Seth Rollins had a tremendous rivalry with Cody Rhodes in 2022 after The American Nightmare made his return to WWE.
Former CEO Vince McMahon in storyline handpicked Cody as Seth’s mystery opponent at WrestleMania 38. The former AEW EVP and TNT Champion made his shocking return to the company at the biggest Premium Live Event of the year and picked up a victory over Seth. The American Nightmare would defeat Seth Rollins again at WrestleMania Backlash.
Cody beat Seth for a third time at Hell in a Cell but suffered a torn pec leading up to the match. Seth attacked Cody on the following RAW as a way to write him off of television.
Seth Rollins On Going Winless Against Cody Rhodes
Speaking with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, The Visionary said that losing to Cody three times added to the chip on his shoulder because he felt like he was catapulting someone else to a position he deserved. The 36-year-old claimed that he got “more respect” backstage following their rivalry and added that their WrestleMania match was made at the last minute.
“When we finally got the news, which was very last minute as far as WrestleMania is concerned. I knew that was going to be my match and I think it was pretty obvious to me which way things were going to lean. It didn’t stop me from being a little frustrated.
Again, feeling like I was being used to catapult somebody else into a position I felt like I deserved. So that was kind of demoralizing, but that is just more of a chip on my shoulder.”
I definitely think I came out of it a lot better than when I went into it. I don’t think in any way that I suffered from losing three times in a row. If anything, I in some ways got more respect for having the humility to put my own self-interest aside to work with someone who, incoming back into this world (WWE) from his past world (AEW), he needed it a lot more than I did.
My equity is not going anywhere and he needed to re-establish himself.”
