Seth Rollins wasn’t a fan of WWE‘s developmental system when he signed with the company back in 2010.
During a recent appearance on Something’s Burning with Bert Kreischer, former World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins opened up about his first impression of WWE’s developmental system when he first walked into FCW in 2010.
Seth Rollins said that, being an already accomplished talent in the independent scene, he couldn’t believe the condition of WWE’s former developmental system. He discussed the poor and unsanitary conditions of the training facility.
“When I got signed in 2010, I was at the top of the game on the indies. I was Tyler Black, I was the Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Champion, which was a big deal at the time. I was like, ‘If you were to recruit one guy off the indies, it probably would’ve been me.’
“I remember thinking to myself, okay, now I’m going to the big leagues, I’m going to WWE, the big leagues. I walked into that warehouse, and I could not believe my eyes, thinking this was what I gave up wrestling in the Hammerstein Ballroom to do.
“To go to wrestling and being able to travel the world on my own, make my own schedule, do my own thing on the indies. I was starting to make a good amount of money there, but my dream was always WWE, WrestleMania, etc.
“I walked into this warehouse, I could not believe this was the top of the food chain. It was unreal, it was literally just a dirty, grimy warehouse with a shower that hadn’t been cleaned. Like just dirt, like, maybe wear your flipflops when you go in there. It was bad.”
Seth Rollins Also Shared What He Learned From Being In The WWE Developmental System
“I learned a lot there from a political standpoint,” Seth Rollins continued, “I learned how to have confidence in myself. One, because when I walked in, I thought, like I said, I was walking into the big leagues. Oh, I’m gonna learn how to do things a different way. But what I realized when I got there was that I was already better than everybody in the room.
“It allowed my to have the confidence to be like, ‘Oh, I can now lead all of these people in the ring. I can take them and help elevate them, because I know what I’m doing and they’re learning at what to do.’ But I’d already had great experience on the indies learning from guys like Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero, Samoa Joe, the list goes on. Guys who had, you know, AJ Styles, who had the experience, and they took me under their wing, so I learned being in the ring with them.
“Then I went to FCW in Tampa, and no one had that experience because, like I said, they’re all dudes from a local gym they brought in. So I was like light years ahead. So, I learned how to lead, I learned what the politics of wrestling looked like, and how to maybe manipulate, it’s not the right word, but learned how to play the game. Learned how that side of things worked, Seth Rollins said.
Read More: Seth Rollins Says Some Guys Are Just In WWE For A Paycheck
If you use the quotes from this article, please credit Something’s Burning and give an H/T to WrestleZone for the transcription.
