With Roman Reigns sadly battling leukemia and Dean Ambrose leaving WWE after WrestleMania 35, that leaves Seth Rollins as the only Shield member to be on WWE’s roster post-April.
Speaking with Edge and Christian on their popular podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness, “The Architect” opened up on his time in the trio. A major point in The Shield’s history is the moment Seth Rollins would turn heel on his teammates, ruthlessly attacking them. His actions would split the group as Rollins aligned himself with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon within The Authority.
Rollins confessed that he wasn’t ready for the heel turn and eventual fallout of his character change. He recalled that when WWE informed him that he would be “pulling the trigger” as the heel within The Shield, he almost wanted to decline the turn.
“I was almost like, ‘No, I was a babyface in NXT. I’m the babyface; [Dean] Ambrose is the heel. It’s not the other way around. It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know how to do this.’”
Turning heel had a learning curve for Rollins, who admitted it “took some learning” to adjust his characteristics to match his new persona. “I’d been a heel in Ring of Honor, but it’s just a different world here. It’s a different animal and you’re working with different guys.”
“[…] it took me a little while to get in my groove trying to figure out who is Seth Rollins? What is this character when he’s not in The Shield? It took me a little while to grow into who that person was, and figure him out, and try on different skins, and sometimes they didn’t work.”
