WWE News: Seth Rollins Talks John Cena, Brock Lesnar, ‘Tough Enough,’ And More
WWE World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins carries a multitude of responsibility on his shoulders. The lineage of the championship he holds is prestigious, and it’s something that he could potentially lose at any time, something he bears in mind with each passing day.
In a recent appearance on the PodNasty Wrestling Podcast, Rollins talked about a myriad of topics. Perhaps the most notable one was his opponent at WWE Battleground this Sunday, Brock Lesnar. It will not be the first time that Rollins steps into the ring with Lesnar, but he does view it as one of, if not the biggest matches of his career.
“I feel like I’ve had a lot of ‘biggest matches of my career’ up until this point. I would say this one is certainly special. I mean, there’s not a lot of guys who get the opportunity to go one-on-one with Brock Lesnar at this point in his career, so to be one of those guys to main event a pay-per-view with Brock Lesnar over a very prestigious title it all adds up to being certainly one of if not—I’ll leave that up to you and the other media pundits to decide what is the biggest match of my career—but it certainly ranks up there with the very, very biggest of my career.”
As stated, the possibility of losing the title can happen at any time, especially when facing an athlete the caliber of Lesnar. But that does not mean Rollins does not respect the title he wields.
With Rollins as the WWE World Heavyweight champion, John Cena is the current United States champion. While the U.S. title is receiving a lot more recognition with a big name such as Cena holding it, Rollins does not want fans, or Cena, to think that the U.S. title outranks his title.
“(The WWE World Heavyweight Championship) is (the most dominant title in the company) no matter what, no matter who is wearing what other title, this is the big boy, this is the one that everybody wants and if John (Cena) tells you any different he’s a liar.”
At the same time, Rollins admits to respecting Cena and his body of work, describing him as “what a WWE superstar should be.”
“But the bottom line, though, is that I’m always competing with John Cena, John’s a guy who has set the bar extremely high for the past 10, 12-15 years, he’s a guy who—not only in the ring, but outside the ring—is an example of what a WWE Superstar should be and he has put in the work over that period of time to prove that and that’s definitely something I strive to be as well. I strive to have that work ethic and instill that in people around me the way John has over the past decade and a half so I’m always competing with John Cena in my mind, but my title is the title and there’s definitely no doubt about that.”
Rollins is the present, and considering his age, likely the future of the WWE as well. But on the latest season of Tough Enough, several contestants are fighting it out to see who could be the next WWE superstar. While the show does provide its contestants with a potentially quicker way into the WWE, it does, however, lack in other areas.
Those areas include paying dues, experience, and other intangibles that several wrestlers must go through before reaching stardom. That is something Rollins believes the Tough Enough/em> contestants are not paying, in addition to his thoughts that the current crop of talent on the show lacks personality.
“Not one person stood out to me (on Tough Enough). Not a single one, nope, not one. I went down there and I tried to help them out, give them a few pointers here and there, let them know what it takes to be a star but, let me tell you, those kids got it easy. They don’t know anything about anything when it comes to putting in the time, they think they’re going to get through this little three-month course and they’re going to be WWE Superstars and they’re going to be famous, and rich and travel the world. That’s not how it works, it’s a whole lot of hard work and I think they’re going to figure that out along the way, or they’re going to fall by the wayside. For me, I didn’t see a whole lot, maybe as they move along in the process they’ll show more personality and a little more guts, but for now I’m not holding my breath.”
One of the last things that Rollins addressed were the recent comments by former WWE superstar John Morrison. The “Prince of Parkour” said he would “kill” Rollins at various athletic endeavors. But Rollins rebuttal included mentioning that Morrison never won the WWE World Heavyweight championship.
“If I’m not mistaken, I believe John Morrison is a zero-time WWE World Heavyweight champion. Mind you, zero. As in never once did he win the big one. And I’m, what, not even three years into my WWE career and I’ve already won Money in the Bank, won the WWE title at WrestleMania, first-ever NXT champion so there’s a lot of things that I’ve already destroyed John Morrison at and if John Morrison thinks he can take me in any of those endeavors, I would love for John Morrison to step up and say something like that to my face.”
[Image via WWE]
