The Self-Destruction Of Seth Rollins

Jon Moxley was smart enough to turn face after washing his barbed wire-wrapped hands of it; when he was ordered to blame Roman Reigns for his leukaemia diagnosis (!), the fans were not sympathetic to Roman. The sympathy was instead redirected towards Ambrose and the awful position in which he was put. The creative process is backwards.

All of this is so politically dumb, frankly. This won't galvanise ardent WWE fans. Babyfaces are meant to be smart. Rollins, the babyface Universal Champion, has turned himself heel.

Again: backwards.

Writing as part of the WhatCulture Wrestling team, it’s difficult to approach all of this without a degree of empathy. Rollins might consider us “idiots with no clue”, but we also work incredibly hard to rid ourselves of what we deem an unfair, lingering stigma of for-the-clicks negativity. It’s difficult to approach all of this without a degree of empathy because Rollins is carrying the immense mental pressure of spearheading this wildly-unpopular era of WWE. It’s almost as if he is suffering, and exhibiting signs of the grim anxiety that can defeat us all through this spree of projection. On a human level, it’s difficult. But, since it’s difficult not to read any of this bizarre, self-destructive ranting without his 2015 cackle ringing in the temple, it is also quite easy.

“He’s gonna get patted on his head and sent on his way,” Rollins said of Ospreay in response to Wade Keller. That is Dana Brooke’s old, irritating heel move.

Patronising, smug, detached and deluded: Seth Rollins has self-destructed, and the wrestling world waits for him to back it up. Seth’s next feature match is a Winner Takes All mixed-tag attraction, with Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans in the opposite corner.

The best pro wrestling on the planet. Period.