a jacket and is wearing the same jacket underneath. It looked just like that. that meme of sting, taking off the mask. Sting mask, yeah, to have sting face paint on. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, no, but stuff, weird stuff like that happens, you know, so it's a fun thing and it's a cool thing for people to look forward to.

Yeah, but when you do it 52 weeks a year on the go, it certainly adds up. How did you come up with this laugh? I did the laugh a long time ago when I was, when I was like the architect or when I was a heel, I would bust out the laugh a little bit. And then when my character started to evolve from the, because, I mean, you know, the Monday Night Messiah character was mostly done during COVID. And when I had my kid at the end of 2020, I come back a month later in 2021. Like, I felt like that character was gone, but I wanted to do something different. So I started to like dip into whatever this idea was going to be.

I kind of looked at him as like a cult of personality, like a little, a little politic-y, a little Trumpian, if you will, in the beginning. So if you look back at like early 21 going into WrestleMania and stuff like that,

like I wanted like a little cult-following kind of thing going on. I thought that segueged kind of perfectly out of the Monday Night Messiah stuff. and into this sort of like modernized the cult leader kind of thing. And then it just like sort of took on a life of its own. And the, I started to dip into like the madness, you know,

the crazy part of, of being a cult leader where you would be stoic for a little while, but then chaos would kind of come out in those moments. And I just remember this laugh that I used to do that would get like people kind of going, oh, you know. And I was like, oh, this would be perfect to get. it gets some more, oh, you know. A cringe reaction.

Yeah, that's what we want. Yeah, you want, you want, you want your bad guys to have a, you know, visceral response from the audience so that your good guys can kill them, you know, beat them up. That's the idea, you know, that's how you make your villains. So I was like, ah, every, every, you know, not every, but a lot of good villains have, like, these kind of, these laughs that go along with them. So I was like, well, we'll stick it in, you know, and then it just took on a life of its own. Diabolical.

A little bit, little diabolical. Mine had some sinister edge to it, but it was more, it wasn't like a, you know. That's diabolical. Yeah, yeah, it wasn't quite diabolical. When was the first time you saw Cody Rhodes and his peck and the bruising there? I saw it, you know, he refused to do, to not do the live events before Helen Assel because they told him that he couldn't hurt his peck anymore. even though he was in like horrific pain

whenever he moved it in a certain direction they were like well you can't tear it anymore and he's like well I've been advertised for these live events so I should probably be there like in Rockford and Bloomington Illinois or something like that and everyone was like maybe just stay home you know you can just come to the pay-per-view on Sunday

we're probably good no no I got to be there so he comes to these you know maybe Bloomington or whatever was the first one and I remember like let me see this thing and he like pulls it open and this was like two days after it happened so it hadn't fully gotten crazy what you ended up seeing in chicago at that hell and a cell match yet uh but like it was it was gnarly and i was like oh like you yeah uh okay all right whatever i'm like i'm like to tell you what to do you know i mean i we just talked earlier about how i wrestled with a torn minuscus for many, many months in a lot of pain.

So I get it. I understand it. So as long as, uh, you know, you feel safe enough and you feel safe enough that you're going to be okay, uh, we'll get through it. We'll figure it out. That's part of the gig. It looks gnarly. It was a gnarly, gnarly, gnarly, gnarly.

Did it, give you any limitations in the match? Sure. Yeah, sure. You couldn't, you couldn't, you know, you had to be very careful with some things you did. And like he couldn't, it wasn't like he was going to lift me up. Like, he couldn't do anything like that, you know. So, you know, it takes away. He can fall down as long as he took care of himself.

And, you know, look, that's part of the art, you know. Almost every match we go into, somebody's got something tweaked. You know what I mean? So it's not like that's a new thing. Obviously, when it's that visible and it's something that's going to require surgery that's going to keep you out six months or longer. Um, it's certainly more striking, but I mean, look, you wrestle, you know, we just did a, this Christmas loop and I wrestled four days in a row and, you know, one of those days, somebody's

going to have a tweaked ankle or, you know, my neck's not feeling great. Let's avoid this. So there's plenty of times where that's happened in my career. It's not a new thing to have to work around those types of things, but it's very jarring when it's that, that visual and that much pain. But it's certainly adjusted what we had to do. In my opinion, uh, you know, took that match from, you know, maybe good or memorable to, you know, iconic, a moment in time. But what a credit to both of you that with all those limitations you still put on one of the best matches of the year?

Yeah, I mean, you know, professionals, that's what you do. And we had an amazing story leading up to it. I do think that that visual, that jarring visual certainly helps. It ups the danger, you know, you've already, you're already in the cell, which is, is scary and that is ominous. And then you've got this injury and the people see it for the first time. So, you know, the kind of goal is to suck people in to understanding this story and feeling and sympathizing with our good guy, with our hero.

And we, you know, we had that in folds. And so we were able to just tell a story around that. It kind of made it in some ways a little easier. You had to get a little more creative. But we had this extra thing that you don't normally get this thing that's completely real. People can see it. They can feel it. And then they appreciate what our hero is going through.

So there's that bravery aspect that comes along with it. So it creates a very satisfying feeling on the back end of that thing when your hero is overcome so much. So, I mean, he's great, you know, and we worked well together. I have great chemistry. So it felt like one of those nights where I was happy we got three. it and again, happy that he didn't have to, that he was unable to do any more damage to it, you know? You're in such a unique spot where you can wrestle anyone and it's going to be a great

match. That's correct. That's right. When did that happen? You know, you know, when I noticed it could happen was probably in, I want to say at 2018 or so, timeline's a little wacky for me, but it was during my Intercontinental championship run. And I'm on raw and I'm wrestling.

I want to say it's Mojo Raleigh. Dean Utati, good guy. He's an agent. And people in the back, you know, would dunk on Mojo. Look, he's a super athlete. Dude's a stud, right? But he's not from our industry. He doesn't, he hasn't had a ton of experience.

He's got a lot of pizzazz and personality. It takes a long time to get really good at pro wrestling to really understand. to really understand what it is we do. And, you know, guys who come from that, from an athletic background, they might be fans, and they might see it and sort of be able to pick up on it. But, like, it's just a different when you know what it is, when you know what it is that we're trying to do. And he wasn't at that level yet. And so people were always kind of like, you know, mojo, great guy.

We went out there and tore the place down. We killed it out there. And I was like, hmm, what's the rep going to be now? It was one of those moments where I was like, oh, I can do this with anybody. You know, famously like Rick Flair could wrestle a broomstick or whatever, you know. And there's a few guys out there that can do that and have great matches with everybody. I love being able to do that. I love being able to get the best out of anybody that I'm in the ring with.

You know, and sometimes there's people that you just don't have that chemistry with. Yeah. It's fine. But I feel like, you know, I was asked on another interview, like, who's the perfect dance partner? And I said, me, I am the perfect dance partner. It's true. I can, I do feel confidently that I can get, no matter who you are, especially over the years,

I've really been able to develop this. I've just been able to figure out how to get the most out of anybody that I've been in the ring with. And I take a lot of pride in that. I love to give people that feeling, you know, the feeling that you have after a match where you feel like you've accomplished something. And it's really hard because early in your career, you have the opposite feeling often where you feel like you suck. You know, you just feel like your match stinks and you feel like you don't know what you're doing. And so to come back from a match where, you know, someone like Mojo, they get really nervous in an opportunity like that because they don't get that opportunity very often.

And so to be able to go out there and hit a home run and have that feeling where it's like, hell yeah, man, I can do this. It gives you that will to want to continue to want to push harder because it's like, you know, for anybody that's ever played golf, for example, right? Golf is hard. These professionals make it look like it's cake on TV. Golf is so hard hitting this little ball. You will mess up 99% of the shots you take.

That's not why you come back. You come back because one of those shots is going to go exactly how you, saw it in your mind. And you're like, oh, maybe I can do this. Maybe this is for me, that was awesome. And that feeling of success, if you can help give that to somebody and like send them on their way in a good trajectory, like that's a really, I take a lot of pride in that. That feels really good to be able to help people that way. So I love it. I love being able to do that. But yes, I can. I can get the best out of anybody, I think. Do you think about how much longer you can wrestle? All the time. All the time. All the time.

Yeah, I am 38 will be 39 in May. Yeah, I mean, I think I've got more than a couple years left in me. The dynamic of the industry has shifted so much. I'm not wrestling 200 times a year anymore. I'm not on the road 300 days a year anymore. Live events, non-televised events have kind of dissipated, which for me, guys like me who've been, you know, I've wrestled over 2,000 matches in my career. Like, that's nice for me.

You know, I can, it's just like riding a bike for me. We'll see how it is for people coming up who need that experience. You know, we'll see what that looks like in a few years. But with that schedule, I feel like I'll be able to extend my career probably longer than I thought I was going to. And then it just depends on where I want to go from there. You know, what I want to do next, how much time I'd like to spend it home with my daughter taking her to do things that are important to her that are a lot more important than making towns. What's going on with Captain America, Brave World?

Are you still in it? Releases in February. I wish it the best, but I am not a part of that film. So maybe they'll be like, what happened? Well, does my NDA still apply if I'm not on the... That's a good question. On the film anymore? It's just the two of us.

You know what? Truth be told, any answer I gave would give you would not be, it would only be my opinion on it. The script went through a lot of rewrites and reshoots. And so what I was there to do, essentially my role got either repurposed or completely erased. And so I did do a bit of an audition to possibly pop into. another role, I believe, or the repurposing of my role. I'm not exactly sure on what it was. But they ended up going in a different direction with it.

And, yeah, my understanding, there were just a lot of rewrites and a lot of reshoots. And they know they've got a finished product that hopefully they're happy with. And hopefully it's successful, but it will be Sons, Seth Rollins. There is a guy in the trailer that looks an awful lot like Seth Rollins. You know, to be fair, you looked an awful lot like you as well, because you could just see his eyeballs. You know, we've got some dark, deep-set eyes. So who knows? Is he telling everyone that I'm in the movie now?

Maybe you're in the movie. I'm not in the movie. I will say unequivocally, I am not in the film. I do not want anybody to go to the film thinking, oh, I'm here to see Seth Rollins. There might be two people that would do that. But if I don't want those two people to waste their time and I don't want to. I think there were a lot of people that were like, oh, it's a secret now.

Yeah, yeah. It's a big reveal. I don't want to misinform anybody. I don't want to lead anybody astray. I am not in the film. Um, it should be a good one. Marvel does a great job. But I'm sure you'll be in something else.

I mean, if I'm not, I don't, it's funny. I don't care. I don't, I don't love acting. I love wrestling. My wife love acting. She's way better at it than I am. She's got awesome stuff coming out. Obviously, she announced her bit on Star Trek, which is going to be sick.

Uh, I think that comes out like later and maybe next year. And she's got another thing that I'm not allowed to talk about that'll be coming out sooner than that. Um, yeah, yeah. I can't say anything. She's been, you know, people have been like, oh, she's on hiatus taking a break. She has not been taking a break. She has not.

She has been working her tail off the last, what she left in May. So like six, seven months. She's been hustling. That's why you guys live in L.A. Partially, yeah. I mean, we've been living all over the place for what she's been doing. Like, the shoots have been in different locations. So we've been bouncing around.

It's been like a month in Toronto, I think, for the Star Trek thing. We spent a month. two out on the East Coast earlier this year as well, or light, we're in 2025 now, but late last year as well for the other thing, the top secret thing I'm not supposed to talk about. But yeah, she's been super busy. That's her deal. I love wrestling. I'm going to be with WWE for a while, and if not with WWI, I'm probably just going to be

at home with my kid. Got my wrestling school in Iowa that were rocking still, Black and Brave, got the coffee shops, 392, both in Devon. So I got some small businesses, but, like, did you? wrestling's my thing. If something comes up, if there's any producers out there who are interested, you know, hit me up. Easy. We'll figure it out, but

that's not my, I'm not like going out seeking auditions, you know? I've got two more for you. And again, go for it. So good to be able to spend some time with you. And congrats on everything you got going on right now. Thank you. Thank you. You're a five-time W.WE champion. Which one of those means the most to you?

The last one. The last one. That was the hardest one. That was a struggle. Struggle. You know, they all, you know, they all mean, they're all different. They all mean a lot in special ways and unique ways, you know, and I could run through them all, but like a couple of them to stick out, obviously the first one. That's a big one, you know. And then the second one, it was only 30 seconds or something like that. But that's huge, you know, like the night that all three of us were champions at the same night, same time. Like, that's me, Mox, and Roman.

That's very cool and very rare. You don't get to see that and you don't get to, you know, I got to hand that to Mox, who is someone that I love and admire and to be able to be the guy to give him his first championship is really a special thing. So those two jump out. And then this last one,

just because we were in such a garbage place after WrestleMania 30, whatever it was. I don't remember anymore. What city was it? Dallas. 38. Yeah, we were in such a garbage place when they unified the titles. It was like there was such a low ceiling for everybody.

We didn't have the two titles. We didn't have a way out of getting the titles separated. It was like we could not get that done. There was so many, every suggestion just had a wall in front of it. It just couldn't get done. It was hurting the rest of the roster to not have anything to, go for. And so to finally be able to get to that point where we had another world championship, even though in the beginning you knew people were just going to dunk on it, you knew people

were going to call it lesser than. And rightfully so, these are all. Got a lot of secondary chance. These are all fine and understandable complaints. You know, when you introduce a new title, that's how it always happens. And so to be able to take it for basically a year and take it all around the world where the other title wasn't going, take it to every single town I could, every single city, defending it on every single pay-per-view, defending it on Raw, and increasing its visibility to the point where when it changed hands at WrestleMania, it was a huge deal. That was very important to me. And to be able to get it off on the right foot, I felt was very important. So it was very important.

having that ball handed to me and being able to take it and run with it was something I took a lot of pride in. Especially at a time when the other championship wasn't really being offended. That's what I'm saying. It didn't exist. So the ceiling was super low for guys who wanted to reach the top. There just wasn't an avenue to reach the top. And in our industry, the top are the world titles. And if you don't have them, you know, this is why in other sports, when champions don't compete, they take their titles from them.

And they have interim championships, you know, that's what those exist for so that everybody else can have something to fight for to raise their profile and to raise everybody else's profile. So to be able to take that world championship and do that for the rest of the roster and the industry, I felt was important. And I was honored to be tasked with that. You, sir, have had a hell of a career. Thank you. Future Hall of Famer. Thank you. And great to be able to sit down with you. it's been far too long. So thank you for this.

And I'll wrap this up with a question. I ask everyone at the end because gratitude is so important to me. And I think it's important to speak it out loud. What are three things in your life you're grateful for as we sit here right now? Oh, ma'am. First, my health. I think without that, you know, I'm just not able to do anything, right? You take that for granted when you wake up every day and you have this agency.

You know, you need to be able to have that is extremely important. Not just my health, but kind of like health in general of people around me. I'm very fortunate to have people around me that are also, you know, good and well, my mom and dad and all that stuff, family. What else? I'd say, gosh, does it have to be things? Three things. Three so hard, dude. Because, you know, when you, when you, I am so grateful for honestly everything that is at my

fingertips. I think about where I was as a young kid growing up in like the tiniest town in the middle of Iowa and to be able to have even a smidge of what I dreamed of. I was kind of writing about this the other night. I'm sitting here and I'm writing about like I have more than I've ever dreamed of. Like where I'm existing now is in a place that I couldn't have imagined. Like my brain and my worldview wasn't, I didn't have the scope to imagine the life that I'm able to live. And I didn't do that on my own at all.

I had so much help along the way. I had so many people and so many circumstances that have allowed me to do that. And I'm so grateful that I get the opportunity to perform and to give back to anybody who might need the same inspiration that I needed when I was younger, to be able to, like, raise a kid in this world, to be able to, you know, cultivate relationships with people who love what we do and to be able to, like, just feel that energy and connection, be able to spread that as far and wide as I possibly can. I'm so grateful that I get to like be Seth Rollins. Like that's a, that's a privilege. And I don't take that lightly. So I'm sorry that I can't boil it down to three. But if you want to end ungratitude, I am very grateful that I've been able to do what I do, have what I have and share it with other people.

I love that. Thank you again for this. And looking forward to what 2025 has to bring for you. Yeah, maybe it's not wait another decade before we do. this again. Maybe in a year or two. We'll do a checkup. Yeah, we'll do a check up sooner than later. You're just down the road. That's right. That's right. All right, man. Thank you. That was a good one. And yeah, we can't wait until 2035 for the next interview. We can't go 10 years between this. It had been far too long for this one. Big thank you to Seth for joining us

in the studio. And thank you for listening and listening all the way until the end here. Hit a stop on that follow button if you haven't already. And I love that when I said, you can work with any opponent. He's like, yeah, that's right. And it's true. It's true. He is an absolute workhorse in the ring. Put him in there with anyone and you know it's going to be magic. I can't wait to see what 2025 has in store for Seth Rollins. He didn't really wrestle that much in 2024 because of injuries. I feel like we're going to see a whole completely different version of him this year. Snap a screenshot. Let us know you're listening. Tag us. He's at WWE Rollins. on Instagram and Twitter.

I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and I stumbled across this quote this week that I will leave you with. All we get is time and choices. Be wise with both. Be great and be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got Ask CVV number 65 tomorrow.

If you've got a question, send it in using that hashtag AskCV on social media. Leave a comment on Spotify, if you're still listening right now, that'd be awesome if you could leave a comment on Spotify or shoot me an email, CVV at chris vanfleet.com. We will see you back here tomorrow with that one. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary.

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1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.