10 Wrestlers BANNED From Getting Over
3. Seth Rollins Gets Banned From Wearing His Superstar Attire
How important is gear, really?
Is a good look fundamental to getting over?
Yes and no, in that a bad look is so distracting that it can undermine or even ruin a match. Cody Rhodes debuting the neck tattoo at Revolution 2020 was so distracting that it ate the story of his match with MJF alive. It was as if Stone Cold Steve Austin had walked into WrestleMania XIV wearing luminous yellow trunks.
A better look might not have saved either big Seth Rollins babyface push; in 2017, WWE succumbed to the temptation of a Shield reunion a couple of years before the impact could have been maximised, and in 2019, he was probably knackered by his cringe-worthy stand-up scripts before he was made to act like one of the kids from IT at the sight of the Fiend, who was less scary than Tim Curry in Home Alone 2.
But!
Rollins now is getting over because the fans like singing his song and watching him clown around in his extravagant outfits - so is it really too much of a stretch to suggest that, were Rollins to have worn his iconic white SummerSlam 2015 gear as he launched his babyface run, he'd have got off to a much hotter start?
The look was beloved, no hyperbole, because he was at the peak of his powers on the night. He looked like the most dynamic wrestler in the world.
But he only wore it once because Vince McMahon banned him from putting it on again. Rollins revealed as much at an October 2019 signing (h/t Fightful):
"No. Vince won't let me wear it because he's a weird old man who doesn't understand that people think it's the coolest gear they've ever seen. Yeah. He doesn't get it. I get that question more than anything else. What does that mean? It's just huge, man."