8 Nuances That Make Seth Rollins So Great
7. Become More Than The Sum Of Your Influences...
In interviews over the last few years, Rollins has variously claimed to have been inspired by WWF/E legends like Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart, ‘Mr. Perfect’ Curt Hennig, Shawn Michaels, ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior.
Of course, Lopez was born in 1986, and would have been (for example) just shy of his fourth birthday when Mr. Perfect won his Intercontinental Championship.
If you take it to mean that he grew up watching pro wrestling and that those were his favourite wrestlers, it makes a little more sense - but looking at the style that Lopez was emulating when he first started out, it’s pretty clear that the high octane theatrics of the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Eras were what he was truly inspired by.
Identikit performers are all well and good if you’re running a local show with wrestlers getting a pop from the crowd by posing like Hogan and using Stone Cold’s greatest hits as a moveset, but to be truly great, you’ve got to know how to take your influences and make them your own.
As Tyler Black and later Seth Rollins, Lopez has done just that - just as the men he was inspired by did decades earlier. And right now there’s a kid in a high school gym somewhere in middle America practicing a tope con hilo and dreaming of being Seth Rollins...