My Mom's Basement - QUARANTINE MINI-POD: SETH ROLLINS

Episode Date: March 26, 2020

Seth Rollins joins Robbie and Jared in the Basement via phone call today to discuss his upcoming match against Kevin Owens at WrestleMania, cutting promos in front of empty arenas, the prospect of a two-night Mania, and more.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. The quality of this interview, on the technical side, is a little wonky. We did this through Skype, through a phone call, so we hooked it up through a bunch of different multiple layers. It's the way we have to do things in this coronavirus world. So Seth is gonna sound a little iffy for a little bit, but it does improve throughout the interview. And you can hear what he's saying. And if you can hear what he's saying, he's saying some pretty interesting shit. He even throws some shots at the way of some, you know what, I'm not even going to spoil who he throws a shot at. You could probably assume

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livehuman.com slash mom. Now let's get into this interview with Seth Rollins. Seth, are you on the line with Robbie and Jarrett from Barstool Sports? Robbie, Jarrett, tell me where your super is going. Seth, what's going on, man? How are you? I'm doing well. How are you? We're doing all right. We're hanging in there during this whole quarantine, obviously. You've got WrestleMania on the horizon. I know everyone's shutting down, the MLB, the NFL, the NHL. I mean, everyone is closing their doors,

but the WWE continues on just like the UFC in an empty arena, the Performance Center, actually. What has this been like? Does it feel like WrestleMania season to you? I know it's so chaotic and crazy in the world right now. No, I'd be lying if I said it feel like WrestleMania season to you? I know it's so chaotic and crazy in the world right now. I'd be lying if I said it felt like WrestleMania season. I think all of our minds are elsewhere

for the most part. We're focusing on the task at hand when it comes to being at the performance and doing the work. 90% of the time we're thinking about what's going on and what's going to be next and how we're going to get out of this and all that stuff. And so it's just, it's a crazy time, man.

Certainly an unprecedented in modern human history. And so we're always trying to make the best of it for sure. I was curious, I was actually thinking about this yesterday because, you know, this is, it doesn't feel like WrestleMania season, but it is WrestleMania season. And for a lot of you, like, your bodies are supposed to be in peak physical condition and your look is super important for WrestleMania. How difficult has it been for you and for everyone else

to be able to get your workouts in during a time where every gym is closed? Yeah, you know, it's very neutral and a bit of a monkey going through the things, but the convenience of wrestling is that you kind of just have to stay ready year-round, there's been no off-season, so, you know,

I'm not, I don't let feet drop off, like, you know, say someone who's trained for a UFC fight or a boxing match, you have to make weights or something like that, or you have a three-month camp or what have you, and then you rest and you're just on all the time. So I just train to be fit as well as I can. And fortunately, I have a city cross suit,

which allows me to modify a lot of movements into body weight workouts and so my trainer's done such a great job at modifying a lot of things for homes uh also unfortunately being in a position where i have access to them equipment um at my home as well and so it's been okay it's not been uh nothing so bad as far as getting the workouts in standard shape been falling out a lot less uh in the ring since this whole thing has gone on since we've seen it. I can't throw a lot of it in, so that's actually helped my overall physical health, I would say. So talking about these empty arena Performance Center shows, you've done Raw a few times from the Performance Center.

They've been doing SmackDown from the Performance Center, NXT as well. Last Monday, I thought there was a very interesting segment between you and kevin owens where you cut some really intense promos against one another with no crowd reaction whatsoever and it almost made it better in my mind was that something that you designed that way where you both kind of looked at each other and said all right this is going to be different we have to cut promos differently now because there's no crowd? Well, yeah, I think if you don't adapt to the circumstances, then you're making a mistake.

You can't just go out there and go with the same formula. You've got to take a look at these smackdowns and at these raw performances. They're on your own. And you have to kind of try to identify what works and what doesn't. You have to take some chances. I think we were able to do that. I know I was

especially. My promo takes some chances and tells a different story. We need to acknowledge that we're here and that there's nobody around and that this is where WrestleMania is going to be. I think the fact that we were able to do that and make that part of our WrestleMania is going to be. And I think the fact that we were able to do that and make that part of our story

is going to help set our WrestleMania match and performance apart from maybe some of the other people who are just sort of trying to get through this thing the best they can. And so, yeah, it's certainly a different medium. One thing a lot of us do is tell our stories with words a lot better. We don't have interaction with a lot of audiences, you know, is a detriment sometimes. But also, like you said, especially when it comes to promos, you looked at myself on Monday, you looked at Kevin, you looked at Randy, you looked at Ed. We've really been able to excel in these, in theory, in our promo segments where we've been able to really tell stories that are multi-faceted and deep and have people pay attention to the words

there's a there's a lot of guys and girls too in wwe uh that have come from different backgrounds like you know they they tried their luck at professional football or whatever else you grew up a wrestling fan do what is your not your favorite match at Wrestlemania but what was your favorite storyline build up to a Wrestlemania match oh my favorite storyline um man I think when I was a kid, it was probably maybe Flair and Savage, WrestleMania VIII. Oh, damn. That was such a great one. Yeah, Flair was doctoring the photos of him and Elizabeth and stuff like that.

I loved it, and I loved that match, too. The payoff for that match was incredible. It's just an awesome spectacle. I think kind of one of those underrated matches that sort of flies into the radio. I'm trying to think of some other ones that were really awesome that I loved. Oh, man. I mean, obviously, Sean McPherson's Boy, the Dream story was really good. Yeah.

I loved that one as well. The training vignettes to the Iron Man match between him and Brad and all that stuff was really cool as well. Undertaker and Kane, WrestleMania 14. Yeah, brother, brother. Yep, that one was good as well. I mean, there's a ton of really great stories over the years. Those are just a couple from when I was a kid that I remember vividly.

So talking about your WrestleMania story this year with Kevin Owens, Kevin is a guy that you've worked with a lot in the past, going back. Even one of my favorite Hell in a Cell matches, one of my favorite underrated Hell in a Cell matches, is the match that you guys had, I thought. Talk to me about how it's been working with him and especially having to accelerate what you've done in the past and make this different than any other feud that

you've had with each other. Well, you know, it's, it's obviously a little bit different because it's WrestleMania. Um, and if you look at my history and the WrestleMania, Kevin history,

WrestleMania, you know, there's a few sides, um, of a different coin pretty much, you know, it's, it's,

it's, it's, it's, it's, it's not, uh, uh, the two opposites. And so I think that is an obvious thing

that we can play on with the story. And there's just a ton of history between Kevin and I. And you can document it all the way back into Ring of Honor if you want to. But yeah, there's so much history, even in WWE. You know, Kevin's the guy that Triple H picked over me to win the Universal title, you know,

when Finn had to relinquish it to do an injury. And so there's tons of, you can look at Kevin's, you know, DVD set that I did an interview for. And there's information there. There's a lot that goes into what Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens kind of stands for. And so I'm looking forward to seeing how it all plays out in this MP Arena.

Having the match at the Performance Center also, like I said, it certainly adds different elements to our story. It allows us to tell a story that we didn't think we were going to get a chance to. And so I think it's going to end up being pretty cool. I'm looking forward to it almost now more than I was, you know, say a few weeks ago. Do you prefer wrestling someone like Kevin who, like you said, you have that familiarity with

and going all the way back to Ring of Honor? I know at this point there's so many people in the company that you have that familiarity with and going all the way back to ring of honor. And I know at this point, there's so many people in the company that you have that with and the, the prebuilt storylines, the prebuilt chemistry in the ring or someone completely different, like, uh, say Buddy Murphy, you've been working a lot with in the tag division this year, kind of, uh, it was a newer thing for a while. Do you like that where you can build upon something that you've never done before or build upon something that you've, you know built up i think i just like to challenge either way um i think you know with kevin we've crossed paths in so many different forms and fashions over the years that i think it's cool to um always try to come up with new things and to keep things fresh and interesting

to tell a more personal story or or something something like that. And then, uh, you know, the opposite of that is with someone like Murphy, where you have the ability to, uh, craft whatever story you choose because you have such a blank slate and then you get to know somebody too. You know, Murphy's not someone that I knew much about, uh, as a human being, as a person and didn't know what his motivations were and all that stuff. And now being able to work with him closely and you get his sense of humor

and, you know, you get more of the person and it starts to, you know, kind of become, you know, our friendship and stuff like that. And so it's interesting to see where things go from there and how you gel in the ring and just working on little things that you probably have taken for granted over the years when you're working with guys that you're familiar with so they're both different challenges but

that's one of the cool parts of being a pro wrestler is getting the opportunity to try new things in both ways So obviously now Wrestlemania it's going to be two nights uh which is different from anything that they've ever done before do you like the idea of there being a match to close out the show kind of like it's a weekend celebration versus just the one night or

you know because we've we've seen a lot of guys like not to name names we've seen guys make a big deal about i want to main event wrestlemania and if i don't get that then this this and that like do you think it takes away from having two main events or do you like the opportunity for there to be to go home send off main event type matches um we're not we're not gonna name names no we can't if you'd like to. I run that thing well. He makes it full of himself more than I need to make a fool out of him. Yeah, you know, I think over the past few years, especially you've really seen the dynamic shift as far as like, the card has gotten so big and so massive that you've you've had a lot of

the typical main event that i think we're all used to um from when i was a kid when we were kids it's kind of gone right it's just wrestlemania is such a spectacle and it's almost a disadvantage to be the last match on those long shows because the crowd gets so tired that by the time they get there, they're bored or they're just going to go into business for themselves or what have you. So you look at like, you know, wrestling at 32 with Roman and Triple H, and if you had put that match probably somewhere in the middle of the card,

you might have gotten a whole different response. But after a long show and knowing what they were going to get it was just a struggle uphill battle obviously last year was a different situation they named the match that was going to go out last and that had some historical significance being that

it was the women but I actually think the two night Wrestlemania this year is cool because it sort of takes the pressure off of having to be the main event or having to go on last and be the show closing match. So maybe you run into developing less insecurities in our performers over the years about having to go on last. And so you don't run into guys who are going to end up being old and bitter

and wishing that they had done more for themselves while they could. And so, I don't know, I think it's going to be interesting, man. People are just sitting at home Saturday and Sunday, so why not give them a couple hours each night instead of trying to push it all all six hours of it or whatever at one time so i think like i said it takes the pressure off it it makes two nights feel uh significant as opposed to just one and uh you know we'll see you know time will tell we'll see if this is something we do moving forward maybe uh maybe it's a cool experiment that we that we use

next year you know yeah i mean so robbie and i were at wrestlemania last year and the crowd was just gassed after the kofi match i mean like that was that pop we kind of all knew like that wasn't going to be tops for the rest of the night and everyone had high hopes for the main event but like you said you kind of like hours later once you've already had that maximum pop it's kind of hard to duplicate it especially when there's hours in between so i don't know i mean like i i don't have an opinion one way or the other because i haven't seen the two nights but i'm definitely looking forward to to the two nights yeah it's just a different thing dude and like also the coping match is

like already two and a half hours into the show and then you have like two and a half more hours after that it's it's it's a long time i don't care how big of a fan you are anything i don't want to watch a six hour chicago bears game you know what i mean too much yeah no definitely not um wrestlemania is still going on though so check it out on the wwe network it's going to be hosted by rob gronkowski. Like we said, Saturday and Sunday night now. Two-night event. Seth, thank you for joining the show. Thanks for having me, guys.