– The latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which features an interview with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan, is now available. The official description for the show reads as follows:
TIJ – EP38 – WWE World Heavyweight Champ Daniel Bryan
“WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan has plenty to say about winning the belt, personality tests, the artform of the 3-minute match, the nerd culture in wrestling, Ultimate Warrior, Shawn Michaels, and the short-lived Buddy Peacock.”
– The following is a new video from the official WWE YouTube channel called, “‘The Architect’ Seth Rollins’ 7 coolest designs,” which looks at Rollins’ coolest moves.
WWE Superstar Seth Rollins was recently interviewed by AlternativeNation.net about a number of topics, including his most memorable concert experiences, the Ultimate Warrior’s death, WWE’s TV-PG product, Brock Lesnar ending The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak, and the new generation of talent coming up through NXT. Here are some highlights of what Rollins said about:
WWE’s TV-PG Product: “I don’t think the PG rating has a whole lot to do with the style we bring in the ring. The company is now publically traded, and as you mentioned the programming is PG, but realistically a lot of the matches are still as hard hitting and fast paced and definitely more athletic than they’ve ever been. If you look at the talent roster now, you look at guys like Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, The Usos, and especially a lot of the guys coming up in NXT like Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, and myself. We’re just bringing a different element to the matches that I don’t think people are used to. So I don’t really think that the PG rating has much to do with the in ring content, as it does necessarily with the storyline content.”
Ultimate Warrior’s Death: “We got to Tuesday night when I first heard about the Warrior, I heard about it through Twitter because Triple H was the first one to get the news, and he went straight to Twitter and put it up there. That was the first I had heard of it, there’s really no words for that. For a guy who after all those years had come back, and was in the middle of a personal and professional redemption, to lose his life at really one of his highest points personally is strangely inspiring, and at the same time very sad. A lot of people talk about his promo from Monday and how prophetic it was, maybe it was almost too much like he knew what was coming. He was at a beautiful place, I know that from talking to him over the weekend. Just from people who were close to him, to see how happy he was. At the very least, he was in a very good place personally, my thoughts and sympathies go out to his family and his daughters and stuff like that. I think for him, it might have been okay for him, I think he might have been alright with the way things ended, and that’s always important.”
The Undertaker’s Streak Ending: “It was really just a roller coaster of a weekend, because on one hand it’s WrestleMania 30. It’s the biggest event in the history of our sport, something to be really excited and happy about. The unpredictability of The Undertaker’s streak being snapped for the first time in 22 years, that was literally one of those moments where you’ll remember where you were at and what you were doing. I was upstairs in the family room, we had just got done beating the dog crap out of Kane and the New Age Outlaws for like 2 minutes, so we were riding pretty high. I was up in the family box with my friends watching the rest of the show kind of reveling in my success, then I remember the 3 count after [Brock Lesnar’s] F5. I literally stopped and my jaw dropped, I couldn’t believe it, I thought for sure that was never going to happen. I thought that would never, I don’t know, talking about it now still seems surreal even though it’s been a little over a month. The sad part is, that is what it is, it’s part of the show.”
The most extreme moment from Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view was undoubtedly Seth Rollins’s balony drive onto Evolution members Triple H and Randy Orton during the Shield vs. Evolution match. A video has surfaced (courtesy of Youtube user Michael Morris) showing Rollins’ death-defying leap from a jaw-dropping perspective.
On paper, last night’s card seemed like nothing to write home about. After all, Daniel Bryan was defending his title against a superstar who peaked a decade ago, Bray Wyatt and John Cena were meeting in a rematch from WrestleMania, and other than Evolution vs. the Shield, the rest of the matches seemed like they could turn out to be throwaway contests. The event was basically the furthest thing from a throwaway, however, as it was a well-executed pay-per-view that was filled with worthwhile matches.
The Hounds of Justice stole the show during the match of the night.
Evolution vs. the Shield was the clear highlight of the night, as expected. Each superstar involved in the match put on an excellent show, but the star of the match was without a doubt Seth Rollins. While Triple H, Randy Orton, and Dean Ambrose were battling in the crowd, Rollins dove from the top of the entranceway to take out his Evolution foes, allowing for Roman Reigns to handle Batista in the ring and secure a Shield victory. The match was perfectly executed and is an immediate match of the year contender.
The main event between Daniel Bryan and Kane greatly exceeded expectations. This one seemed like it could be forgettable, as the outcome was never really in doubt and Kane is not exactly a main event superstar anymore. However, both superstars performed well together and the backstage spots were something that resembled contests from the Attitude Era.
In the end, the match even involved a flaming table, although the crew botched this spot a bit by running in with the extinguishers before Kane was even on fire, but hey, what can you do? Overall, it was a great culmination to the night and certainly much better than I was anticipating.
The official WWE website recently added a new featured article on ECW original Sabu called, “An extreme revolutionary: How Sabu changed wrestling and everyone forgot.” The article features comments from Paul Heyman, Rob Van Dam, John Cena, Seth Rollins and others.
Below is an excerpt from the article, which features Heyman talking about whether or not Sabu gets the credit he deserves.
“To this day, the innovator is still the master of his craft. When Sabu was at his best, no one could touch him.”
“Whether Sabu gets the credit in history he deserves, the answer is no. But who do you blame for that? Do you blame the curator of the industry, WWE, for not acknowledging the contributions that Sabu made? Do you blame Sabu for not staying healthy enough to force history to acknowledge his contributions? Do you blame the audience who only sings the praises of Sabu crashing through tables, and not all the many other ways Sabu was so unique at his height?”
“The reality of history is that others will take snippets of the style, incorporate it into another groundbreaking presentation and then get credit for implementing a new way to bring sports-entertainment to the masses.”
You can check out the complete article at WWE.com.
The following are highlights of a recent IGN interview with Seth Rollins:
On The Shield playing off each other well against The Wyatt Family: “Yeah, definitely. From the first time we had any sort of interaction with them, when we were over in the UK last November, there was definitely some crazy electricity that was going on. We knew that once we got into it that it was going to be awesome. I think it exceeded whatever hype it had laid in front of it, and that’s really tough to do nowadays, to have a match where people wanted to see that. They were genuinely like, “Damn, I want to see that. That’s going to be awesome.” So I was really happy we got the opportunity to do that with those guys.”
On the energy in the crowd when they had their first confrontation with The Wyatt Family: “Yeah, that’s what we live for. Those moments are what we do it for. That’s what keeps us coming back. It’s a rush every time we come down the stairs and through the crowd and get in the ring and have a great match. It’s special moments like that where you can’t describe the electricity; it’s a lighting-in-a-bottle sort of thing. That’s what keeps you coming back and really why you do it. Make people really feel something; that’s pretty impressive. That’s an awesome thing to be able to do.”
On if he’d prefer to stay with The Shield for a bit longer before the inevitable split: “I definitely do. I think there’s a lot of life left in The Shield, especially with the different direction the crowd has taken on with us. I think there’s a long way to go for us as a group — as individuals as well. There’s no reason we can’t advance in both situations. I think people assume that for whatever reason there’s an exclusivity to being a single star and a great stable. But for me it’s never about that. We can all grow as individuals, and we can all be big stars in our own right. The Shield can be as big as it’s ever been. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”
Following Monday’s Extreme Rules “go-home” edition of WWE RAW, here is your latest official WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view lineup for this Sunday night.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
– Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Kane
Faction vs. Faction
– Evolution vs. The Shield
WWE Intercontinental Championship
– Big E. (c) vs. Bad News Barrett
WWE Divas Championship
– Paige (c) vs. Tamina Snuka
Steel Cage Match
– John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
Handicap Match
– Alexander Rusev vs. R-Truth & Xavier Woods
Pre-Show “WeeLC Match”
– Hornswoggle vs. El Torito
Rumored
– Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger
Make sure to join us here this Sunday night for the absolute best live WWE Extreme Rules results coverage.
The following are highlights of a new SLAM! Wrestling interview with Seth Rollins:
On The Shield’s recent babyface turn: “It’s just how things happen. It’s been an interesting transformation, I suppose. But to be honest with you, we really haven’t done much different. We just started targeting different people, I suppose. By that association, the fans just started to get with us. It’s been fun. It’s been a side to take for sure, but I think it’s something that we’re all pretty excited about.”
On the young crop of WWE Superstars in the company today: “I think that with this new generation of guys, you talk about the Wyatt Family, you can talk about Daniel Bryan, the Usos, you can throw Cesaro in there. There’s this next generation of dudes who are hungry, man. The Shield, coming into WWE, we wanted to change what was going on. We had seen the business stagnate for a good five years at least. Just guys not coming in being hungry, and not wanting to make change, not wanting to ruffle any feathers, feeling like they’re walking on eggshells. Myself, Ambrose and Reigns, we were never like that. We’re all alpha males, that type personality. We all want to be the best, be number one. From the very outset, we were just going to work harder than everybody else, put on better matches than everybody else, cut better promos than everybody else, be more interesting than everybody else. We didn’t really care who that pissed off. I think that attitude resonated with a lot of other guys that we came across, especially in developmental — and they brought that attitude up here with them. It’s really a great time to be a WWE fan, because you’ve got a lot of very invested performers who are willing to make that sacrifice, to make that change.”
On Daniel Bryan’s rise through the ranks: “People say he ascended so quickly, but he’s been in WWE for what, four years now? And before that he was on the indies for over decade. He’s a guy who, if anybody’s put in the time, it’s him; if anybody’s had a slow build to where they’re at, it’s him. It definitely seems like a skyrocket, just because of all the attention the Yes Movement has gathered, the way he’s been positioned over the last six months particularly. But like I said, he’s worked so hard, and I’m super happy for him. He deserves it. I’m real proud of him as a performer and as a friend.”
On he and Dean Ambrose helping Roman Reigns: “He’s smart enough to listen. He’s smart enough to pay attention and pick up little things. He’s someone who’s a student of the game. He played football before he got here. He didn’t spend as much time doing this as we had, but it’s in his blood. His family’s a huge part of this business. He’s just a guy who’s built for it. It’s just part of him. We spend a lot of time in the car and a lot of time in the ring together, and stuff like that, so if he’s not learning, then something’s not right. But I think it’s pretty clear that over the past 18 months that we’ve been teamed up up here that his progression and his development has been accelerated, to say the least.”
You can check out the complete interview at Slam.Canoa.ca.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped on April 22nd in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and will air this Friday, April 25th on the SyFy Network.
– “The Great Debate” between Paul Heyman and Cesaro.
– Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger
– Natalya vs. Tamina Snuka
– Curtis Axel vs. Jey Uso
– Luke Harper & Erick Rowan vs. Goldust & Cody Rhodes
– Fandango & Layla vs. Santino Marella & Emma
– The Shield vs. 11 WWE Superstars
For a complete WWE SmackDown spoiler report for this week, click ahead to page two …
When the Shield debuted over a year ago, Roman Reigns was like the shadowy muscle of the group. He was the least featured member of the trio. He was given few lines during their promos. Yet he was always there to deliver a devastating spear or triple powerbomb when needed.
With the rich indy wrestling history of both Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, it is no surprise that they were expected to carry most of the load during the early days of the stable. After all, Roman Reigns was a former football player and started wrestling in 2010, whereas both Ambrose and Rollins had been wrestling since the early 2000’s.
Reigns does have a rich family history though, as he is a member of the famous Anoa’i family that includes past superstars such as Yokozuna, Rikishi, and The Rock, so it is not like he was a complete stranger to the world of wrestling.
After his dominating performance at last year’s Survivor Series, it seemed obvious that there were big plans for Roman Reigns.
A little over a year ago, it appeared that Dean Ambrose was the member being groomed for a breakout solo career. He was considered the de facto of the group and is the only member of the group to win a solo title while Rollins and Reigns shared the Tag Team Championships.
Something changed last fall, however, and it appeared that Reigns was the one gaining momentum in the Shield after Ambrose seemed enter a lull. Coincidentally enough, it was as soon as Rollins and Reigns lost their championships that his push began. The first hint that he was going to be a breakout star was at last year’s Survivor Series, where he was the sole survivor and dominated the competition, eliminating four opponents during the contest.
Reigns later eliminated the most competitors in Royal Rumble history during the 2014 contest and he has not looked back since. With the Shield now entering into a program with the newly reformed Evolution, there are reports that the ultimate goal of the feud is to set up a matchup between Triple H and Roman Reigns at this year’s SummerSlam. The reports make one wonder: is Roman Reigns ready for a massive solo push?
Near the end of last year, it appeared the WWE would once again focus on promoting its tag team division. After the championships were practically ignored and bounced around between random teams that were comprised of young talent for over a year, Team Hell No helped legitimize the titles once again.
Kane and Bryan held the titles for nearly a year before eventually dropping the straps to Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. The division picked up even more after the Shield got their hands on the titles and was straight up stacked for months. At one point the company was even relying a lot on six-man tag matches just to get as many guys as possible on the broadcast.
Team Hell No helped spark fan interest after a dull period in the tag division.
Near the end of last year, the Rhodes Brothers, the Shield (Rollins and Reigns), the Wyatt Family (Harper and Rowan), the Real Americans, the Usos, the Prime Time Players, and the New Age Outlaws were all in contention for the Tag Team titles at some point.
Since then, nearly every one of those teams has fallen off the face of the Earth, save the Usos who are now the champions. The Rhodes Brothers are barely competing together, the Shield is beyond competing for the championships at this point, the Wyatt Family has been involved in other affairs, both the Real Americans and Prime Time Players have split, and it appears the New Age Outlaws do not want to exercise that rematch clause after all.
The dissolution and promotion of various teams has resulted in the tag team division entering into a transitional state where the company needs to develop new teams or promote others from NXT. Think about the current teams on the roster. We have the Usos who are obviously champions, but who are their challengers? The only other teams even on the roster are Los Matadores, Ryback and Axel, and 3MB, unless I am forgetting someone.
Brian Fritz of Between The Ropes caught up with a number of WWE Superstars and WWE Divas at the WWE media day in New Orleans. The following are videos of the various interviews.
Paul Heyman Still Hustling Going Into WrestleMania 30
http://youtu.be/J56-95yZrzU
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan on WrestleMania 30, Increased Fame
WWE Superstar Seth Rollins on WrestleMania 30, Enjoying The Shield
WWE Superstar Cesaro on Fitness, Daniel Bryan and WrestleMania 30
WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil on His Gators, WrestleMania 30
WWE Diva Natalya on WrestleMania 30, Slapped by Summer Rae
WWE Diva Emma on Making PPV Debut at WrestleMania 30
The following are highlights of a recent Chad Dukes Wrestling Show WrestleMania Spectacular interview with Batista:
On his return to WWE: “I left for very specific reasons and the reasons were because there were certain opportunities I wasn’t getting when I was with the company, and we were so locked down and I mean when you’re under contract with them you’re pretty much limited to the things, you can do. You really can’t do anything else in the company without their say so and they weren’t…certain guys were getting opportunities that I wasn’t getting and I wasn’t real cool with that. So I left to accomplish certain things, and I felt like once I accomplished them, I always wanted to come back. At the end of the day I love professional wrestling. I really, I really do, man. So it’s not like I never planned to come back, I wanted to come back sooner. It’s just that you know it took me longer to accomplish certain things that I really want to accomplish. I didn’t want to be working and do one movie a year. It’s just I was out there auditioning and stuff, these were the jobs I was getting, and once I landed it, you know the Marvel deals, I felt like I accomplished everything I wanted to and then some. We didn’t come back and demand a lot of money you know I didn’t say, ‘I’m not doing house shows I’m only doing Monday Night Raw.’ I mean I said, ‘I’ll do Smackdown, I’ll do house shows.'”
On being selective with film roles: “I got offered a lot of roles, coming out of wrestling, on stuff that was going straight to DVD and it wasn’t the stuff that I want to do and I really wanted like, really good projects. I really, I really had a passion for acting and I really wanted to become a better actor. So I passed up on a lot of that stuff and held out for like better roles, and stuff that will put me in the next to guys were really established actors, so I could kinda learn from, so it wasn’t easy man. I got out there and pounded the pavement.”
On his heat with Daniel Bryan fans possibly coming from a 2011 tweet: “For some reason I think people thought that I didn’t like Daniel Bryan or I had this personal thing. I said a comment, I had one comment about him when he first won the world heavyweight championship and I was like, I was in shock and I said, “Okay.” Because I just didn’t get it. The reason I didn’t get it because it was too soon and that’s my personal opinion. I felt it was way too soon and they did that constantly over and over. I thought they, they just slap the title on people like, way too fast. It’s like, I think sometimes that they used the title, I might get a little grief for saying it, sometimes I think they use the title to get guys over. I thought it just, they did it, it was premature. I never had a problem with him being you know, World Heavyweight Champion, I just thought that they did it way too fast.
You can’t convince me that some body else was a bigger supporter of Daniel Bryan cause I mean that was years ago, before everybody was you know on his jock, when they wanted me to job him out, and I was like, “Hell no.” He’s just too good. He had been coming around for years and I could never figure out why they didn’t give him a job, but he had come out and they wanted me to work a match with him, and squash him and I was like, “No, not gonna happen.” He’s way too good man, we could have a good match, and we did. I mean we gave ‘em a version of what they wanted, but we gave ‘em a hell of a match. It looked like a competitive match. When at the time it’s not with what they wanted.”
On current WWE Superstar who are impressing him: “I love Bray Wyatt. I love him. I love that whole gimmick, that whole Wyatt Family gimmick, but Bray I think he’s gonna be a huge star. I get caught up in this guy, man. When I watch him he’s one of those guys. He’s another guy, I mean he doesn’t look like a stud. He’s not a statue of a man, but he is athletic as you can get, that kid can move man. He is agile, he is a stud man. That kid is as an athlete. He gets when he cuts a promo, you just get sucked in man. He is hypnotizing. When I talk to him like personal, on a personal level, he’s one of those kids who’s not afraid to learn, he has no ego. He’s still learning and he knows he’s still learning and he’s not afraid to ask questions, and I think that’s why he’s going to be so good. Cause he’s this good right now and he still wants to learn. I love the whole Shield gimmick, everyone’s real focused on Roman, and I think he’s definitely going to be a huge star, but Dean Ambrose to me, he’s the star of that.”
The following are highlights of a new Boston Herald interview with Roman Reigns:
On meshing well with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins: “We didn’t know we would complement each other so well. Everything from what we wear, entering through the crowd, even the triple powerbomb in itself, it’s clicked and been so organic. That’s been the most exciting part. We spend so much time together, we’ve jumped the friend stage in the past year and a half and become brothers.”
On facing legends at WrestleMania XXX: “The faces will always change, the styles will evolve. I respect what people before me have done, but my time is now.”
On wanting to headline WrestleMania: “Every single day. Somebody just asked me if I would like to take on the Undertaker and beat his (WrestleMania) streak. I would rather retain the WWE world heavyweight championship while taking out the streak. My motivation is to be the best. I have a deep responsibility to leave things better than the way I found them. I don’t want to live off potential, so the first thing I have to do is capture the gold.”
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown. For complete spoiler results, click ahead to page two.
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
– Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara
– Goldust vs. Fandango
– Batista vs. Sheamus
– The Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee & Tamina Snuka
– Jack Swagger vs. Jimmy Uso
– The Miz vs. Mark Henry
– Bray Wyatt vs. Big Show
For complete spoiler results for this week’s WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two …
Following their debut at the 2012 Survivor Series, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns, collectively known as the Shield, quickly became one of the most dominant and influential stables in recent memory.
The group primarily acted as heels throughout their successful run, although they were frequently cheered as well. In particular, Roman Reigns would frequently receive huge pops from the crowd, as seen during his breakthrough performances at the 2013 Survivor Series and 2014 Royal Rumble.
After attacking Director of Operations Kane, the group officially turned babyface and the crowd has been eating it up in recent weeks, with their celebration following their beat down of Ryback and Curtis Axel on this past week’s RAW serving as evidence of the group’s popularity.
After a tumultuous few weeks, the Shield appears to be reunited, but for how long can the Hounds of Justice keep their respective egos in check?
The group now seems to be reunited and stronger than ever after there was serious tension between the Hounds of Justice. So why did the WWE decide to turn the Shield face after it seemed they would dissolve just a few weeks prior?
The Wyatt Effect
One of the primary reasons the Shield were forced to turn face was the emergence of the Wyatt Family. There is only so much room on the roster for stables, and the Wyatt Family are without a doubt the predominant heel group on the roster today.
With the Wyatt Family serving as the main heel stable on the roster and essentially adopting the same M.O. as the Shield (appearing out of nowhere to savagely destroy unsuspecting foes), it only makes sense that creative would not want two stables acting in a similar manner, even if their gimmicks are stark contrasts of one another.
As previously reported, there is a plan in place to break up The Shield. As noted, the idea is for Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose to split off into a heel tag-team, while Roman Reigns will be used as a top babyface singles competitor going forward.
One of the reasons WWE had The Shield turn babyface on RAW was to set up The New Age Outlaws working a program with them, which they requested. Additionally, the feeling was it would better set up Reigns’ singles run.
The general consensus within WWE is that it will be better for Reigns’ singles run for Ambrose and Rollins to turn on him instead of Reigns turning on them.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is back with a new blog at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are the highlights of what he said about:
Time Limit Draws In Wrestling: “Interesting feedback from a past Podcast topic regarding why TV Wrestling Companies don’t utilize time limits or draws from time to time. A competitive match with an added sense of urgency because of a time limit is much more appealing to me than a flaccid disqualification or a lame count out. Having a presentation billed as an athletic contest that has no time limit for all the matches is not reality based.”
Seth Rollins: “Just a casual observation but Seth Rollins has stood out recently on WWE TV and has illustrated how one maximizes their minutes.”
Being Interviewed For WWE’s Upcoming Paul Heyman DVD: “Based on what some of those interviewed have told me, I’m not sure that the upcoming Paul Heyman DVD will be a tribute or a roast. Seriously, the DVD should be entertaining and informative but if you would have told me in our WCW days that Paul would someday have a WWE DVD, I’d have asked what you were smoking. My Happy Heyman DVD interview lasted over two hours and from what I was told I was the last person to be interviewed for the much anticipated release.”
JR noted that his new Ross Report podcast is ranked #1 on the ITunes Sports Top Ten in the USA, Canada, and the UK – and that he’s looking to book additional “Ringside: An Evening With Jim Ross” shows.
Shield member Seth Rollins recently spoke to ArkTimes.com to promote next Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings from the Verizon Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Comparing WWE To The Independent Scene:
“I mean I started training in a shipping warehouse, and I’m in Wrestlemania XXX this year, in front of millions of people worldwide, you know? I spent a few years cutting my teeth in the Midwest, I worked for Ring of Honor, then I went down to Florida and relearned everything there. It wasn’t different, but the crowds are bigger now. The paychecks are nicer, but that’s not really why I do it, so it doesn’t make much of a difference for me. Getting to share the ring with guys I idolized is never going to stop being surreal for me. Getting to share the ring with guys like The Rock or The Undertaker or CM Punk or John Cena, guys I grew up watching. To have them appreciate what I do is just humbling. The fans are awesome too. With social media now, everybody’s faceless, but I assume these kids sending me pictures of myself of Instagram are twelve, thirteen years old. But I don’t know. We’ve all got twitter handles and aliases, and so I don’t really even know what my fan base is like. But everyone’s very kind. I don’t have any crazy people or stalkers or anything like that.”
People Saying That Wrestling Is Fake:
“Fake is like the worst word you could possibly use to describe anything, you know? What are you talking about? What is fake? It’s a television show, and a live performance. Nothing’s fake about it. We’re not telling you we’re out their fighting each other. We’re going out there to entertain you. I consider myself an athlete. I train like an athlete, I eat like an athlete, I recover and get sore just like any other athlete. We’re not lying to anybody. People just don’t understand the art form of what we do. It’s a mental and physical grind. You can’t be a dolt in this industry. On the opposite end of that, you can be the smartest guy in the world and not understand what it is to have a presence on stage. Being a character, executing a live performance, understanding what it is to connect with a crowd and elicit a specific response at a specific time using moves and body language and emotions. What we do is very complex. It’s under appreciated.”
The following are highlights of a recent Red Eye Chicago interview with Seth Rollins:
On getting impatient during his NXT run: “I think the couple of years in developmental was really starting to get me impatient. It’s not a bad thing that you get that mindset because you want to be on the main roster and working with the top guys.”
“I spent a lot of time on the independent scene honing my craft, so I thought I was ready from day one. But the time I spent in NXT was the best things that could happen in my career. It gave me the mindset that I could succeed at the highest level. When it was time to get called up and The Shield was ready to make an impact, I was nervous, excited, but most importantly prepared for [it]. I think that preparation and confidence came across well in front of the WWE universe.”
On where he sees himself in five years: “I see myself as world champion. If you were in my position and you aren’t saying that, something is wrong with you. I want to be holding a title, beating up John Cena and Randy Orton and headlining pay-per-views. I have the confidence and drive and those goals would be satisfying.”
– In addition to the Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan and Dean Ambrose vs. Big E. title unification match rumors for WrestleMania XXX, there continues to be discussion about a possible triple-threat match with Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins competing against each other at WrestleMania XXX.
– WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia sang the National Anthem and participated in a 5K race to support the Susan G. Komen Foundation earlier today in Los Angeles, California.
According to reports, WWE is strongly considering the possibility of adding a third person to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship main event at WrestleMania XXX between Randy Orton and Batista. The latest internal lineup in the company reads, “Batista vs. Orton vs. ?”
Other WrestleMania XXX matches that have been discussed internally, but not yet decided on, include Big E. vs. Dean Ambrose in a match to unify the WWE United States and WWE Intercontinental Championships, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan vs. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, Sheamus vs. Christian, Goldust vs. Cody Rhodes and a match pitting two NXT wrestlers against each other in a match on the main card.
There is talk within WWE right now of having a triple-threat match between all three members of The Shield at WrestleMania XXX, according to a report at F4WOnline.com
The match, which would feature Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins, is expected to happen as long as WWE doesn’t pull the trigger on adding Daniel Bryan to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania.
The feeling there is that WWE wouldn’t want two high-profile triple-threat matches on the same show.
– Last week’s episode of SmackDown averaged 3.03 million viewers, up over 100,000 from the previous week. It was the first time SmackDown topped 3 million viewers since February 8, 2013.
– WWE Superstar Seth Rollins took a spill on Monday’s RAW during The Shield’s entrance. Rollins jumped over the guard rail and slipped on the floor at ringside. Here’s a video of the fall:
WWE Superstars Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose were interviewed by Glenn Moore of Cleveland.com this morning to promote tonight’s RAW. Among the topics discussed:
• Roman Reigns eliminating them in the Royal Rumble.
• Thoughts on the crowd at the Royal Rumble.
• Did Rollins really have to use the bathroom hiding under the ring?
• If they could triple-powerbomb anybody, who would it be?
• Thoughts on Ultimate Warrior being inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame.
• Traveling from city to city, especially in the snow and cold.
• First gimmicks, including Rollins as God when he was 16.