The Forbidden Lore Of WWE's Seth Rollins

Seth Rollins, former WWE World Heavyweight champion, is something of an enigma. To illustrate that point, nobody can determine in shorthand what his persona is.

Steve Austin was a beer-drinking anti-authority ass-kicker. Hulk Hogan was a patriotic do-gooder with superhuman powers of recovery. Cody Rhodes is an inspirational man, a dreamer, of pure ambition and work ethic. Who is Seth Rollins? A visionary, a revolutionary? What are those?

The man set for a Triple Threat showdown with CM Punk and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 41 is desperate to impress and show you who he is, through his extravagant wardrobe, but what does any of it actually mean?

This personality crisis can be traced back to his pre-WWE days.

Before Seth Rollins was Seth Rollins, he was Tyler Black - a blend of Tyler Durden and Sirius Black. Seth by his own admission was not big on character; he simply liked Fight Club and the Harry Potter franchise and played the role of a guy who got it done in the ring.

Before Tyler Black was Tyler Black, he was ‘Gixx’. For a very brief time; while very likely incomplete, Cagematch records two entries for this gimmick. The “gimmick” did not exist. The name was inspired by a Magic: The Gathering character named Gix - Rollins added the nu-metal stylisation - because his brother liked the collectible card game and thought the name would suit a “cool” wrestling character. Rollins, not knowing what he was doing, was not actually a part-meat, part-machine daemon. Rollins also went by ‘Taj the Destroyer’ once.

Seth Rollins has haunted CM Punk throughout the latter’s WWE return. Rollins despises Punk. Rollins believes Punk left WWE in the muck. Seth has also described Punk as a “cancer”.

Rollins plays this role, if he’s even playing it at all, as if he’s spurned. He might well be; Punk once referred to himself as "Seth Rollins from the future" on Twitter, but has since walked back that endorsement.

He’s clearly indebted to a man he once idolised. Seth revealed to Pat McAfee back in 2022, before there was a storyline to build on TV, that he moved to Philly with no money and the expectation that he could learn under Punk for free. Seth was straight edge as a teen, and when you look at any images of him in his pre-ROH days, you’ll see Punk’s silhouette first.

Like Punk, Rollins also incorporated his music tastes into his nascent pro wrestling persona. He wasn’t quite as successful.

As Tyler Black, Rollins, after developing something close to a reputation within wrestling, performed for the experimental and profoundly, hyperactively obnoxious Wrestling Society X: MTV’s short-lived attempt to tap into the market.

Black was an emo billed from “the Dark Side of a Broken Heart” in a tag team with Jimmy Jacobs. The tag team name, borrowing an evergreen theme of slavish devotion to one’s crush from the emotional hardcore genre, was D.I.F.H.: Do It For Her.

While there was a knowing mockery to that act, Rollins still invited a bit of ridicule onto himself through his musical misadventures.

CM Punk might be punk…but Tyler Black, in his early days, was hardcore.

Tyler Black, when making his entrance to the ring, would perform a “slam dance” - an aggressive form of reacting to and “feeling” hardcore music. On early indie shows, in the sh*thole armories of the American midwest, he windmilled his arms around and then did some kickboxing moves. He soon dropped that from his act for a reason, and what’s worse, he entered the ring and did not immediately blow his opponent away with creatine aggression. He just…wrestled, in the same way 99% of indie guys did at the time. Stylistically, Black wasn’t dissimilar to AJ Styles and the legion of wrestlers he inspired.

Tyler Black wasn’t at all bad. Derivative, yes, but he didn’t enter the WWE developmental system as a huge prospect for nothing. Also: every wrestler will look back on their early experiments in developing their character with blushing embarrassment.

Seth Rollins is a divisive wrestler. His biggest fans think he’s the closest thing to the Shawn Michaels of old: a big-bumping in-ring demon capable of stealing every show (certainly, he came close in 2015, when he was on blistering form). His critics would argue that he’s a sludgier version of a Kenny Omega or Will Ospreay type, unable to unlock the same mind-blowing level of drama and athleticism. He’s very consistent, but hardly life-affirming. He’s also a bit bland to follow.

He might complain about his spot every now and then. There was that story of a fist fight that nearly erupted between Seth and Cody Rhodes - Cody claimed on the Dan LeBatard Show in 2023 that he and Rollins can’t stand one another and that they almost came to blows in front of upper management. A more cagey Rollins, speaking with Daniel Cormier for ESPN, said “there is a level of truth” to Cody’s story.

Most of the time, though, Rollins is good. He acts like a WWE Superstar should. The wrestlers who court controversy and jump ship and create buzz about themselves: Rollins isn’t one of them. In fact, he actually shoots on people who “abandon” WWE or otherwise try to shake up the industry and make things more interesting. It’s ironic; a man with several outrageous wardrobes prides himself on being defiantly unfashionable.

It may come as something of a surprise, then, that Rollins was a key figure in one of the most controversial angles in wrestling history.

After an inspired and innovative viral marketing campaign designed to drum up interest ahead of the 161st Ring Of Honor show, a new faction first code-named ‘Project 161’ debuted: The Age Of The Fall. Led by Jimmy Jacobs, the formation of the group was legendary, presenting awe-struck and disturbed ROH fans with a visual that was as grotesque as it was unforgettable. Jacobs laid out the mission statement; the Age Of The Fall were a nihilistic band of misfits, whom love could not save, disenfranchised by the treatment they had received from the promotion. After a Ladder War between Steenerico and the Briscoes, the new faction tied Jay Briscoe by his feet to a chain and suspended him upside down. Jacobs stood directly underneath a hanged Briscoe. This allowed a faucet of blood to drip from Jay’s head onto the white clothes and even into the mouth of Jimmy Jacobs. The revolting flow was so steady that, at one point, Jacobs had to stop talking and spit the blood out. The controversial scene was edited out, initially, until a bloodthirsty fan backlash prompted ROH to air it on their supplemental Video Wire web series.

The stable never realised that incredible promise, and there was a bit of the e-fedder edgelord’s dream to it all, but Black was very impressive in the resulting tags and six mans - so much so that, eventually, fans chanted “next World champ!” at him. He got over in defeat to Nigel McGuinness in what was his breakthrough match at Take No Prisoners on March 3, 2008. Black, even in his very early 20s, looked like the next great indie darling that night.

Then, Ring Of Honor took a while to realise what they had, and when they did, it felt forced - that, or Black wasn’t ready for the role.

Once it became clear that Tyler Black was very much a “project” that the fans were going to have to take seriously as a top guy, a spark of resentment ignited at Final Battle 2009.

In a pivotal moment that draws parallels with a notable WWE match of his, Tyler Black went to a 60:00 draw with Austin Aries at Final Battle 2009. The show went long, this main event went very long, and fans, anxious to get out of the building ahead of a strong blizzard warning that had dominated local news in New York City, resented them for going long. The match, while not actively nor technically horrible, was received by the fans in the Manhattan Center as a transparent exercise in elevating Black, who struggled to recapture the same energy he had against McGuinness. The question that has haunted Seth Rollins his entire career was first posed that night: how good is he, really?

(This reaction mirrored the bored hijacking of Seth’s 30 minute Iron Man match against Dolph Ziggler at Extreme Rules 2018.)

Nonetheless, ROH strapped him up with the World title at the ROH 8th Anniversary Show on February 13, 2010. The rematch with Aries was shorter. While the sample size of 24 is miniscule, the Cagematch rating of 6.92 - good, not great - reflects the sentiment felt amongst the ROH base at the time.

Black, once it became clear that he was WWE-bound, was pelted with chants of “future jobber!” during the end of his run.

Seth Rollins - and this is less forbidden lore, and more unshakeable, infamous embarrassment - took it upon himself to defend WWE in 2019. It was the closest he ever got to being “handed the ball”. He went over Brock Lesnar twice. The second match was incredibly well-received at the time; elsewhere, WWE despite Seth’s claims was not considered the “best wrestling on the planet - period”.

Perhaps Seth, as the top guy, felt duty-bound to put the company over when, at the time, a competition had developed online to see who could bury it with the funniest meme. The promotion, fans of which can admit now that Paul Levesque has since led a white-hot renaissance, was a laughing stock. Rollins was too, for a few infamous days on Twitter.

It might surprise you to learn that Rollins almost walked out on WWE in 2011. Believing he was too good to languish in developmental, Seth had to be talked down by Levesque and developed a reputation as something of a malcontent.

For a while - before he joined the Shield and the rest was history - Rollins was closer to CM Punk than either man would like to admit.

It’s not something you could market on a t-shirt, but Seth Rollins is narrative glue. It’s a valuable role. Seth pointing out how awful Roman Reigns is or was is a constant reminder of the Big Bad’s influence and importance. Seth reminding everybody of CM Punk’s history is another effective narrative device, in that it further portrays Punk as a volatile, walking source of conflict from whom you can never look away.

This modern WWE renaissance might not look the same without him. Seth not being the top guy is his identity. He is not the final boss of the game, but defeating him allows the audience to believe that somebody - Cody Rhodes, most famously - can win the whole thing. Drew McIntyre was the top heel on Raw in 2024; going over Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40 did much to elevate him ahead of his career-defining rivalry with CM Punk.

Seth’s insistence that he’s more than that is what makes the role work. This is key. He is never happy to do the job. The defeats mean something to him; in turn, the wins mean something to the victor. Take that away, and you’re left with a wrestler who very closely resembles the latter days of Chris Jericho’s AEW run.

How good is Seth Rollins, really?

Every major WWE act has to find out for themselves before making it to the very top.