Update On Seth Rollins: What’s His Status For ‘WrestleMania 33’?
Seth Rollins was injured during the January 30 edition of Monday Night Raw, as he suffered a knee injury during the show’s main event segment. Prior to the injury, the plan was for Rollins to go one on one with Samoa Joe at the March 5 show, WWE Fastlane, after which the buildup to his match with Triple H at WrestleMania 33 was supposed to begin. But now, the match with Joe has been called off, and the match with Triple H is very much in doubt.
On Monday’s Raw, WWE announced that Rollins will make his return to television next week in a sit-down interview with Michael Cole. However, the interview will be taped ahead of time, so he won’t be in the arena for the show.
WWE is advertising that Rollins will address both Triple H and Samoa Joe, and it’s expected that he’ll give an update on his status for WrestleMania 33. If he does end up missing this year’s show, it’ll be the second year in a row that he’s missed WWE’s biggest show of the year due to a knee injury.
Luckily, though, Rollins’ knee injury isn’t as severe as the one he suffered during his run as WWE World Heavyweight Champion in the fall of 2015, which caused him to be out of action for nearly a year. However, the knee injury is still pretty severe.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is going with the idea that Rollins will be able to compete at WrestleMania 33. They also have a backup plan in mind for Triple H if the former WWE Champion isn’t able to recover in time for the biggest show of the year, and that backup plan is Samoa Joe. Believe it or not, fans could actually see Triple H vs. Samoa Joe at this year’s WrestleMania.
Also according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Sami Zayn will replace Rollins as Samoa Joe’s opponent at WWE Fastlane. Zayn was originally scheduled to challenge Chris Jericho for the United States Championship on the show, but plans were changed due to Rollins’ injury.
If Seth Rollins isn’t cleared to compete at WrestleMania 33, WWE will still have him wrestle Triple H at a future show. Who knows? They could end being in the main event of the Payback show, which is the first big show after WrestleMania.
Toward the end of last year, it was reported that WWE already had three matches booked for WrestleMania 33: Shaquille O’Neal vs. Big Show, Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar, and Seth Rollins vs. Triple H. On Monday, Cageside Seats reported that Big Show vs. Shaq might not happen, and as fans already know, Seth vs. Triple H might be called off as well, so it looks like two of the three matches might not happen at this year’s show.
As previously mentioned, Samoa Joe is the backup plan for Triple H if Seth Rollins can’t get cleared. However, there has been some talk of having Triple H work with Finn Balor at WrestleMania 33. Balor has been out of action since August, and he’s scheduled to return next month. So, we’ll see what WWE does with him upon his return to television.
As for Rollins, his WrestleMania status at the moment is questionable. We’ll probably find out more about his status for the show in next week’s sit-down interview with Michael Cole. Most are expecting him to announce that he will wrestle Triple H on April 2, unless, of course, he suffers some kind of setback during his rehab. Even if the match doesn’t happen this spring, it will happen at some point this year.
[Featured Image by WWE]
