8 Returns WWE Dropped The Ball On
4. Seth Rollins
In the modern era, few of the current crop of stars have ever achieved anything even close to the absolutely nuts crowd reaction of a Steve Austin or a Rock. CM Punk got to that point for a spell, as did Daniel Bryan, but one of the loudest, most crazed crowd response of the past decade or more was for Seth Rollins’ return at Extreme Rules 2016.
As the heel WWE Champion, Rollins was forced out of action for six months due to a knee injury. With The Architect surprising us all by returning at Extreme Rules to attack Roman Reigns moments after The Big Dog had bested AJ Styles, the crowd lost its mind.
And like that, WWE had the new superstar babyface that they had been looking for.
Of course, that’s not how it would all play out. Despite the crowd reacting to Seth as if he was the love child of ‘80s Hulk Hogan and ‘90s Steve Austin, WWE had Rollins cut a heel promo just the very next day on Monday Night Raw.
Just think, if WWE had listened to its audience and gone with Rollins as the company’s top babyface back then, Vince McMahon and Co. could’ve saved themselves three years of uphill battles as they tried and tried and tried to get Roman Reigns accepted as the star.