Seth Rollins' Future As WWE World Heavyweight Champion Revealed... Sort Of

Rollins' knee injury is serious, but...

by Scott Carlson
Seth Rollins
WWE.com

After a week of speculation about the future of the World Heavyweight Championship, Seth Rollins put that uncertainty to rest Monday night -- somewhat.

Despite a torn MCL and other damage to his left knee suffered last week, Rollins vowed on Raw to defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 40. The champ confirmed the Grade 2 tear of his MCL and torn medial meniscus, noting that doctors said if he undergoes surgery, the recovery time is three to four months. That would put an in-ring return just beyond Mania on 6-7 April.

Rollins, however, told Gunther (who had interrupted his show-opening promo) and the audience that he doesn't "give a damn what the doctors tell me" and promised to rehab and push his knee as hard as he can so he can take the World Heavyweight Championship to WrestleMania, defend it and walk out as champion.

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Last week, Rollins successfully defended the title against Jinder Mahal, but he injured his left knee on a moonsault, saying he felt it push in in a way it's not supposed to go. After the match, he couldn't bend his knee and realized he could be out for a long period of time and could miss Mania.

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Although Rollins did not relinquish the title and committed to defending the title in April, it was couched by him saying he was going to rehab as hard as he could. One would have to assume that if he suffers any setbacks along the way, WWE would have to revisit the situation and turn to a plan B. In the interim, don't expect the self-proclaimed "workhorse champion" to defend the title until WrestleMania.

Rollins became the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion in May 2023, winning a tournament for the newly created world title, which Triple H said was necessitated by Roman Reigns taking on a more relaxed schedule and rarely defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, which represents the combined Universal Championship and WWE Championship.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.