Every Original WWE NXT Black & Gold Roster Member - Where Are They Now?

22. Seth Rollins

Seth Rollins NXT Champion
WWE.com

What was he doing at the time?

Despite not being all that pleased to be there, Seth Rollins was preparing to become the new incarnation of NXT's first Champion and top guy. The artist formerly known as Tyler Black has spoken about being aggrieved that WWE saw fit to send him to developmental before debuting him on the main roster, but the reputation he continued to build in Florida Championship Wrestling set him up for a prosperous (and relatively short) stint on the black-and-gold brand. He featured heavily across the first few weeks, picking up wins against Jiro and Camacho.

What is he doing now?

"Seth Rollins: WWE main eventer" is seemingly a divisive take amongst everybody not called Seth Rollins, but with multiple World Championship reigns and WrestleMania main events to his name, he can claim it. Rollins stuck at it, survived multiple injury layoffs, achieved every fictional prize there was to win in WWE and earned himself a very fruitful life in the shoot world as a result. He'll never be the tippy-top guy he'd believed himself to be as far back as NXT, but he'll never think otherwise anyway. More power to him. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.