Many fans expected Seth Rollins to return as a face after the birth of his daughter because they thought this major development would have given him a new perspective. Instead, Rollins has maintained his heelish persona.
In a recent appearance on WWE’s The Bump, Rollins explained that he’s standing up for his beliefs because of his daughter.
“I’m a little confused, some of the social response, social media response was that they thought maybe I was gonna come back, I don’t know, softer, in some way, that I was gonna be a bit of a snowflake, that being a dad was gonna make me a wimp, [that] it was gonna give me less conviction and that’s just not the case,” said Rollins. “I’ve got this beautiful baby girl, and she is now the motivation for everything that I do. So I gotta double down, I gotta work harder, I gotta grind deeper to get where I wanna go.
“I’m not gonna sit back and pretend like I’m gonna come back and be a big softie. No, I’m gonna come back and double down on my beliefs and my convictions, not for me, [but] for her.”
Rollins’ absence from WWE began on a compelling note, as he sacrificed himself at WWE Survivor Series. During the interview, Rollins credited his supposed selflessness with SmackDown’s rise in recent months.
“I think it kind of work everybody up, you know, doing what I did,” said Rollins. “The SmackDown men’s team took a pretty horrific loss that night, which was again sparked by my sacrifice ,and I think since then, you’ve seen everybody step up their game.
“And so the show has been bar none, the best professional wrestling show on television since then. And so I don’t wanna take all the credit, but I’m saying that I’m part of a bigger revolution in SmackDown.”
Finally, Rollins admitted that the return of his “Burn It Down” clashes with his Messiah character, and he teased that a new theme song is on the way.
“It’s weird, kind of, you know, I don’t know that it fits as much with the character,” said Rollins. “But we’ll see what happens, who knows? We might have a third music on the incoming, not to give away any spoilers, but yeah we used the ‘Burn it Down’ that night, and we’ll see where we go from here.
“I don’t know what the future holds. But it was good for one night to have the hot flames behind me.”
The full episode is available here:
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Rollins emphasized that he’s “doubling down” on the Messiah character. Here at WrestleZone, writers Colin Tessier and Robert DeFelice discussed Rollin’ return on the SmackDown Double Down podcast.
